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WESTERN LlIHCO DES MOINES, I* 



HISTOET 



OF 



DAVIS OOUKO^Y, 



IOWA, 



CONTAINING 



A HISTORY OF THE COUNTY, ITS CITIES, ^TOWNS, ETC. 



A BIOGRAPHICAL DIEEOTORT OF MANY OF ITS LEADING CITIZENS, WAB RECORD OF 
ITS VOLUNTEERS IN THE LATE REBELLION, GENERAL AND LOCAL STATIS- 
TICS, PORTRAITS OF EARLY SETTLERS AND PROMINENT MEN, 
HISTORY OF IOWA AND THE NORTH^VEST, MAP OF 
DAVIS COUNTY, CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED 
STATES, REMINISCENCES, MISCELLANE- 
OUS MATTERS, ETC. 



IXjIjTJSTK.^TE!ID. 



DES MOINES: 
STATE HISTORICAL COMPANY. 

1882. 






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PREFACE. 



Theee is no proper place in history for the element of fiction. In the 
correct delineation of a landscape the artist judiciously employs both lights 
and shades; so the historian must need contrast the true and the false, that 
the eternal beauty and symmetry of truth apj^ear, but draw ui>on the imagi- 
nation, he may never. As in the landscape, the true outline of objects is 
obscured in the shadows, requiring the full blaze of day to bi-ing them into 
proper view, so histoi'y bi'ings out the facts partially obscured in the haze of 
tradition — itself never history. 

The history of the growth of any branch of knowledge has a doiible inter- 
/ that which comes to it from the knowledge itself, and that which comes 
from its relations to the history of the operation of the human mind. Men 
think under the limitations of their times; they reason on such material as 
they have; they form their estimate of changes from the facts immediately 
known to them. What Matthew Arnold has written of man's thoughts, as 
he floats adown the " liiver of Time," is most true. Says he: 

" .\s is the world on the banks, 
So is the mind of man. 
Only the track \rhere he sails 
He wots of: only the thoug-hts 
Raised by the objects he passes, are his." 

Impressions thus received, the mind will modify and work upon, trans- 
mitting the products to other minds in shapes that often .seem new, strange 
and arbitrary, but which yet result from processes familiar to our experi- 
ence, and to be found at work in our own individual consciousness. And 
this is the necessity that renders history, as entirely distinct from tradition, 
imperative. Here the province of the historian begins. It is imperative 
on him that he record facts as they are, freed from the gloss given them by 
verbal transmissions. 

Davis county ranks among the first in political influence, and is not be- 
hind in the intelligence of its people and its jealous regard for education; 
its material resources are practically unlimited, and the promise for its fu- 
ture ever brightening. Now, to clearly understand this happy present, its 
glories and its greatness, its opportunities and its wonders, it is our duty to 
look back to their sources. We shall find that the seeds which have so au- 
spicioush' borne fruit in this jjresent generation, were sown by men tried 
and true; men who deserve to be remembered, not merely as historic names, 



PEEFACE. 



but as men in whose broad breasts beat the noblest hearts, and within whose 
rustic homes were to^be found the very bone and sinew of this "Western 
world; men whose sterling worth and integrity have contributed weyy largely 
to its present higli position. 

The whole history of this county is one of surpassing interest, and the 
more it is studied the clearer does it become that underlying its records are 
certain truths, which aiibrd a clew to the causes that have contributed so 
powerfully to bring it to its present marked prominence. They will be 
lound identical with those which have influenced the history of the nations 
during many centuries. To narrate these facts is the object of these pages; 
with what success this has been done, we do not presume to say. It has 
been our aim to learn and present the truth, without favor or prejudice. 
j.j It has heretofore been possible for the scholar, with leisure and a compre- 
hensive library, to trace out the written history of his county by patient re\ 
search among voluminous government documents and dusty records, some- 
times old and scarce; but tliese sources of information, and the time to study 
them, are not at the command of most of those who are intelligently inter- 
ested in local history; and there are many unpublished facts to be rescued 
from the failing memories of the oldest residents, who would soon have car- 
ried their information with them to the grave; and others to be obtained 
from the citizens best informed in regard to the various present interests 
and institutions of the county, which should be treated of in giving its his- 
tory. This service of research and record, which very few could have un- 
dertaken for themselves, the publishers of this work have performed. While 
a few unimportant mistakes may, perhaps, be found in such a multitude of 
details, in spite of the care exercised in the production of the volume, they 
still confidently present this result of many weeks' labor, as a true and or- 
derly narration of all the events in the history of the county which were of 
suflScient interest and value to merit such a record. 

Authenticity is always difficult in history. Much passes for history which 
is mere anecdote, and that domain is always doubtful. Other facts again, 
come to us through the prejudice and colors of personal narration. Great 
eare has, therefore, been necessary to prevent publishing misconceptions as 
history. There has been admitted no statement of fact without ample au- 
thority, and mentioned not even the slightest incident without the support 
of creditable testimony. Attention is called to one feature, considered of 
special value— the introduction of the original records for all transactions 
directly affecting the interests of the county. Concerning the first records, 
and the facts they teach, little or nothing need be said. Of this period in ; 
the county's history there have been explored for evidence, every known ear- 



PEEFACE. 



ly document, and, wliere not mutilated, they have been presented in full. 
If, among the pages devoted to early settlers and settlements, the sentences 
seem short and broken, and the method of treatment faiiltj^ it should be 
borne in mind that the nature of the data renders any other method of pre- 
sentment impossible. Accuracy, rather than finish, has been the object held 
steadily in view. 

In the preparation of this volume, the oldest residents and others have 
cheerfully volunteered their services in the undertaking, adding largely to the 
value of the results obtained. Special thanks are due to tiie following named 
persons, who have not only aided us by placing at our disposition much val- 
uable matter, but have themselves devoted much time to searching recoi-ds, 
and afforded every opportunity in their power to perfect the chronological 
sequence and accuracy of the (hda used: Col. S. A. Moore, M. H. Jones, A. 
H. Hill, Col. H. H. Trimble, William S. Stevens, county auditor; Dr. Sell- 
man, Dr. D. C. Greenleaf, William Taylor, county clerk; S. M. Eppley> 
county treasurer; A. C. Lester, county recorder; Crawford Davis, proprietor 
of the Lerjal Tender Greenback; J. J. Hamilton, editor of the RepuTMcan; 
T. O. Walker, editor of the Democrat; J. R. Anderson, ex-county superin- 
tendent; F. W. Moore, deputy auditor; Samuel Russell; S. B. Downing, rep- 
resentative; James Jordon, the oldest resident of the county, and other old 
settlers in the various townships of tiie county. Throughout the county are 
many impossible to name here, who have freely given what of history they 
had. The clergy and other church officers, and those of civic associations, 
have been universally obliging in placing at our command the needed statis- 
tics of their several societies. 

Under the sway of cause and efi^ect, historic events cannot stand alone; they 
form an unbroken chain. This liistory of so limited a territory as a county in 
Iowa, has its roots not only in remote times, but in distant lands, and cannot 
be justly written out without consulting the influence of such a foreign ele- 
ment; nor can such a county history be understood in all its relations, without 
a historic review of at least the State of which the county is a part; hence, we 
feel that in giving such an outline we have been more taithful to the main 
purpose of the work, while we have added an element of independent interest 
and value. We little doubt that this book will be a welcome one to the in- 
habitants of the county, for all take a just pride in whatever calls to mind 
the scenes and incidents of other days. It is presented in the belief that the 
work done will meet with the heartiest approval of our readers ; and if, through 
that commendation, it awakens an earnest spirit of enterprise and emulation 
among the younger citizens of the county, it will be a source of just pleasure 

and congratulation to 

The Publishers. 



CONTENTS. 



The Northwest Territory 19 

Geographical position 19 

Early explorations 20 

Discovery of the Ohio ■ 32 

English explorations and settlement 34 

American settlements 59 

Division of the Northwest Territory 65 

Tecumseh, and the War of 1812 69 

Black Hawk and the Black Hawk 

War 73 

Present condition of the Northwest 79 

The Early History of Illinois. . . 88 

Early discoveries 88 

Fii'st French occupation 91 

Genius of La Salle 92 

Early settlements 94 

The "Compact of 1787" 95 

Physical features of prairie States. . 99 

Progress of development 101 

Material Resources of the State 102 

Coal is king 103 

The religion and morals 106 

Education 107 

TuE State of Iowa 109 

Geographical situation 109 

Topography 109 

Drainage system 110 

Rivers Ill 

Lakes 118 

Springe 119 

Origin of the prairies 120 

Geology 120 

The Azoic system 121 

Lower Silurian system 122 

Upper Silurian system 123 

Devonian system 123 

Carboniferous system 124 

■■ Subcarboniferous system 124 

The Coal-measure group 127 

Cretaceous system 129 

Peat 130 

Gypsum 131 

Minor deposits of Sulphate of Lime 135 

Sulphate of Strontia 136 

Sulphate of Baryta 137 

Sulphate of Magnesia 137 

Climatology 137 

History of the State op Iowa 139 

Discovery and occupation 139 

The original o%vners 147 

Pike's Expedition 151 

Indian Wars 152 

The Black Hawk War 157 



Indian purchases, reserves and treat- 
ies 159 

Spanish Grants 163 

The Half-breed Tract 164 

Early settlements 166 

Territorial history 173 

The boundary question 177 

State organization 181 

Growth and progress 185 

The Agricultural College and Farm. 186 

The State University 187 

State Historical Society 198 

The Penitentiary 194 

Additional Penitentiary 195 

Iowa Hospital for the Insane 195 

Iowa College for the Blind 197 

Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. • 199 

Soldiers' Orphans' Homes 199 

State Normal School 201 

Asylum for Feeble-minded Children 201 

The Reform School 202 

Fish Hatching establishment 203 

The public lands 204 

The public schools. 218 

Political record 223 

War record 229 

Infantry 233 

Cavalry 244 

Artillery 247 

Miscellaneous 248 

Casualties among officers of Iowa regi- 
ments during the war 250 

Casualties among enlisted men of Iowa 

regiments during the war 252 

Number of troops furnished by the 

State of Iowa, etc 254 

Population of Iowa 255 

Illinois 257 

Indiana 259 

Iowa. 260 

Michigan 263 

Wisconsin 264 

Minnesota 266 

Nebraska 267 

Constitution of the United States and 

its Amendments 269 

Vote for governor 1879, and president, 

1876 ._ 283 

Vote for congressmen, 1876 283 

Practical i-ules for every day use 284 

U. S. government land measure 287 

Surveyor's measure 288 

How to keep accounts 288 



CONTENTS. 



Names of the States of the Union, 

and their significations 290 

Population of the United States — 291 

Population of fifty principal cities. . 291 
Population of principal countries of 

the world 292 

Abstract of Iowa State Laws. ... 293 

Bills of exchange and notes 293 

Interest 293 

Descent 293 

"Wills and estates 294 

Taxes 295 

Jurisdiction of courts 297 

Limitations of actions 297 

Jurors 297 

Capital punishment 298 

Married women 298 

Exemptions from execution 298 

Estrays 299 

Wolf-scalps 300 

Marks and brands 300 

Damages from trespass 300 

Fences 300 

Mechanics' lien 301 

Roads and bridges 302 

Adoption of children 303 

Surveyors and sui-veys ,303 

Support of poor 303 



Landlord and tenant 304 

VV eights and measures 305 

Definitions of commercial terms... . 305 

Notes 306 

Orders 306 

Receipts 306 

Bills of purchase 306 

Confession of judgment 306 

Articles of agreement 307 

Bills of sale 308 

Notice to quit 309 

Form of will .309 

Codicil 310 

Satisfaction of mortgage 310 

Forms of mortgage 311 

Form of lease 312 

Form of note 313 

Chattel mortgage 314 

Warranty deed 314 

Quitclaim deed 315 

Bond for deed 815 

Charitable, scientific and religious 

associations 316 

Intoxicating liquors 317 

Suggestions to those purchasing 

books by subscription 319 

Statistics of agriculture of Iowa 

(census of 1875) 320 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 



Introduction 323 

Name and location 325 

Name 325 

Location 327 

Physical features 328 

Streams 328 

Timber 331 

Coal and stone 331 

Soil 332 

Climate 337 

Table of temperature from 1839 to 

1869 339 

Number days rain and snow, period 

of thirty years 340 

Observations of Miss Hamilton 341 

Geology 345 

Alluvium 346 

Drift 347 

Coal-measures 348 

Economical resources 350 

Natural history .351 

AvidiE — birds 352 

Notes .361 

PlantiB 367 

General flora 367 

Medicinal plants 373 

Reptilia 374 

Ophidia 375 

Batrachia 376 

Mollusca 378 

Fresh- water mollujks ... 378 

Land mollusks 379 



PAGE.. 

Mammals 380 

The red man 381 

The pioneers — their settlements and 

careers 385 

The Pioneer 388 

The Hairy Nation 39S 

First United States land entries 395 

County organization _ 39ft 

History of county and township or- 
ganization 399 

Organizing act 40O 

Act to amend the militia law 401 

Fixing terms of court 402 

Territorial roads 403 

Mail route 405 

Constitutional convention 405 

Early courts and judges 406 

First murder case ■ 408 

First divorce case 408 

First grand jury 408 

Petit jurors 409 

Circuit court 409 

County court 412 

Early recorded events 412 

Kirst marriage license 412 

Quill pens 413 

Public well 413 

Whiskey 414 

Town lot agency 415 

Official salaries 416 

The first judgment 418 

First town lot deed 419 



CONTENTS. 



First chattel mortgage 419 

First real estate mortgage 420 

Cemetery 420 

County commissioners 421 

Township oi'ganizations 427 

Connty institutions 431 

"The old log court-house" 431 

New court-house to be erected 433 

Description of new court-house. . . . 434 

Thejail 435 

Poor-house and farm 436 

Deed of the poor farm 439 

Political record 444 

Othcial canvass, election of 1881. . . 467 

Financial review 468 

Ta.Kation — general remarks 468 

Tax levies from 184.'') to 1880 473 

Abstract of assessment foi- 1881 .... 478 

Swamp and saline lands 478 

|The railroads in the county 483 

North Missouri 485 

Burlington & Southwestern 486 

Chicago & Southwestern 486 

Des Moines Valley. 487 

Length and valuation, January 1, 

1881 487 

The press of Davis county 487 

General newspaper histoiy 487 

List of papers living and dead 494 

Davis County Republican 494 

Legal Tender Greenback 495 

Bloomfield Democrat 495 

Educational progress 496 

Table showing condition of schools 

in 1862...." 502 

Table showing condition of schools 

in 1879 503 

Table showing condition of schools 

inl880 503 

Statistical table for 1881 504 

Religious advancement 505 

The temperance cause 508 

Criminal history 510 

Execution of William Hinkle 512 

War recoi'd 514 

Proclamations 515 

Second Infantry 516 

Fourth Infantrv 519 

Sixth Infantry 519 

Thirteenth 1 nfantry 520 

Fourteenth Infantry 520 

Fifteenth Infantry 521 

Seventeenth Infantry 521 

Nineteenth Infantry 521 

Twenty-fourth Infantry 522 

Twenty- fifth Infantry 522 

Thirtieth Infantry 522 

Thirty-sixth Infantry 525 

Thirty-seventh Infantry 525 

First Cavalry 525 

Third Cavalry 526 

Seventh Cavalry 5:34 

Eighth Cavalry 585 

Ninth Cavalry .536 



PAGE, 

Fourth Battery 537 

Additional enlistments: 

Second Iowa Cavalry 537 

Third Iowa Cavalry 537, 543 

Fifteenth Iowa Infantry .544 

Seventeenth Iowa Infantry 538 

Thirtieth Iowa Infantry .5.38 

Thirty-sixth Iowa Infantry 545 

Forty-fifth Iowa Infantry 538 

Forty-seventh Iowa Infantry 539 

Southern Border Brigade 545 

Tenth Missouri Infantry 546 

Twenty-fii'st Missouri Infantry. . . 547 

Seventh Missouri Cavalry 547 

Second Cavalry, M. S. M 648 

Veteran re-enlistments : 

Third Cavalry 539 

Second Infantry 542 

Thirteenth Infantry 542 

Fourteenth Infantry 542 

Fifteenth Infantry 542 

Seventeenth Infantry .543 

History of Davis county soldiers 549 

Southern border troubles 554 

Townships, towns and their growth. . -567 

Bloomaeld City 567 

Named 567 

Order of the board of supervisors. 568 

Deed conveying title 569 

Adoption of charter 570 

Election of officers 570 

Business houses in 1858 571 

Officers from 1866 to 1881 572 

Additions 573 

Churches 574 

Lodges 576 

Infirmary.... 579 

Schools .581 

Southern Iowa Normal School . . . 582 

Banks .582 

Public library 582 

Hotels .582 

Foundry 583 

Wagon factory 583 

Plow factory .583 

Lawyer's jokes 583 

Bloomfield township .585 

History 585 

Early officers 585 

First birth 586 

First physician -586 

Drakeville township 586 

Geography 586 

Name .586 

Early settlers 586 

L. N. English 586 

First death 586 

Other "first things'' -587 

Christian Church 587 

Lodges 587 

Drakeville... 589 

Fabius township 589 

Description 589 

Pioneers 589 



10 



CONTENTS. 



Monterey 589 

Early events 589 

Fox River township 590 

Composition 590 

Historical beginnings 590 

Grove township 590 

Place and name 590 

Stiles 591 

Stilesville Christian Church 591 

Lodges 591 

Lick Creek township 582 

Name 592 

Floris post-office 592 

Miscellaneons matters 592 

Chequest Union Baptist Church. 593 

Marion township .593 

For whom named 593 

Railroads 593 

Belknap 593 

First marriage, etc 593 

Wesley Chapel 594 

Perry township 594 

Hero of Lake Erie 594 

Early settlers 594 

Other matters 594 

Prairie township 595 

Physical geography 595 

First happenings 595 

Pulaski .596 



Roscoe township 59'( 

Population and location 597 

Ajax 59i: 

Miscellaneous events 59S 

Soap Creek township 598 

Name 598 

Early settlers, etc 598 

Salt Creek township 59f 

Name, etc 595 

Cliristian Church 60( 

Mr. Jordan and the centennial . . 60( 

Union township 60( 

Early settlers, mDls, etc 601 

Churches 605 

Lodges 605 

Stringtown 60.'- 

Troy 60£ 

Troy Academy 60c 

West Grove township 60;! 

Name, etc 60i 

West Grove 604 

Cumberland Presbyterian Church 604 

Christian Church 604 

Wyiicondah township 604 

Description 604 

The Hairy Nation 60f 

Savannah 60E 

Martinsville 606 

Springville 606 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



PAGE. 

Explanatory. . .' 607 

Bloomfield'City 608 

Bloomfield township , 642 

Drakeville township 656 

Fabius township 659 

Fox River township 665 

■Grove township 668 

Lick Creek township 675 

Marion township 680 



PAOE. 

Perry township 688 

Prairie township 695 

Roscoe township 701 

Salt Creek township 706 

Soap Creek township 71C 

Union township 715 

Wyacondah township 727 

West Grove township 738 



PORTRAITS. 



FAGE. 

H. H. Trimble Front. 

C.F.Davis 227 

W. A. Duckworth 261 

J. W. Beauchamp 279 

James H. Jordan 321 

E. J. Shelton, M. D 355 

W. H. Shelton, M. D 389 



R. W. Anderson 423 

Samuel Rnssell opposite 457 

J. C. Dooley " 489 

P. H. Bence " 521 

J. W. Young, M. D " 553 

D. N. Uooley, M. D " 685 



The Northwest Territory. 



GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION. 

When the Northwestern Teiritory uas ceded to the United States 
hy Virgiuiii in 1784, it embraced only the tenitory lying between the 
<Jliio and the Mississippi Rivers, and north to the northern limits of the 
United States. It coincided with the area now embraced in the States 
of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and that portion of 
.Minnesota lying on the east side of the Mississippi River. The United 
States itself at that period extended no farther west than the Mississippi 
River; but by the purchase of Louisiana in 1803, the western boundary 
of the United States was extended to the Rocky Mountains and the 
Northern Pacific Ocean. The new territory thus added to the National 
domain, and subsequently opened to settlement, has been called the 
*''New Northwest," in contradistinction from the old " North westein 
Territory. " 

In comparison with tiie old Northwest this is a territory of vast 
magnitude. It includes an area of 1,887,850 square miles ; being greater 
in extent than the united areas of all the Middle and Southern States, 
including Texas. Out of this magnificent territory have been erected 
eleven sovereign States and eight Territories, with an aggregate popula- 
tion, at the present time, of l.H,000.000 inhabitants, or nearly one third of 
the entire population of the LTnited States. 

Its lakes are fresh-water seas, and the larger rivers of the continent 
Mow for a thousand miles through its rich alluvial valleys and far- 
stretching prairies, more acres of which are ai-ablc and productive of the 
highest percentage of the cereals than of any other area of like extent 
on the globe. 

For the last twenty years the increase of population in the North- 
%vest has been about as three to one in any other portion of the United 
States. 

(19) 

A 



20 THE NORTHWEST TERRITOEY. 



EARLY EXPLORATIONS. 

In the year 1.341, DeSoto first saw the Great West in the New 
World. He, however, penetiated no farther north than the 85th parallel 
of latitude. The expedition resulted in his death and that of more than 
half his army, the remainder of whom found tlicir way to Cuha, thence 
to Spain, in a famished and demoralized condition. DeSoto founded no 
settlements, produced no results, and left no traces, unless it were that 
he awakened the hostility of the red man against the white man, and 
disheartened such as might desire to follow up the career of discovery 
for better purposes. The French nation were eager and ready to seize 
upon any news from this extensive domain, and were the first to profit by 
DeSoto's defeat. Yet it was more than a century before any adventurer 
took advantage of tiiese discoveries. 

In 1616, four years before the pilgrims " moored their bark on the 
wild New England shore," Le Caron, a French Franciscan, had pene- 
trated through the Iioquois and Wyandots (Hurons) to the streams which 
run into Lake Pluron ; and in 1634, two Jesuit missionaries founded tlie 
first mission among the lake tribes. It was just one hundred years from 
the discovery of the Mississippi by DeSoto (1">41) until the Canadian 
envoys met the savage nations of the Noilhwest at the Falls of St. Mary, 
below the outlet of Lake S.uperior. Tins visit led to no permanent 
result; yet it was not until 1659 that any of the adventurous fur traders 
attempted to spend a Winter in the frozen wilds about the great lakes, 
nor was it until 1660 that a station was established upon their borders by 
Mesnard, Vv'ho perished in the woods a few months after. In 1665, Claude 
Allouez built tlie earliest lasting habitation of the white man among the 
Indians of the Nortliwest. In 1668, Claude Dablon and .lames Marquette 
founded the mission of Sault Ste. Marie at the Falls of St. Mary, and two 
vears afterward, Nicholas Perrot, as agent for jM. Talon, Governor Gen- 
eral of Canada, ex[)lored Lake Illinois (Michigan) as f.ir south as tlie 
present City of Chicago, and invited the Indian nations to meet him at a 
grand council at Sault Ste. Marie the following Spring, where they were 
taken under the protection of the king, and formal possession was taken 
of the Northwest. This same year Marquette established a mission at 
Point St. Ignatius, where was founded the old town of Michillimackinac. 

During ]\I. Talon's explorations and Marquette's residence at St. 
Ignatius, they learned of a great river away to the west, and fancied 
— as all others did then — that upon its fertile banks whole tribes of God's 
children resided, to \\hora the sound of the Gospel had never come. 
Filled with a wish to go and preach to them, and in compliance with a 



THE KOUTHWEST TERRITGitY. 21 

request of M. Talon, who earnestly desired to extend the domain of his 
king, and to ascertain whether the river flowed into the Gulf of Mexico 
or tlie Pacific Ocean, Marquette with Joiiet, as commander of the expe- 
dition, prepared for the undertaking. 

On the 13th of May, 1673, tlie explorers, accompanied by five assist- 
ant French Canadians, set out from Mackinaw on their daring voyage of 
discovery. The Indians, who gatheied to witness their dci)arture, were 
astonished at the boldness of the undertaking, and endeavored to dissuade 
them from tlieir purpose by representing the tribes on tlie Mississippi as 
exceedingly savage and cruel, and the river itself as full of all sorts of 
frightful monsters ready to swallow them and their c;!noes together. But, 
nothing daunted by these terrific descriptions, Marquette told them he 
was willing not only to encounter all the perils of the unknown region 
they were about to explore, but to lay down his life in a cause in which 
the salvation of souls was involved ; and having prayed together they 
separated. Coasting along the northern shore of Lake Michigan, the 
adventurers entered Green Bay, and passed thence up the Fox River and 
Lake Winnebago to a village of the Miamis and Kickapoos. Here Mar- 
quette was delighted to find a beautiful cross planted in the middle of tlie 
town ornamented with white skins, red girdles and bows and ariows, 
which these good pt'nple had offered to the Great Manitou, or God, to 
thank liiuj for the [)ity he had bestowed on them during the Winter in 
giving tliem an abundant " chase." This was the farthest outpost to 
■which Dablun and Allouez liad extended their missionary labors the 
} ear previous. Here ALirquette drank mineral waters and was instructed 
in the secret of a root wliich cuies tlie bite of the venomous rattlesnake. 
He assembled the chiefs and old men of the village, and, pointing to 
•liiliet, said: "■ My friend is an envov of France, to discover new coun- 
ti ies, and I am an ambassador fnuii God to enlighten them with the truths 
of the Gosj)el." Two Miami guides were here fuinished to conduct 
lliem to the Wisconsin River, and they set out from the Lidiau village on 
tlie 10th of June, amidst a great e;owd of natives who had assembled to 
witness their departure into a region where no white man had ever yet 
ventured. The guides, having conducted them across the portage, 
returned. The explorers launched their canoes upon the Wisconsin, 
which they descended to the Mississippi and proceeded down its unknown 
waters. What emotions must have swelled their breasts as they struck 
out into the broadening current and became conscious that they were 
now upon the bosom of ths Father of Waters. The mystery was about 
to be lifted from the long-sought river. The scenery in that locality is 
beautiful, and on that delightful seventeenth of June must have been 
clad in all its primeval loveliness as it had been adorned by the hand of 



22 THE NORTHWEST TERKITOKY. 

Nature. Drifting rapidly, it is said that the bold bluffs on either hand 
"reminded tliem of the castled shores of their own beautiful rivers of 
Fi'ance." By-and-hy, as they drifted along, great herds of buffalo appeared 
on the banks. On going to the heads of the valley they could see a 
country of the greatest beauty and fertility, apparently destitute of iidiab- 
itants yet presenting tlie appearance of extensive manors, under the fas- 
tidious cultivation of lordly jjroprietors. 




SOUKCE OF THE SllSSISSIPrl. 



On June 2 J, they went ashore and found some fresh traces of men upon 
the sand, and a path which led to the prairie. The men remained in (he 
boat, and Marquette and Joliet followed the path till they discovered a 
village on the banks of a river, and two other villages on a hill, Avithin a 
half league of the first, inhabited by Indians. They were received most 
hospitably by these natives, who had never before seen a white person. 
After remaining a few days they re-embarked and descended the river to 
iiliout latitude 33°, where they found a village of the Arkansas, and being 
satisfied that the river flowed into the Gulf of Mexico, turned their course 



THE NOnriiWKST TKKRITOllY. og 

up the river, and ascending the stream to tlie mouth of the Illinois, 
rowed up that stream to its source, and piocuied guides from that point 
to the hikes. " Nowhere on this journey." says Marquette, "'did we see 
such grounds, meadows, woods, stags, huEFaloes, deer, wildcats, bustaids, 
swans, ducks, parroquets, and even heavers, as on the Illinois River." 
The partjs without loss or injury, reached Green Bay iu Septemlier, and 
reported their discovery — one of the most important of the age, liut of 
which no i-ecoi'd was preserved save Marquette's. Joliet losing his iiy 
the upsetting of his canoe on his way to Qael)ee. Afterward Marquette 
returned to the Illinois Indians by tlieir request, and niiinstered to them 
until 1675. On the 18th of May, in that year, as he was passing the 
mouth of a stream — going with his boatmen up Lake Michigan — he asked 
; to land at its mouth and celebrate Mass. Leaving his men with the canoe, 
: he retired a short distance and began his devotions. As much time 
passed and he did not return, his men went in search of him, and found 
him upon his knees, dead. He had peacefully passed away while at 
' prayer. He was buried at this spot. Charlevoix, who visited the place 
fifty years after, found tire waters had retreated tioni the grave, leaving 
the beloved missionary to repose in peace, Tiie river has since been 
called Marquette. • 

While Marquette and his companions were pursuing their labors in 
the West, two men, differing widely from him and each other, were pre- 
paring to follow in his footsteps and perfect the discoveries so well begun 
by him. These were Robert de La Salle and Louis Henneiiin. 

•After La Salle's return from the discovery of the Ohio River (see 
' the narrative elsewhere), he established himself again among the French 
' trading posts in Canada. Here he mused long upon the pet project of 
those ages — a short way to China and the East, and was busily planning an 
expedition up the great lakes, and so across the continent to the Pacific, 
when Marquette returned from the Mississippi. At once the vigorous mind 
of LaSalle received from his and his companions' stories the idea that by fol- 
lowing the Great River northward, or by turning up some of the numerous 
western tributaries, the object could easily be gained. He ap[)lied to 
Frontenac, Governor General cf Canada, and laid before him the plan, 
dim but gigantic. Frontenac entered warmly into his plans, and saw that 
LaSalle's idea to connect the great iak3s by a chain of forts with the Gulf 
of Mexico would bind the country so wonderfully together, give un- 
measured power to France, and glory to himself, under whose adminis- 
tration he earnestl}^ hoped all would be realized. 

LaSalle now repaired to France, laid his plans before the King, who 
warmly approved of them, and made him a Chevalier. He also received 
from all the noblemen the warmest wishes for his success. The Chev- 



'24 



THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 



alier returned to Canada, and liusily entered upon his work. He at 
once rebuilt Fort Frontenac and constructed the first ship to sail on 
these fresh-water seas. On the 7th of August, 1679, having been joined 
by Hennepin, he began his voyage in the Griffin up Lake Erie. He 
passed over this lake, through the straits beyond, up Lake St. Clair and 
into Huron. In this lake they encountered heavy storms. They were 
some time at Micliillimackinac, where LaSalle founded r fort, and passed 
on to Green Bay, the " Bale des Puans " of the French, where he found 
,1 large quantity of furs collected for him. He loaded tlie Griffin with 
these, and placing her under the care of a pilot and fourteen sailors, 




LA SALLE LANDING ON THE SHORE OF GREEN BAY. 

Started her on her return voyoge. The vessel was never afterward heard 
of. He remained about these parts until early in the Winter, when, liear- 
mg nothing from the Griffin, he collected ail tiie men — thirty working 
men and three monks — and started again upon his great undertaking. 

By a short portage they passed to the Illinois or Kankakee, c.dled liy 
the Indians, "Thcakeke," wolf, because of the tribes of Indians calhd 
by that name, commonly known as the Mahingans, dwelling there. The 
French pronounced it Kiakiki, which became corrupted to Kankake<3. 
"Falling down the said river by easy journeys, the better to observe the 
country," about the last of December they reached a village of the Illi- 
nois Indians, containing some five hundred cabins, but at that moment 



THE NORTHWEST i liliRI I OKY. 25 

no inhabitants. The Seui- de LaSalle being- in want of some bieadstuffs, 
took advantage of the absence of the Indians to help himself to a suffi- 
ciency of maize, large quantities of whicli he found concealed iu holes 
under the wigwams. This village was situated near the present village 
of Utica in LaSalle County, Illinois. Tiie corn being securely stored, 
the voyagers again betook themselves to the stream, and toward evening, 
on the 4t]i day of January, 1680, they came into a lake which must liave 
been the lake of Peoria. This was called b}' the Indians Pim-i-te-wi, that 
is, a place where there are many fat beasts. Here the natives were met 
with in large numbers, but they were gentle and kind, and having spent 
some time with them, LaSalle determined to erect another fort in that 
place, for he liad heard rumors that some of the adjoining tribes weie 
trying to disturb the good feeling which existed, and some of his men 
'. were disposed to complain, owing to the hardships and perils of the tiavel.' 
i He called this fort " Crevecoeur " (broken-heart), a name expressive of ilie 
very natural sorrow and anxiety which the pretty certain loss of his ship. 
Griffin, and his consequent impoverishment, the danger of hostility on tlie 
part of tiie Indians, and of mutin)'- among- his own men, might well cause 
him. His fears were not entirely groundless. At one time poison was 
placed in his food, but fortunately was discovered. 

While building this fort, the .Winter wore awa}^ the prairies began to 
look green, and LaSalle, despairing of any reinforcements, concluded to 
return to Canada, raise new means and new men, and embark anew in 
the enterprise. For this purpose he made Hennepin the leader of a party 
to exjilore the head waters of the Mississippi, and he set out on his jour- 
ney. This journey was accomplished with the aid of a few persons, and 
was successfully made, though over an almost u iknown route, and in a 
bad season of the year. He safely reach'id Cana Ja, and set out again for 
the object of his search. 

Hennepin and his party left Fort Crevecoeur on the last of February, 
1G80. Wlien LaSalle reached this place on his return expedition, he 
found the fort entirely' deserted, and he was obliged to return again to 
Canada. He embarked the third time, and succeeded. Seven days after 
leaving the fort, Hennepin reached the Mississippi, and paddling up the 
i"}- stream as best he could, reached no higher than the Wisconsin River 
by tlie 11th of April. Here he and his followers were taken prisoners by a 
hand of Northern Indians, who treated them with great kindness. Hen- 
nepin's comrades were Anthony Auguel and Michael Ako. On this voy- 
age they found several beautiful lakes, and " saw some charming prairies."' 
Their captors were the Isaute or Sauteurs, Chippewas, a tribe of the Sioux 
nation, who took them up the river until about the first of May, when 
they reached some falls, which Hennepin christened Falls of St. Anthony 



Z6 



THE NORTHWEST TEKKITOKY. 



in honor of his patron saint. Here they took the land, and traveling 
nearly two hundred miles to the northwest, brought them to ttieir villages. 
Here they were kept about three months, weic treated kindly by chaiu 
captors, and at the end of that time, were met by a band of Frenchmen, 




BUFFALO HUNT. 



headed by one Seur de Luth, who, in pursuit of trade and game, had pen&- 
;;-ated thus far bj' the route of Lake Superior ; and with these felloAT- 
couutrymen Hennepin and his companions were allowed to return to the 
borders of civilized life in November, 1680, just after LaSalle had 
returned to the wilderness on his second trip. Hennepin soon after wen: 
to France, where he published an account of his adventures. 



THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 2T 

The Mississippi was first discovered by De Soto in April, 1541, in his 
vain endeavor to find gold and precious gems. In the following Spring, 
De Soto, weary with hope long deferred, and worn out with his wander- 
ings, fell a victim to disease, and on the 21st of May died. His followers, 
reduced by fatigue and disease to less than three hundred men, wandered 
about the country nearly a year, in the vain endeavor to rescue lliem- 
selves by land, and finally constructed seven small vessels, called brig- 
aulines, in wliich they embarked, and descending tiie river, supposing it 
would lead them to the sea, in July they came to the sea (Gulf of 
Mexico), and by September reached the Island of Cuba. 

They were the first to see the great outlet of the Mississippi; but, 
being so weary and discouraged, made no attempt to claim the eountiy, 

\ and hardly had an intelligent idea of what they had passed through. 

I To La Salle, the intrepid explorer, belongs the honor of giving tlie 

' first account of the mouths of the river. His great desire was to possess 
this entire country for his king, and in January, 1682, he and his band of 

I explorers left the shores of Lake Michigan on their third attempt, crossed 
tlie Portage, passed down the Illinois River, and on the 6th of February 
readied the banks of the Mississippi. 

On the loth they commenced their downward course, wliich thej^ 
pursued with but one interruption, until upon the 6th of March tliey dis- 
covered tlie three great passages by which the river discharges its waters 
into the gulf. La Salle thus narrates the event: 

" We landed on the bank of the most western channel, about three 
leagues (nine miles) from its mouth. On the seventh, M. de La Salle 
went to reconnoiter the shores of the neighboring sea, and M. de Tonti 
meanwhile examined the great middle channel. They found tlie main 
outlets beautiful, large and deep. On the eighth we reascended the river, 
a little above its confluence with the sea, to find a dry place beyond the 
reach of inundations. The elevation of the North Pole was h'ere about 
twenty-seven degrees. Here we prepared a column and a cross, and to 
tlie column were affixed the arms of France with this inscription : 

" Louis Le Grand, Roi de France et de Navarre, regne ; Le neuvieme April, 1682." 

The whole party, under arms, chanted the Te Deum, and then, after 
a salute and cries of '■'■Vive le Roi,'' the column was erected by M. de 
La Salle, who, standing near it, proclaimed in a loud voice the autliorit}' of 
the King of France. La Salle returned and laid the foundations of the Mis- 
sissippi settlements in Illinois ; thence he proceeded to France, where 
another expedition was fitted out, of which lie was commander, and in two 
succeeding voyages failed to find the outlet of the river by sailing along 
tlie shore of the gulf. On the third voyage he was killed, through the 



1:8 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 

treachery of liis followers, and tlie object of his expeditions was not 
accomplished until 1G90, when D"Iberville, nnder the authority of the 
crown, discovered, on tlie second of March, by way of the sea, the mouth 
of the " Hidden River." .This majestic stream Avas called by the natives 
'■'■ MaUiouflua'' and by the Spaniards, '■'■la Palissade,'''' from the great 



V /^ *.(.. s: ^— tt 






^ 



< V 



L4 



:'? 



'« 






i 








' ^J^^ 



TR.'iPPING. 

number of trees aijout its mouth. After traversing the several outlets, 
and satisfying himself as to its certainty, he erected a fort near its western 
outlet, and returned to France. 

An avenue of trade was now opened out which was fully improved. 
In 1718, New Orleans was laid out and settled by some European colo- 
nists. In 1762, the colony was made over to Spain, to be regained by 
France under the consulate of Napoleon. In 1803, it was purchased by 



THE NORL'HWEST TERRITORY. 29 

the United States for the sum of fifteen million dollars, and the territory 
of Louisiana and commerce of the Mississippi River came under the 
charge of the United States. Although LaSalle's labors ended in defeat; 
and deatli, he h.ul not worked and suffered in vain. He had thrown 
open to France and tlie world an immense and most valuable country; 
had established several ports, and laid the foundations of more than one 
settlement ( iiere. " Peoria, Kaskaskia and Cahokia, are to this day monu- 
ments of LaSalle's labors ; for, though he had founded neither of them 
(unless Pe(uia, which was built nearly upon the site of Fort Crevecceur,) 
it was by those whom he led into the West that these places were 
peopled and civilized. He was, if not the discoverer, the first settler of 
the Mississippi Valley, and as such deserves to be known and honored."' 

Tlie French early improved the opening made for them. Before the 
year 1698, the Rev. Father Gravier began a mission among the Illinois, 
and founded Kaskaskia. For some time this was merely a missionarv 
station, where none but natives resided, it being one of three such vil- 
l.iges, the other two being Caliokia and Peoria. What is known of 
these missions is learned from a letter written by Father Gabriel IMarest, 
dated " Au.x; Cascaskias, autrement dit de llmmaculate Conception dc 
la Saintc Vierge, le 9 Novembre, 1712." Soon after the founding of 
Kaskaskia, the missionary, Pinet, gathered a flock at Cahokia, while 
Peoria arose near the ruins of Fort Crevecoenr. This must have been 
about the year 1700. The post at Vincennes on the Oubache river, 
(lironounced Wa-ba, meaning »iimmer cloud movlmj swiftly') was estab- 
lished in 1702, according to the best authorities.* It is altogether prob- 
able that on LaSalle's last trip he established the stations at Kaskaskia 
and Cahokia. In Jnl\', 1701, the foundations of Fort Ponchartraiii 
were laid by De la Motte Cadillac on the Detroit River. These sta- 
tions, with those establislied further nortli, were the earliest attempts to 
occupy the Northwest Territory. At the same time efforts were being 
made to occujiy the Southwest, which finally culminated in the settle- 
ment and founding of the City of New Orleans by a colony from England 
in 171S. This was mainly accomplished through the efforts of the 
famous MississijDpi Company, established by the notorious John Law, 
who so (piickly arose into prominence in France, and who with his 
scheme s-o quickly and so ignominiously passed away. 

From the time of the founding of these stations for fifty years the 
French nation were engrossed with the settlement of the lower Missis- 
sippi, and the war with the Chicasaws, who had, in revenge for repeated 

• There is consider.ible dispute .-ibout this dale, some asserting It was founded as late as 1742. When 
the new ourt house at Vini-enue.s was erected, all authorities on the subject were carefully examined, and 
J /OS fixed upou as the correct date. It was accordingly engraved on the corner-stone of the court house. 



30 THR NOUTHWEST TEKRITORY. 

injuries, cut oif tlie entire colony at Natchez. Although the compnny 
did little for Louisiana, as the entire West was then called, yet it opened 
the trade through the Mississippi River, and started the raising of grains 
indigenous to that climate. Until the year 1750, but little is known of 
the settlements in the Northwest, as it Avas not until this time that the 
attention of the English was called to the occupation of this portion of the 
New World, which they then supposed they owned. Vivier, a missionary 
among the Illinois, writing from " Anx Illinois," six leagues from Fort 
Chartres, June 8, 1750, says: "We have here whites, negroes and 
Indians, to say nothing of cross-breeds. There are five French villages, 
and three villages of the natives, within a space of twenty-one leagues 
situated between the Mississippi and another river called the Karkadaid 
(Kaskaskias). In the five French villages are, perhaps, eleven hundred 
whites, three hundred blacks and some sixty red slaves or savages. The 
three Illinois towns do not contain more than eight hundred souls all 
told. Most of the Frencli till the soil; they raise wheat, cattle, pigs and 
horses, and live like princes. Three times as much is produced as can 
be consumed; and great quantities of grain and flour are sent to New 
Orleans." This city was now the seajDort town of the Northwest, and 
save in the extreme northern part, where only furs and copper ore were 
found, almost all the products of the countiy found their way to France 
by the mouth of the Father of Waters. In another letter, dated Novem- 
ber 7, 1750, this same priest says: "For fifteen leagues above the 
mouth of the Mississippi one sees no dwellings, the ground being too low 
to be habitable. Thence to New Orleans, the lands are only partially 
occupied. New Orleans contains black, white and red, not more, I 
think, than twelve hundred persons. To this point come all lumber, 
bricks, salt-beef, tallow, tar, skins and bear's grease ; and above all, pork 
and flour from the Illinois. These things create some commerce, as forty 
vessels and more have come hither this year. Above New Orleans, 
plantations are again met with ; the most considerable is a colony of 
Germans, some ten leagues up the river. At Point Coupee, thirty-five 
leagues above the German settlement, is a fort. Along here, within five 
or six leagues, are not less than sixty habitations. Fifty leagues farther 
up is the Natchez post, where we have a garrison, who are kept prisoners 
through fear of the Chickasaws. Here and at Point Coupee, they raise 
excellent tobacco. Another hundred leagues brings us to the Arkansas, 
where we have also a fort and a garrison for the benefit of the river 
traders. * * * From the Arkansas to the Illinois, nearly five hundred 
leagues, there is not a settlement. There should be, however, a fort at 
the Oubache (Ohio), the only path by which the English can reach the 
Mississippi. In the Illinois country are numberless mines, but no one to 



THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 



31 



work them as thej^ deserve." Father Slarest, writing from the post at 
Vincennesin 1812, makes the same observation. Yivier also says : " Some 
individuals dig lead near the surface and supply the Indians and Canada. 
Two Spaniards now here, who claim to be adepts, say that our mines are 
like those of Mexico, and that if we would dig deeper, we should find 
silver under the lead ; and at any rate the lead is excellent. There is also 
in this countrj-, beyond doubt, copper ore, as from time to time large 
pieces are found in the streams." 




MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



At the close of the year 1750, the French occupied, in addition to the 
lower Mississippi posts and those in Illinois, one at Du Quesne, one at 
the Maumee in the country of the Miamis, and one at Sandusky in*what 
may be termed the Ohio Valley. In the northern part of the Northwest 
they had stations at St. Jose])h's on the St. Josejih's of Lake Michigan, 
at Fort Ponchartrain (Detroit), at Michillimackanac or Massillimacanac, 
Fox River of Green Bay, and at Sault Ste. Marie. The fondest dreams of 
LaSalle were now fully realized. The French alone were jjossessors of 
this vast realm, basing their claim on discovery and settlement. Another 
nation, however, was now turning its attention to this extensive country, 



32 THK MORTHWEST TERRITOR;;,, 

iind hearing of its wealth, began to lay plans for occupying it and for 
securing the great profits arising therefrom. 

The French, liowever, had ancither claim to tliis country, niimely, liie 



DISCOVERY OF THE OHIO. 

This " Beautiful" river was discovered hy Robert Cavalier de La- 
Salle in 1669, four years before tlie discovery of the Mississipj>i by Joliet 
and Marquette. 

WJiile LaSalle was at his trading post on the St. Lawrence, lie found 
leisure to study nine Indian dialects, the chief of which was the Iroquois. 
He not only desired to facilitate his intercourse in trade, but he longed 
to travel and explore the unknown regions of the West. An incident 
soon occurred which decided him to fit out an exploring expedition. 

While conversing with some Senecas, he learned of a river called the 
Ohio, which rose in their country and flowed to the sea, but at such a 
distance that it required eight months to reach its mouth. In this state- 
ment the Mississippi and its tributaries were considered as one stream. 
LaSalle believing, as most of the French at that period did, that tlie great 
rivers flowing west emptied into the Sea of California, was anxious to 
embark in tlie enterprise of discovering a route across the conlaient to 
the commerce of China and Japan. 

He repaired at once to Quebec to obtain the approval of the Gov- 
ernor. His eloquent appeal prevailed. The Governor and the Intendant, 
Talon, issued letters patent authorizing the enterprise, but made no pro- 
vision to defray the expenses. At this juncture the seminary of St. Sul- 
pice decided to send out missionaries in connection with thq expedition, 
and LaSalle offering to sell his improvements at LaChine to raise money, 
the offer was accepted by the Superior, and two thousand eight hundred 
dollars were raised, with which LaSalle purchased four canoes and the 
necessary supplies for the outfit. 

On the 6th of Julj% 1669, the party, numbering twenty-four persons, 
embarked in seven canoes on the St. Lawrence; two additional canoes 
carried the Indian guides. In three days they were gliding over the 
bosom of Lake Ontario. Their guides conducted them directly to the 
Seneca village on the bank of the Genesee, in the vicinity of the present 
City of Rochester, New York. Here they expected to procure guides to 
conduct them to the Ohio, but in tins they were disappointed. 

The Indians seemed unfriendly' to the enterprise. LaSalle suspected 
that the Jesuits had prejudiced their minds against his plans. After 
waiting a month in the hope of gaining their object, they met an Indian 



THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 



33 



from the Iroquois colony at the head of Lake Ontario, who assured them 
that they could there find guides, and offered to conduct them thence. 

On their way they passed the mouth of the Niagara River, when they 
licard for the first time the distant thunder of the cataract. Arriving' 




^M.^-^^-::::^L,^- 



iiiGii nnrDGK, lake eluff, lake county, Illinois. 



among the Iroquois, they met with a friendly reception, and learned 
from a Shawauee prisoner that they could reach the Ohio in six weeks. 
Delighted with the unexpected good fortune, they made ready to resume 
their journey ; but just as they were about to start they heard of the 
arrival of two Frenchmen in a neighboring village. One of them proved 
to hi Louis Juliet, afterwards famous as an explorer in the West. Ha 



34 THE KORTHWEST TERRITORY. 

had been sent by the Canadiein Government to explore the copper mines 
on Lake Superior, but had failed, and was on his way back to Quebec. 
He gave the missionaries a map of the country he had explored in the 
lake region, together with an account of the condition of the Indians in 
that quarter. This induced the priests to determine on leaving the 
expedition and going to Lake Superior. LaSalle warned them that the 
Jesuits were probably occupying that field, and that they would meet 
with a cold reception. Nevertheless they persisted in their purpose, and 
after worship on the lake shore, parted from LaSalle. On arriving at 
Lake Superior, tliey found, as LaSalle had predicted, the Jesuit Fathers, 
Marquette and Dablon, occupying tlie field. 

These zealous disciples of Loyola informed them that they wanted 
no assistance from St. Sulpice, nor from those who made him" their patron 
saint ; and thus repulsed, they returned to Montreal tlie following June 
without having made a single discovery or converted a single Indian. 

After parting with the priests, LaSalle went to the chief Iroquois 
village at Onondaga, where he obtained guides, and passing thence to a 
tributary of the Ohio south of Lake Erie,' he descended the latter as far 
as the falls at Louisville. Thus was the Ohio discovered by LaSalle, the 
persevering and successful French explorer of the West, in 1669. 

The account of the latter part of his journey is found in an anony- 
mous paper, which purports to have been taken from the lips of LaSalle 
himself during a subsequent visit to Paris. In a letter written to Count 
Frontenac in 1667, shortly after the discovery, he himself says that he 
discovered the Ohio and descended it to the falls. This was regarded as 
an indisputable fact by the French authorities, who claimed the Ohio 
Valley upon another ground. When Washington was sent by the colony 
of Virginia in 1753, to demand of Gordeur de St. Pierre why the French 
had built a fort on the Monongahela, the haughty commandant at Quebec 
replied : " We claim the country on tlie Ohio by virtue of the discoveries 
of LaSalle, and will not give it up to the English. Our orders are to 
make prisoners of every Englishman'found trading in the Ohio Valley." 



ENGLISH EXPLORATIONS AND SETTLEMENTS. 

When the new year of 1750 broke in upon the Fatlier of Waters 
and the Great Northwest, all was still wild save at the French posts 
already described. In 1749, when the English first began to think seri- 
ousl}' about sending men into the West, the greater portion of the States^ 
of Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota were ye™ 
under the dominion of the red men. The English knew, however, pretty 



THE NORTHWEST TEERITORY. 35 

conclusively of the nature of the wealth of these wilds. As early as 
1710, Governor Spotswood, of Virginia, hiid commenced movements to 
secure the country west of the AUeghenies to the English crown. In 
Pennsylvania, Governor Keith and James Logan, secretary of the prov- 
ince, from 1719 to 1731, represented to the powers of England the neces- 
sity of securing the Western lands. Nothing was done, however, by that 
power save to take some diplomatic steps to secure the claims of Britain 
to tliis unexplored wilderness. 

England had from the outset claimed from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 
on the ground that the discovery of the seacoast and its possession was a 
discovery and possession of the country, and, as is well known, her grants 
to tlie colonies extended " from sea to sea." This was not all her claim. 
She had purchased from the Indian tribes lai-ge tracts of land. This lat- 
ter was also a strong argument. As early as 1684, Lord Howard, Gov- 
ernor of Virginia, held a treaty with the six nations. Tliese were the 
great Northern Confederacy, and comprised at first the Mohawks, Onei- 
das, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas. Afterward the Tuscaroras were 
taken into the confederac}', and it became known as the Six Nations. 
They came under the protection of the mother country, and again in 
1701, they repeated the agreement, and in September, 1726, a formal deed 
was drawn up and signed by the chiefs. The validity of this claim has 
often been disputed, but never successfully. In 1744, a purchase was 
made at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, of certain lands within the " Colony of 
Virginia," for which tlie Indians received .£.200 in gold and a like sum in 
goods, with a promise that, as settlements increased, more should be paid. 
The Commissioners from Virginia were Colonel Thomas Lee and Colonel 
William Beverly. As settlements extended, the promise of more pay was 
called to mind, and Mr. Conrad Weiser was sent across tlie mountains with 
presents to appease the savages. Col. Lee, and some Virginians accompa- 
nied him with the intention of sounding the Indians upon their feelings 
regarding the English. They were not satisfied with their treatment, 
and plainly told the Commissioners why. The English did not desire the 
cultivation of the country, but the monopoly of the Indian trade. In 
1748, the Ohio Company was formed, and petitioned the king for a grant 
of land beyond the AUeghenies. This was granted, and the government 
of Virginia was ordered to grant to them a half million acres, two hun- 
dred thousand of which were to be located at once. Upon the 12th of 
June, 1749, 800,000 acres from the line of Canada north and west was 
made to the Loyal Company, and on the 29th of October, 1751, 100,000 
acres were given to the Greenbriar Company. All this time the French 
were not idle. They saw that, should the British gain a foothold in 1' ^ 
West, especially upon the Ohio, they might not only prevent the French 



36 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 

settling upon it, Ijut in time would come to the lower posts and so gain 
possession of the whole country. Upon tlie lOlh ot" May, 1774, Vaud- 
reuil. Governor of Canada and the French possessions, well knowing the 
consequences tliatmust arise from allowing the English to build trading 
posts in the Northwest, seized some of their frontier posts, and to further 
secure the claim of the French to the West, he, in 1719, sent Louis Cel- 
eron with a party of soldiers to plant along the Ohio River, in the mounds 
and at the mouths of its principal tributaries, plates of lead, on which 
were inscribed the claims of France. These were heard of in 17-52, and 
within the memory of residents now living along the " Oyo," as the 
beautiful river was called by the French. One of these plates was found 
with the iuscription partly defaced. It bears date August IG, 1749, and 
a copy of the inscription with particular account of the discovery of the 
plate, was sent by DeWitt Clinton to the American Antiquarian Society, 
among whose journals it may now be found.* These measures did not, 
however, deter the English from going on with their explorations, and 
though neither party resorted to arms, yet the conflict was gathering, and 
it was only a question of time when the storm would burst upon the 
frontier settlements. In 1750, Christopher Gist was sent by the Ohio 
Company to exa.nine its lands. He went to a village of the Twigtwees, 
on the Miami, about one Imndred and fifty miles above its mouth. He 
afterward spoke of it as very populous. From there he went down 
the Ohio River nearly to the falls at the present City of Louisville, 
and in November he commenced a survey of the Company's lands. Dur- 
ing the Winter, General Andrew Lewis performed a similar work for tlie 
Greenbriar Company. Meanwhile the French were busy in preparing 
their forts for defense, and in opening roads, and also sent a small party 
of soldiers to keep the Ohio clear. This party, having heard of the Eng- 
lish post on the Miami River, early in 1652, assisted by the Ottawas and 
Chippewas, attacked it, and, after a severe battle, in which fourteen of 
the natives were killed and others wounded, captured the garrison. 
(They were probably garrisoned in a block house). The traders were 
carried away to Canada, and one account says several were buined. Tliis 
fort or post was called by the Englisli Pickawillany. A memorial of the 
king's ministers refers to it as " Pickawillanes, in the center of the terri- 
.tory between the Ohio and tlie Wabash. Tlie name is probably some 
variation of Pickaway or Picqua in 1773, written by Rev. David Jones 
Pickaweke." 

* The following'l3 a traiislatioa of the inscription on the plate: "In tlie year 1749. reign of Louis XV., 
ICiiij; of France, we, Celeron, commandant of a detachment l)y Monsienr the ISIarfiuis of Gallisoniere, cuia- 
niander-in-chief of Is'cw rrance, to estal>li9li tranquility in certain Indian villages of these cantons, have 
buried tins phite at the conflunice of the Toradalioin. this twenty- ninth of July, near tlie river Ohio, otherwise 
Reautiful River, as a monumt- nt of renewal of possession wMiich we have taken of the said river, and all its 
triljutaries; inasniuch as the prerediii^i Kings of France have enjoyed it, and maintaiued it by their arms auU 
treaties; especially by those ol Ryswicli, Utrecht, aud Aix La Cbapelle." 



THE NORTHWEST TEUUITCSJ. 37 

This was the first l>lood shed between tli8 French and Englisli, and 
occurred near the present City of Piqna, Oliio, or at least at a i)oint about 
forty-seven miles north of Dayton. Each nation l)ecanie now more inter- 
ested in the progress of events in the Northwest. Tlie English deter- 
mined to purchase from the Indians a title to the lands they wished to 
occup3% and Messrs. Fry (afterward Commander-in-chief over Washing- 
ton at the commencement of the French War of 1775-1763), Lomax and 
Patton were sent in the Spring of 1752 to hold a conference with the 
natives at Logstown to learn what they objected to in the treaty of Lan- 
caster already noticed, and to settle all difficulties. On the 9th of June, 
these Commissioners met the I'ed men at Logstown, a little village. on the 
north bank of the Ohio, about seventeen miles Ijelow the site of Pitts- 
burgh. Here had been a trading point for ni:iny years, but it was aban- 
doned by the Indians in 1750. At first the Indians declined to recognize 
the treaty of Lancaster, but, the Commissioners taking aside Montour, 
the interpreter, who was a son of the famous Catharine Montour, and a 
chief among the six nations, induced him to use his influence in their 
favor. This he did, and upon the LUh of June they all united in signing 
a deed, confirming the Lancaster treaty in its full extent, consenting to a 
settlement of the southeast of the Ohio, and guaranteeing that it should 
not be disturbed by them. These were the means used to obtain the first 
treaty with the Indians in the Ohio Valley. 

Meanwhile the powers beyond the sea were trying to but-nianojuvre 
each other, and were professing to be at peace. . The English generally 
outwitted the Indians, and failed in many instances to fulfill their con- 
tracts. They thereby gained the ill-will of the red men, and further 
increased the feeling by failing to provide them Avith arms and ammuni- 
tion. Said an old chief, at Easton, in 1758: " The Indians on the Ohio 
left 30U because of your own fault. When we heard the French were 
coming, we asked you for help and arms, but we did not get them. The 
French came, they treated us kindl}-, and gained our affections. The 
Governor of Virginia settled on our lands for his own benefit, and, when 
we wanted help, forsook us." 

At the beginning of 1653, the English thought they had secured by 
title the lands in the West, but the French had quietly gathered cannon 
and military stores to be in readiness for the expected blow. The Eng-^ 
lish made other attempts to ratify these existing treaties, but not until 
the Summer could the Indians be gathered together to discuss the plans 
of the French. They had sent messages to the French, warning them 
away ; but they replied that they intended to complete the ciiain of forts 
already begun, and would not abandon the field. 

Soon after this, no satisfaction being obtained from the Ohio regard- 



J8 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 

ing the positions and jjurposes of the French, Governor Dinwiddie of 
Virginia determined to send to them anotlier messenQer and learn from 
them, if possible, tlieir intentions. For this purpose he selected a young 
man, a surveyor, who, at the early age of nineteen, had received the rank 
of major, and who was thoroughly posted regarding frontier life. This 
personage was no other than the illustrious George Washington, wlio then 
held considerable interest in Western lands. He was at this time just 
twenty-two years of age. Taking Gist as liis guide, the two, accompanied 
by four servitors, set out on their perilous march. They left Will's 
Creek on the 10th of November, 1753, and on the 22d reached the Monon- 
gahela, about ten miles above the fork. From there they went t: 
Logstown, where Washington had a long conference with the chiefs of 
the Six Nations. From them he learned the condition of the Freneli, and 
also lieard of their determination not to come down the river till the fol- 
lowing Spring. The Indians were non-committal, as they were afraid to 
turn either way, and, as far as they could, desired to remain neutral. 
Washington, finding nothing could be done with them, went on to 
Venango, an old Indian town at the mouth of French Creek. Here the 
French had a fort, called Foit Machault. Through the rum and flattery 
of tlie Frencli, he nearly lost all his Indian followers. Finding nothing 
of importance here, he pursued his way amid great privations, and on the 
11th of December reached the fort at the head of French Creek. Here 
lie delivered Governor Dinv/iddie's letter, received his answer, took his 
observations, and on the 16th set out upon his return journey with no one 
but Gist, his guide, and a few Indians wlio still remained true to him, 
notwithstanding tlie endeavors of the French to retain them. Their 
homeward journey was one of great peril and suffering from the cold, 3-et 
they reached liome in safety on the 6th of January, 1754. 

From the letter of St. Pierre, commander of the French fort, sent by 
Washington to Governor Dinwiddie, it was learned tliat the French would 
not give up without a struggle. Active preparations were at once made 
in all the English colonies for the coming conflict, wliile the French 
finislied the fort at Venango and strengthened their lines o'f fortifications, 
and gathered their forces to be in readiness. 

Tlie Old Dominion was all alive. Virginia was the center of great 
activities ; volunteers were called for, and from all the iieigliboring 
colonies men rallied to the conflict, and everywhere along the Potomac 
men were eulisting under the Governor's proclamation — which promised 
two hundred thousand acres on the Ohio. Along this river they were 
ECathering as far as Will's Creek, and far beyond this point, whither Trent 
had come for assistance for his little band of fortj-one men, who were 



THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 39 

working away in hunger and want, to fortify that point at the fork of 
the Ohio, to which both parties were looking with deep interest. 

" The fi\st birds of Spring filled the air with their song ; the swift 
river rolled hy the Allegheny hillsides, swollen by the melting snows of 
Spring and the April showers. The leaves were appearing ; a few Indian 
scouts were seen, but no enemy seemed near at hand ; and all was so quiet, 
that Frazier, an old Indian scout and trader, who had been left by Trent 
in command, ventured to his home at the mouth of Turtle Creek, ten 
miles up the Monongahela. But, though all was so quiet in that wilder- 
ness, keen e3"es had seen the low intrenchment rising at the fork, and 
swift feet had borne the news of it up the river; and upon the morning 
of the ITth of April, Ensign Ward, who then had charge of it, saw 
upon the Allegheny a sight thnt made his heart sink — sixty batteaux and 
three hundred canoes filled with men, and laden deep with cannon and 
stores. * * * That evening he supped with his captor, Contrecoeur, 
and the next day he was bowed off by the Frenchman, and with his men 
and tools, marched up the Monongahela." 

The French and Indian war had begun. The treaty of Aix la 
Chapelle, in 1748, had left the boundaries between the French and 
English possessions unsettled, and the events already narrated show the 
French were determined to hold the country watered by the Mississippi 
and its tributaries ; while the English laid claims to the country by virtue 
of the discoveries of the Cabots, and claimed all the country from New- 
foundland to Florida, extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The 
first decisive blow had now been struck, and the first attempt of the 
English, through the Ohio Company, to occupy these lands, had resulted 
disastrously to them. The French and Indians immediately completed 
the fortifications begun at the Forlc, which they had so easily captured, 
and when completed gave to the fort the name of DuQuesne. Washing- 
ton was at Will's Creek when the news of the capture of the fort arrived. 
He at once departed to recapture it. On his way he entrenched him- 
self at a place called the " Meadows," where he erected a fort called 
by him Fort Necessity. From there he surprised and captured a force of 
French and Indians marching against him, but was soon after attacked 
in his fort by a much superior force, and was obliged to yield on the 
morning of July 4th. He was allowed to return to Virginia. 

The English Government immediately planned four campaigns ; one 
against Fort DuQuesne ; one against Nova Scotia ; one against Fort 
Niagara, and one against Crown Point. These occurred during 1755-6, 
and were not successful in driving the French from tlieir possessions. 
The expedition against Fort DuQuesne was led by the famous General 
Braddock, who, refusing to listen to the advice of Washington and those 



-10 ':'!1^ NOKTHWESX TEERITOET. 

acquainted v.-ith Indian warfare, suffered such an inglorious defeat. Tiiis 
occurred on tlie morning of July 9th, and is generally known as the battle 
of Monongahela, or " Braddock's Defeat." The war continued with 
various vicissitudes through tlie years 1756-7 ; when, at the commence- 
ment of 1758, in accordance with the plans of William Pitt, tlieii Secre- 
tary of State, afterwards Lord Chatham, active preparations were made to 
carry on the war. Tliree expeditions were planned ior this year: one, 
under General Amlieist, against Louisburg ; another, under Abercrombie, 
against Fort Ticonderoga ; and a third, under General Forbes, against 
Fort DuQuesne. On the 2Gth of July, Louisburg surrendered after a 
desperate resistance of more than forty days, and the eastern part of the 
Canadian possessions fell into the hands of the British. Abercrombie 
captured Fort Frontenac, and when the expedition against Fort DuQuesne, 
of which Washington had the active command, arrived there, it was 
found in flames and deserted. The English at once took possession, 
rebuilt the fort, and in honor of their illustrious statesman, changed the 
name to Fort Pitt. 

The great object of the campaign of 1759, was the reduction of 
Canada. General Wolfe was to lay siege to Quebec ; Amherst was to 
reduce Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and General Prideaux was to 
capture Niagara. This latter place was taken in July, but the gallant 
Prideaux lost his life in the attempt. Amherst captured Ticonderoga 
and Crown Point witiiout a blow ; and Wolfe, after making the memor- 
able ascent to the Plains of Abraliam, on September 13th, defeated 
Montcalm, and on the ISth, the city capitulated. In this engagement 
Montcolra and Wolfe Ijoth lost their lives. De Levi, Montcalm's successor, 
marched to Sillery, three miles above the city, with the purpose of 
defeating the English, and tliere, on the 28th of tlie following April, was 
fought one of the bloodiest battles of the French and Indian War. It 
resulted in the defe.xt of tlie French, and the fall of the City of Montreal. 
Tlie Governor signed a capitulation by which the whole of Canada was 
surrendered to the English. This practically concluded the Avar, but it 
was not until 1763 that the treaties of peace between France and England 
were signed. This was done on t '3 10th of February of tliat year, and 
under its provisions all the country east of the Mississippi and north of 
the Iberville River, in Louisiana, were ceded to England. At the same 
time Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain. 

On tlie 13th of September, 1760, Maior Robert Rogers was sent 
from Montreal to take charge of Detroit, the only remaining French post 
in the territory. He arrived there on the 19th of November, and sum- 
moned the place to surrender. At first the commander of the post, 
Beletre. refused, but on the 29th, hearing of the continued defeat of the 



THE NORTHWEST TERRrTORY. 41 

French arms, surrendered. Rogers remained there until December 23d 
under the personal protection of the celebrated chief, Pontiac, to whom, 
no doubt, he owed his safety. Pontiac had come here to inquire the 
purposes of the English in taking possession of the country. He was 
assured that they came simply to trade with the natives, and did not 
desire their country. Tliis answer conciliated tiie savages, and did much 
to insure the safety of Rogers and his party during their stay, and while 
on their journey home. 

Rogers set out for Fort Pitt on December 23, and was just one 
montii on the way. His route was from Detroit to Maumee, thence 
across the present State of Ohio directly to tiie fort. This was the com- 
mon trail of the Indians in their journeys from Sandusky to the fork of 
the Ohio. It went from Fort SanduskN^, where Sandusky City now is, 
crossed the Huron river, then called Bald Eagle Creek, to " Mohickon 
John's Town " on Mohickon Creek, the northern branch of White 
Woman's River, and thence crossed to Beaver's Town, a Delaware town 
on what is now Sandy Creek. At Beaver's Town were probably one 
hundred and fifty warriors, and not less than three thousand acres of 
cleared land. From there the track went up Sandy Creek to and across 
Big Beaver, and up the Ohio to Logstown, thence on to the fork. 

The Northwest Territory was now entirely under the English rule. 
New settlements began to be rapidly made, and the promise of a large 
trade was speedily manifested. Had the British carried out their promises 
with the natives none of those savage butcheries would have been perpe- 
trated, and the country would have been spared their recital. 

The renowned chief, Pontiac, was one of the leading spirits in these 
atrocities. We will now pause in our narrative, and notice the leading 
events in his life. The earliest authentic information regarding this 
noted Indian chief is learned from an account of an Indian trader named 
Alexander Henrj^ who, in the Spring of 1761, penetrated his domains as 
far as Missillimacnac. Pontiac was then a great friend of the French, 
but a bitter foe of the English, whom lie considered as encroaching on his 
hunting grounds. Henry was obliged to disguise himself as a Canadian 
to insure safety, but was discovered by Pontiac, who bitterly reproached 
him and the English for their attempted subjugation of the West. He 
declared that no treaty had been made with them ; no presents sent 
them, and that he would resent any possession of the West by that nation. 
He was at the time about fifty years of age, tall and dignified, and was 
civil and military ruler of the Ottawas, Ojibwas and Pottawatamies. 

The Indians, from Lake Michigan to the borders of North Carolina, 
were united in tiiis feeling, and at the time of the treaty of Paris, ratified 
February 10, 1763, a general conspiracy was formed to fall suddenly 



42 



THE NORTHWEST TEKUITORY. 




PONTIAC, THE OTTAWA CHIEFTAIN. 



THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 43 

upon the frontier Britisli posts, and with one blow strike every man dead. 
Pontiac was tlie marked leader in all this, and was the commander 
of the Chippewas, Ottawas, Wyandots, Miamis, Shawanese, Delawares 
and jNIingoes, who had, for the time, laid aside their local quarrels to unite 
in this enterprise. 

The blow came, as near as can now be ascertained, on May 7, 176?'. 
Nine British posts fell, and the Indians drank, " scooped up in the hollow 
of joined hands," the blood of many a Briton. 

Pontiac's immediate field of action was the garrison at Detroit. 
Here, however, the plans were frustrated by an Indian woman disclosing 
the plot the evening previous to his arrival. Everything was carried out, 
however, according to Pontiac's plans until the moment of action, when 
Major Gladwyn, the commander of the post, stepping to one of the Indiari 
chiefs, suddenly drew aside his blanket and disclosed the concealed 
musket. Pontiac, though a brave man, turned pale and trembled. He 
saw his plan was known, and that the garrison were prepared. He 
endeavored to exculpate himself from any such intentions; but the guilt 
was evident, and he and his followers were dismissed with a severe 
reprimand, and warned never to again enter the walls of the post. 

Pontiac at once laid siege to tiie fort, and until the treaty of peace 
between the British and the Western Indians, concluded in August, 1764, 
continued to harass and besiege the fortress. He organized a regular 
commissariat department, issued bills of credit written out on bark, 
which, to his credit, it may be stated, were punctually redeemed. At 
the conclusion of the treaty, in which it seems he took no part, he went 
further south, living many years among the Illinois. 

He had given up all hope of saving his countr\' and race. After a 
time he endeavored to unite the Illinois tribe and those about St. Louis 
in a war with the whites. His efforts were fruitless, and only ended in a 
quarrel between himself and some Kaskaskia Indians, one of whom soon 
afterwards killed him. His death was, however, avenged by the northern 
Indians, who nearly exterminated the Illinois in the wars which followed. 

Had it not been for the treachery of a few of his followers, his plan 
for the extermination of the whites, a masterly one, would undoubtedly 
have been carried out. 

It was in the Spring of the year following Rogers' visit that Alex- 
ander Henr}- went to Missillimacnac, and everywhere found the strongest 
feelings against the English, who had not carried out their promises, and 
were doing nothing to conciliate the natives. Here he met the chief, 
Pontiac, who, after conveying to him in a speech the idea that their 
French father would awake soon and utterly destroy his enemies, said : 
" Englishman, although you have conquered the French, you have not 



44 THK NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 

yet conquered us ! AVe are not your slaves! These lakes, these woods, 
these mountains, were left us by our ancestors. They are our inheritance, 
and we will part with them to none. Your nation supposes that we, like 
the white people, can not live without bread and pork and Ijeef. But you 
ought to know that He, the Great Spirit and Master of Life, has provided 
food for us upon tliese broad lakes and in these mountains." 

He tlien spoke of the fact that no treaty had been made with them, 
no piesents sent them, and that he and his people were yet for war. 
Sucli were the feelings of the Northwestern Indians immediately after 
tiie English took possession of their countr)'. Tiiese feelings were no 
doubt encouraged by the Canadians and French, who hoped that yet the 
French aims might prevail. The treaty of Paris, however, gave to the 
English the right to this vast domain, and active preparations were going 
on to occupy it and enjoy its trade and emoluments. 

In 1762, France, by a secret treaty, ceded Louisiana to Spain, to pre- 
vent it falling into the hands of the English, who were becoming masters 
of the entire West. Tiie next year the treaty of Paris, signed at Fon- 
tainbleau, gave to the English the domain of the country in question. 
Twenty years after, by the treaty of peace between the United States 
and England, that part of Canada lying south and west of the Great 
Lakes, comprehending a large territory which is the subject of these 
sketches, was acknowledged to be a portion of the United States ; and 
twenty yeai's still later, in 1803, Louisiana was ceded by Spain back to 
France, and by France sold to the United States. 

In the half centur}', from the building of the Fort of Crevecoeur by 
LaSalle. in 1680, up to the erection of Fort Chartres, many French set- 
tlements had been made in that quarter. These have already been 
noticed, being those at St. Vincent (Vincennes), Kohokia or Cahokia, 
Kaskaskia and Prairie du Rocher, on tlie American Bottom, a large tract 
of liuh alluvial soil in Illinois, on the Mississippi, opposite the site of St. 
Louis. 

By the treaty of Paris, the regions east of the Mississippi, including 
all these and other towns of the Northwest, were given over to England; 
but they do not appear to have been taken possession of until 1765, when 
Captain Stirling, in the name of the Majesty of England, established him- 
self at Fort Ciiartres bearing with him the proclamation of General Gage, 
dated December 30, 1764, which promised religious freedom to all Cath- 
olics who worshiped here, and a right to leave the country Avith their 
effects if they wished, or to remain with the privileges of Englishmen, 
It was shortl)' after the occupancy of the West by tiie British that the 
war with Ponti'ac opened. It is already noticed in the sketch of that 
chieftain- By it many a Briton lost his life, and many a frontier settle- 



THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 45 

tnent in its infancy ceased to exist. This was not ended until the year 
17G4, wlien, failing to captui-e Detroit, Niagara and Fort Pitt, his confed- 
eracy became disheartened, and, receiving no aid from the French, Pon- 
tiae abandoned the enterprise and departed to the Illinois, among whom 
he afterwaid lost his life. 

As soon as these difficulties were definitely settled, settlers began 
rapidly to survey the country and prepare for occupation. During the 
year 1770, a number of persons from Virginia and other British provinces 
explored and marked out nearly all the valuable lands on the Mononga- 
hela and along the banks of the Ohio as far as the Little Kanawha. Tliis 
was followed by another exploring expedition, in which George Washing- 
ton was a party. The latter, accompanied by Dr. Craik, Capt. Crawford 
and others, on the 20th of October, 1770, descended the Ohio from Pitts- 
burgh to tlie mou'h of the Kanawha ; ascended that stream about fourteen 
miles, marked out several large tracts of land, shot several buffalo, which 
were then abundant in the Ohio Valley, and returned to the fort. 

Pittsburgh was at this time a trading post, about which was clus- 
tered a village of some twenty houses, inhabited by Indian traders. This 
jSame year, Capt. Pittman visited Kaskaskia and its neighboring villages. 
He found there about sixty-five resident families, and at Cahokia only 
forty-f.ve dwellings. At Fort Chartres was another small settlement, and 
lit Detroit the garrison were quite prosperous and strong. For a year 
or two settlers continued to locate near some of these posts, generally 
Fort Pitt or Detroit, owing to the fears of the Indians, who still main- 
tained some feelings of hatred to the English. The trade from the posts 
was quite good, and from those in Illinois large quantities of pork and 
fldur found their way to the New Orleans market. At this time the 
policy of the British Government was strongly opposed to the extension 
of the colonies west. In 1763, the King of England forbade, by royal 
proclamation, his colonial subjects from making a settlement beyond the 
sources of the rivers which fall into the Atlantic Ocean. At the instance 
of the Board of Trade, measures were taken to prevent the settlement 
witliout the limits prescribed, and to retain the commerce within easy 
reach of Great Britain. 

The commander-in-chief of the king's forces wrote in 17G9 : " In the 

course of a few years necessity will compel the colonists, should they 

extend their settlements west, to provide manufactures of some kind for 

themselves, and when all connection upheld by commerce with the mother 

ountry ceases, an independency in their government will soon follow." 

In accordance with this policy. Gov. Gage issued a proclamation 
in 1772, commanding the inhabitants of Vincennes to abandon their set- 
tlements and join some of the Eastern English colonies. To this they 



46 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 

strenuously objected, giving good reasons therefor, and -were allowed to 
remain. The strong opposition to this policy of Great Britain led to its 
change, and to such a course as to gain the attachment of the French 
population. In December, 1773, influential citizens of Quebec petitioned 
the king for an extension of the boundary lines of that province, which 
was granted, and Parliament passed an act on Juno 2, 1774, extend- 
ing the boundary so as to include the territory lying within the present 
States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan. 

In consequence of the liberal policy pursued by the British Govern- 
ment toward the French settlers in the West, they were disposed to favor 
that nation in the war which soon followed with the colonies ; but the 
early alliance between France and America soon brought them to the side 
of the war for independence. 

In 1774, Gov. Dunmore, of Virginia, began to encourage emigration 
to the Western lands. He appointed magistrates at Fort Pitt under the 
pretense that the fort was under the government of that commonwealth. 
One of these justices, John Connelly, who possessed a tract of land in the 
Ohio Valley, gathered a force of men and garrisoned the fort, calling it 
Fort Dunmore. This and other parties were formed to select sites for 
settlements, and often ca;ne in conflict with the Indians, who yet claimed 
portions of the valley, and several battles followed. These ended in the 
famous battle of Kanawha in July, where the Indians were defeated and 
driven across the Ohio. 

During the years 1775 and 1776, by the operations of land companies 
and the perseveranceof individuals, several settlements were firmly estab- 
lished between the Alleghanies and the Ohio River, and wester::> land 
speculators were busy in Illinois and on the Wabash. At a council held 
in Kaskaskia on July 5, 1773, an association of English traders, calling 
themselves the " Illinois Land Company," obtained from ten chiefs of the 
Kaskaskia, Cahokia and Peoria tribes two large tracts of land lying on 
the east side of the Mississippi River southof the Illinois. In 1775, a mer- 
chant from the Illinois Country, named Viviat, came to Post Vincennes 
as the agent of the association called the "Wabash Land Company. " On 
the 8th of October he obtained from eleven Piankeshaw chiefs, a deed for 
37,497,600 acres of land. This deed was signed by the grantors, attested 
by a number of the inhabitants of Vincennes, and afterward recorded in 
the office of a notary public at Kaskaskia. This and other land com- 
panies had extensive schemes for the colonization of the West ; but all 
were frustrated by the breaking out of the Revolution. On the 20th of 
April, 17fcO, the two companies named consolidated under the name of the 
" United Illinois and Wabash Land Company." They afterward made 



THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 47 

Btrenuous efforts to have these giants sanctioned by Congress, but all 
siyiially failed. 

When the War of the Revolution commenced, Kentucky was an unor- 
ganized country, though tliere were several settlements within her borders. 

In Hutchins' Topography of Virginia, it is stated tliat at that time 
" Kaskaskia contained 80 houses, and nearly 1,000 Avhite and black in- 
habitants — the whites being a little the more numerous. Cahokia con- 
tains 50 houses and 300 white inhabitants, and SO negroes. There were 
east of the Mississippi River, about the year 1771 " — when these observa- 
tions were made — " 300 white men capable of bearing arms, and 230 
negroes." 

From 1775 until the expedition of Clark, nothing is recorded and 
nothing known of these settlements, save what is contained in a report 
made by a committee to Congress in June, 1778. From it the following 
extract is made : 

"Near the mouth of the River Kaskaskia, there is a village which 
appeals to have contained nearly eiglity families from the beginning of 
the late revolution. There are twelve lamilies in a small village at la 
Prairie dii Rochers, and near fifty families at the Kahokia Village. There 
are also four or five families at Fort Chartres and St. Philips, which is five 
miles further up the river." 

St. Louis had been settled in February, 1764, and at this time con- 
tained, including its neighboring towns, over six hundred whites and one 
liundred and fifty negroes. It must be remembered that all the country 
west of the Mississippi was now under French rule, and remained .so until 
ceded again to Spain, its original owner, who afterwards sold it and the 
country including New Orleans to the United States. At Detroit there 
Were, according to Capt. Carver, who was in the Northwest from 176G to 
17G8, more than one hundred houses, and the river was settled fci' more 
than twenty miles, although poorl}- cultivated — the people being engaged 
in t!ie Indian trade. This old town has a history, which we will here 
relate. 

It is the oldest town in the Northwest, having been founded by 
Antoine de Lamotte Cadillac, in 1701. It was laid out in the form of an 
oblong square, of two acres in length, and an acre and a half in width. 
As described by A. D. Frazer, who first visited it and became a permanent 
resident of the place, in 1X78, it comprised within its limits that space 
between Mr. Palmer's store (Conant Block) and Capt. Perkins' house 
(near the Arsenal building), and extended back as far as the public barn, 
and was bordered in front by the Detroit River. It was surrounded by 
oak and cedar pickets, about fifteen feet long, set in the ground, and had 
four gates — east, west, north and south. Over the first tkree of these 



48 THE NOltTHWERT TERRITORY. 

gate;* were block lidines provided with four guns apiere, each a, bix- 
pouiider.. Two six-gun batteries were planted fronting the river and iu a 
parallel divectiou with the blo^k jiouses. There were four streets running 
east and west, the main street being twenty feet wide and tlio rest fifteen 
feet, while the four streets crossing these at right angles were from tenj 
to fifteen feet in width. 

At the date spoken of by ]Mr. Frazer, there was no fort within the' 
enclosure, but a citadel on the ground corresponding to the p/esent 
northwest corner of Jefferson Avenue and Wayne Street. The citadel was 
inclosed by pickets, and within it were erected barracks of wood, two 
stories high, sufficient to contain ten oflBcers, and also barracks sufficient 
to contain four hundred men, and a provision store built of brick. The 
citadel also contained a hospital and guard-house. The old town of 
Detroit, in 1T7S, contained about sixty houses, most of them one story, 
with a few a story and a half in height. Tliey were all of logs, some 
hewn and some round. There was one building of splendid ajj^jcarance, 
called the " King's Palace," two stories high, which stood near the east 
gate. It was built for Governor Hamilton, the first governor commissioned 
by the British. Tiiere were two guard-houses, one near the west gate and 
ihe other near the Government House. Each of the guards consisted of 
twenty-four men and a subaltern, who mounted regularly every morning 
between nine and ten o'clock, Each furnished four sentinels, who were 
relieved every two hours. There was also an officer of the da}', who per- 
formed strict dutj'. Each of the gates was shut regularly at sunset, 
even wicket gates were shut at nine o'clock, and all the kej-s were 
delivered into the hands of the commanding officer. They were opened, 
in the morning at sunrise. No Indian or squaw was permitted to enter 
town with any -weapon, such as a tomahawk or a knife. It was a stand- 
ing order that the Indians should deliver their arms and instruments of 
every kind before they were permitted to pass the sentinel, and they were 
restored to them on their return. No more than twenty-five Indians were 
allowed to enter the town at any one time, and they were admitted only 
at the east and west gates. At sundown the drums beat, and all the 
Indians were required to leave town instantl}'. There was a council house 
near the water side for the purpose of holding council with the Indians. 
The population of the town was about sixty families, in all about two 
hundred males and one hundred females. This town was destroyed by 
lire, all except one dwelling, in 1805. After which the present •' new" 
town was laid out. 

On the breaking out of the Revolution, the British held every post of 
importance in tlie West. Kentucky was formed as a component part of 
V'irginia, and the sturdy jjioneers of the West, alive to their interests, 



THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 45 

and recognizing the great benefits of obtaining the control of the trade in 
this part of tlie New Wojld, hekl steadily to tlieir purposes, and those 
within the commonwealth of Kentucky proceeded to exercise their 
civil privileges, by electing John Todd and Itichard Gallaway, 
burgesses to represent them in the Assembly of the parent state. 
Early in September of that year (1777) the fiist court was held 
in Harrodsburg, and Col. Bowman, afterwards major, who had arrived 
in August, was made the connnander of a militia organization which 
had been commenced the March previous. Thus the tree of loyalty 
was growing. The chief spirit in tliis far-out colony, who had represented 
her the year previous east of the mountains, was now meditating a move 
unequaled in its boldness. He had been watching the movements of the 
British tiiroughout the Nortiiwest, and understood tlieir whole plan. Ht 
saw it was through tlieir possession of the posts at Detroit, Vincennes, 
Kaskaskia, and other places, which would give them constant and easy 
access to the various Indian tribes in the Northwest, that the British 
intended to penetrate the country from the north and soutn, ana annihi- 
late the frontier fortresses. This moving, energetic man was Colonel, 
afterwards General, George Rogers Clark. He knew the Indians were not 
unanimously in accord with the English, and he was convinced that, could 
the British be defeated and expelled from the Northwest, the natives 
might be easily awed into neutrality ; and by spies sent for the purpose, 
he satisfied himself that the enterprise against the Illinois settlements 
might easily succeed. Having convinced himself of the certainty of the 
project, lie repaired to the Capital of Virginia, wliicli place he reached on 
November 5th. While he was on his way, fortunately, on October 17th, 
Burgoyne had been defeated, and the spirits of the colonists greatly 
encouraged thereby. Patrick Henry was Governor of Virginia, and at 
once entered heartily into Clark's plans. The same plan had before been 
■agitated in the Colonial Assemblies, but there was no one until Clark 
came who was sufficiently acquainted with the condition of affairs at the 
scene of action to be able to guide them. 

Clark, having satisfied the Virginia leaders of the feasibility of his 
plan, received, on the 2d of January, two sets of instructions — one secret, 
the other open — the latter authorized him to proceed to enlist seven 
companies to go to Kentucky, subject to liis orders, and to serve three 
months from their arrival in the West. The secret order authorized him 
to arm these troops, to procure his powder and lead of General Hand 
at Pittsburgh, and to proceed at once to subjugate the coiintiy. 

With these instructions Clark repaired to Pittsburgh, choosing rather 
to raise his men west of the mountains, as he well knew all were needed 
in the colonies in the conflict there. He sent Col. W, B. Smith to Hoi- 



50 THE NORTHWEST TERUITORY. 

ston for the same purpose, but neither succeeded in raising the required 
number of men. Tiie settlers in these parts were afraid to leave their 
own firesides exposed to a vigilant foe, and but few could be induced to 
join the projDosed expedition. With three companies and several private 
volunteers, Clark at length commenced his descent of the Ohio, which he 
navigated as far as the Falls, where he took possession of and fortified 
Corn Island, a small island between the present Cities of Louisville, 
Kentucky, and New Albany, Indiana. Remains of this fortification may 
yet be found. At this place he appointed Col. Bowman to meet him 
with such recruits as had reached Kentucky by the southern route, and 
as many as could be spared from the station. Here he announced to 
the men their real destination. Having completed his arrangements, 
and chosen his party, he left a small garrison upon the island, and on the 
2-l:th of June, during a total eclipse of the sun, which to them augured 
no good, and which fixes beyond dispute the date of starting, he with 
his chosen band, fell down the river. His plan was to go by water as 
far as Fort Massac or Massacre, and thence march direct to Kaskaskia. 
Here he intended to surprise the garrison, and after its capture go to 
Cahokia, then to Vincennes, and lastly to Detroit. Should he fail, he 
intended to march directly to the Mississippi River and cross it into the 
Spanish country. Before his start he received two good items of infor- 
mation : one that the alliance had been formed between France and the 
United States; and the other that the Indians throughout the Illinois 
country and the inhabitants, at the various frontier posts, had been led to 
believe by the British that the " Long Knives" or Virginians, were the- 
most fierce, bloodthirsty and cruel savages that ever scalped a foe. With 
this impression on their minds, Clark saw that proper management would 
cause them to submit at once from fear, if surprised, and then from grati- 
tude would become fi-iendly if treated with unexjjected leniency. 

The march to Kaskaskia was accomplished through a hot July sun, 
and the toAvn reached on the evening of July 4. He captured the fort 
near the village, and soon after the village itself by surprise, and without 
the loss of a single man or bj^ killing any of the enemy. After sufficientl}^ 
working upon the fears of the natives, Clark told them they were at per- 
fect liberty to worship as they pleased, and to take whichever side of the 
great conflict they would, also he would protect them from any barbarity 
from British or Indian foe. This had the desired effect, and the inhab- 
itants, so unexpectedly and so gratefully surprised by the unlooked 
for turn of affairs, at once swore allegiance to the American arms, and 
when Clark desired to go to Cahokia on the 6th of July, they accom- 
panied him, and through tiieir influence the inhabitants of the place 
surrendered, and gladly placed themselves under his protection. Thus 



THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. ")'. 

the two important posts in Illinois passed from the hands of the English 
into the possession of Virginia. 

In the person of the priest at Kaskaskia, M. Gibault, Clark found a 
powerful ally and generous friend. Clark saw tiiat, to retain possession 
of the Northwest and treat successfully with the Indians witiiin its boun- 
daries, he must establish a government for the colonies he had taken. 
St. Vincent, the next important post to Detroit, remained yet to be taken 
before the Mississippi Valley was conquered. M. Gibault told him that 
he would alone, by persuasion, lead Vincennes to throw off its connection 
with England. Clark gladly accepted his offer, and on the 14th of July, 
in company with a fellow-townsman, M. Gibault started on his mission of 
peace, and on the 1st of August returned with the cheerful intelligence 
that the post on the " Oubache " had taken the oath of allegiance to 
the Old Dominion. During this interval, Clark established his courts, 
placed garrisons at Kaskaskia and Cahokia, successfully re-enlisted his 
men, sent word to have a fort, which proved the germ of Louisville, 
erected at the Falls of the Ohio, and dispatched Mr. Rocheblave, wiio 
had been commander at Kaskaskia, as a prisoner of war to Richmond. 
In October the County of Illinois was established by the Legislature 
of Virginia, John Todd appointed Lieutenant Colonel and Civil Governor, 
and in November General Clark and his men received the thanks of 
the Old Dominion through their Legislature. 

In a speech a few days afterward, Clark made known fully to the 
natives his plans, and at its close all came forward and swore alle- 
giance to the Long Knives. While he was doing this Goveinor Hamilton, 
having made his various arrangements, had left Deti'oit and moved down 
tiie Waljash to Vincennes intending to operate from that point in reducing 
the Illinois posts, and then proceed on down to Kentucky ai'd drive the 
rebels from the West. Gen. Clark had, on the return of M. Gibault, 
dispatched Captain Helm, of Fauquier County, Virginia, with an attend- 
ant named Henry, across the Illinois prairies to command the fort. 
Hamilton knew nothing of the capitulation of the post, and was greatly 
surprised on his arrival to be confronted by Capt. Helm, who, standing at 
tiie entrance of the fort by a loaded cannon ready to fire upon his assail- 
ants, demanded upon what terms Hamilton demanded possession of the 
fort. Being granted the rights of a prisoner of war, he surrendered to 
the Britisii General, who could scarcely believe his eyes when he saw the 
force in the garrison. 

Hamilton, not realizing the character of the men with whom he was 
contending, gave up his intended campaign for the Winter, sent his four 
hundred Indian warriors to prevent troops from coming down the Ohio, 



52 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 

<and to annoy the Americans in all ways, and sat quietly down to pass the 
Winter. Information of all these proceedings having reached Clark, he 
saw that immediate and decisive action was necessary, and that unless 
he captured Hamilton, Hamilton would capture him. Clark received the 
news on the 29th of January, 1779, and on February 4th, having suffi- 
ciently garrisoned Kaskaskia and Cahokia, he sent down the Mississippi 
a " battoe," as Major Bowman writes it, in order to ascend the Ohio and 
Wabash, and operate with the land forces gathering for the fray. 

On the next day, Clark, with his little force of one hundred and j 
twenty men, set out for the post, and after incredible hard marching 
through much mud, the ground being thawed by the incessant spring- 
rains, on the 22d reached the fort, and being joined bj^ his " battoe," at 
once commenced the attack on the post. The aim of the American back- 
woodsman was unerring, and on the 24th the garrison surrendered to the 
intrepid boldness of Clark. The French were treated with great kind- 
ness, and gladly renewed their allegiance to Virginia. Hamilton was 
sent as a prisoner to Virginia, where he was kept in close confinement. 
During his command of the British frontier posts, he had offered prizes 
to the Indians for all the scalps of Americans they would bring to him, 
and had earned in consequence thereof the title " Hair-buyer General," 
by which he was ever afterward known. 

Detroit was now without doubt within easy reach of the enterprising 
Virginian, could he but raise the necessaiy force. Governor Henry being 
apprised of this, promised him the needed reinforcement, and Clark con- 
cluded to wait until he could capture and sufficiently garrison the posts. 
Had Clark failed in this bold undertaking, and Hamilton succeeded in 
uniting the western Indians for the next Spring's campaign, the West 
would indeed have been swept from the Mississippi to the Allegheny 
Mountains, and the great blow struck, which had been contemplated from 
the commencement, by the British. 

" But for this small army of dripping, but fearless Virginians, the 
union of all the tribes from Georgia to Maine against the colonies might 
have been effected, and the whole current of our history changed." 

At this time some fears were entertained by the Colonial Govern- 
ments that the Indians in the North and Northwest were inclining to the 
British, and under the instructions of Washington, now Commander-in- 
Chief of the Colonial army, and so bravely fighting for American inde- 
pendence, armed forces were sent against the Six Nations, and upon the 
Ohio frontier. Col. Bowman, acting under the same general's orders, 
marched against Indians within the present limits of that State. These 
expeditions were in the main successful, and the Indians were compelled 
to sue for peace. 



THE NORTHWEST TERUITORY. 53 

During this same year (1779) the famous " Land Laws" of Virginia 
were passed. The passage of these laws was of more consequence to the 
pioneers of Kentucky and the Northwest than the gaining of a few Indian 
conflicts. These laws confirmed in main all grants made, and guaranteed 
to all actual settlers their rights and privileges. After providing for the 
settlers, the laws provided for selling the balance of the public lands at 
forty cents per acre. To carry the Land Laws into effect, the Legislature 
sent four Virginians westward to attend to the various claims, over many 
of which great confusion prevailed concerning their validity. These 
gentlemen opened their court on October 13, 1779, at St. Asaphs, and 
continued until April 2G, 1780, when they adjourned, having decided 
three , thousand claims. They were succeeded by the surveyor, whi; 
came in the person of Mr. George May, and assumed his duties on the 
10th day of the month whose name he bore. With the opening of the 
next year (1780) the troubles concerning the navigation of the Missis- 
sippi commenced. The Spanish Government exacted such measures in 
relation to its trade as to cause the overtures made to the United States 
to be rejected. The American Government considered they had a right 
to navigate its channel. To enforce their claims, a fort was erected below 
the mouth of the Ohio on the Kentucky side of the river. The settle- 
ments in Kentucky were being rapidl}' filled by emigrants. It was dur- 
ing this year that the first seminary of learning was established in the 
West in this young and enteiprising Commonwealth. 

The settlers here did not look ujDon the building of this fort in a 
friendly manner, as it aroused the hostility of the Indians. Spain had 
been friendly to tlie Colonies during their struggle for independence, 
and though for a while this friendship appeared in danger from the 
refusal of the free navigation of the river, jet it was finally settled to the 
satisfaction of both nations. 

The Winter of 1779-80 was one of the most unusually severe ones 
ever experienced in the West. The Indians always rei'erred to it as the 
"Great Cold." Numbers of wild animals perished, and not a few 
pioneers lost their lives. The following Summer a party of Canadians 
and Indians attacked St. Louis, and attempted to take possession of it 
in consequence of the friendly disposition of Spain to the revolting 
colonies. They met with such a determined resistance on the part of the 
inhabitants, even the women taking part in the battle, that they wei'e 
compelled to abandon the contest. They also made an attack on the 
settlements in Kentucky, but, becoming alarmed in some unaccountable 
manner, they fled the country in great haste. 

About this time arose the question in the Colonial Congress con- 
cerning the western lands claimed by Virginia, New York, Massachusetts 



54 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 

and Connecticut. The agitation concerning this subject finally led New 
York, on the 19th of February, 1780, to pass a law giving to the dele- 
gates of that State iii Congress the power to cede her western lands for 
the benefit of the United States. Tliis law was laid before Congress 
during the next montli, but no steps were taken concerning it until Sep- 
tember 6th, when a resolution passed that body calling upon the States 
claiming western lands to release their claims in favor of the whole body. 
This basis formed the union, and was the first after all of those legislative 
measures which resulted in the creation of the States of Ohio, Indiana, 
Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. In December of the same 
year, the plan of conquering Detroit again arose. The conquest might 
have easily been effected by Clark had the necessary aid been furnished 
him. Nothing decisive was done, yet the heads of the Government knew 
that the safety of the Northwest from British invasion lay in the capture 
and retention of that important post, the only uneonquered one in tke 
territory. 

Before the close of the year, Kentucky was divided into the Coun- 
ties of Lincoln, Fayette and Jefferson, and the act establishing the Town 
of Louisville was passed. This -same year is also noted in the annals of 
American history as the year in which occurred Arnold's treason to tlie 
United States. 

Virginia, in accordance with the resolution of Congress, on the 2d 
day of January, 1781, agreed to yield her western lands to the United 
States upon certain conditions, which Congress would not accede to, and 
the Act of Cession, on the part of the Old Dominion, failed, nor was 
an3'thing farther done until 1783. During all that time the Colonies 
were busily engaged in the struggle with the mother countr}^ and in 
consequence thereof but little heed was given to the Avestern settlements. 
Upon the 16th of April, 1781, the first birth north of the Ohio River of 
American parentage occurred, being that of Mary Hecke welder, daughter 
of the widely known Moravian missionai-y, whose band of Christian 
Indians suffered in after years a horrible massacre by the hands of the 
frontier settlers, who had been exasperated by the murder of several of 
their neighbors, and in their rage committed, without regard to humanity, 
a deed which forever afterwards cast a shade of shame upon their lives. 
For this and kindred outrages on the jiart of the whites, the Indians 
committed many deeds of cruelty which darken the years of 1771 and 
1772 in the history of the Northwest. 

During the year 1782 a number of battles among the Indians and 
frontiersmen occurred, and between the Moravian Indians and the Wyan- 
dots. In these, horrible acts of cruelty were practised on the caj^tives, 
many of such dark deeds transpiring under the leadership of the notorious 



THE NORTHWEST TEKRITOKY. 



55 



frontier outlaw, Simon Girty, whose name, as well as those of his brothers, 
was a terror to women and children. Tiiese occurred chief!}' in the Ohio 
valleys. Cotemporary with tliem were several engagements in Kentucky, 
in which the famous Daniel Boone engaged, and who, often by his skill 
and knowledge of Indian warfare, saved the outposts from cruel destruc- 




IXDIANS ATTACKING FROXTIEKS-MEN. 

tion. By the close of the year victory had perched upon the Amerlcaa 
banner, and on the 30th of November, provisional articles of peace had 
been arranged between the Commissioners of England and her uncon- 
querable colonies. Cornwallis had been defeated on the 19th of October 
preceding, and the liberty of America was assured. On the 19th of 
April following, the anniversary of the battle of Lexington, peace was 



5G THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 

proclaimed to the army of the United States, and on the 3d of the next 
September, the definite treaty which ended our revolutionary struggle 
was concluded. By the terms of that treaty, the boundaries of the West 
were as follows : On the north the line was to extend along tiie center of 
the Great Lakes ; from the western point of Lake Suj^erior to Long Lake ; 
thence to the Lake of the Woods ; thence to the head of the Mississippi 
River; down its center to the 81st parallel of latitude, then on that line 
east to the head of the Appalachicola River; down its center to its junc- 
tion with the Flint : thence straight to the head of St. Mary's River, and 
thence down along its center to the Atlantic Ocean. 

Following the cessation of hostilities with England, several posts 
were still occupied by the British in the North and West. Among these 
was Deti'oit, still in the hands of the enemjr. Numerous engagements 
with the Indians throughout Ohio and Indiana occurred, upon whose 
lands adventurous whites would settle ere the title had been acquired by 
the proper treaty. 

To remedy this latter evil, Congress appointed commissioners to 
treat with the natives and purchase their lands, and prohibited the set- 
tlement of the territory until this could be done. Before the close of the 
year another attempt was made to capture Detroit, which was, however, 
not pushed, and Virginia, no longer feeling the interest in the Northwest 
she had formerly done, withdrew her troops, having on the 20th of 
December preceding authorized the whole of her possessions to be deeded 
to the United States. This was done on the 1st of March following, and 
the Northwest Territory passed from the control of the Old Dominion. 
To Gen. Clark and his soldiers, however, she gave a tract of one hundred 
and fifty thousand acres of land, to be situated any where north of the 
Ohio wherever they chose to locate them. They selected the region 
opposite the falls of the Ohio, where is now the dilapidated village of 
Clarksville, about midway between the Cities of New Albany and Jeffer- 
sonville, Indiana. 

While the frontier remained thus, and Gen. Haldimand at Detroit 
refused to evacuate alleging that he had no orders from his King to do 
so, settlers were rapidly gathering about the inland forts. In the Spring 
of 1784, Pittsburgh was regularly laid out, and from the journal of Arthur 
Lee, who passed through the town soon after on his way to the Indian 
council at Fort Mcintosh, we suppose it was not very prepossessing in 
appearance. He says : 

" Pittsburgh is inhabited almost entirely by Scots and Irish, who 
live in paltry log houses, and are as dirty as if in the north of Ireland or 
even Scotland. There is a great deal of trade carried on, the goods being 
bought at the vast expense of forty-five shillings per pound from Phila- 



THE NOKTHWEST TEUUITORY. Oi 

delphia and Baltimore. They take in the shops flour, wheat, skins and 
monej". There are in the town four attorneys, two doctors, and not a 
priest of any persuasion, nor church nor chapel." 

Kentucky at this time contained thirty thousand inhabitants, and 
was beginning to discuss measures for a separation from Virginia. A 
hind office was opened at I>ouisville, and measures were adopted to take 
defensive precaution against the Indians who were 3-et, in some instances, 
incited to deeds of violence by the British. Before the close of this j'ear, 
1784, the military claimants of land began to occupy them, although no 
entries were recorded until 1787. 

The Indian title to the Northwest was not yet extinguished. They 
held large tracts of lands, and in order to prevent bloodshed Congress 
adopted means for treaties with the original owners and provided for the 
surveys of the lands gained thereby, as well as for those north of the 
Ohio, now in its possession. On January 31, 1786, a treaty was made 
with the Wabash Indians. The treaty of Fort Stanwix had been made 
in 1784. That at Fort Mcintosh in 1785, and through these much land 
was gained. The Wabash Indians, however, afterward refused to comply 
with the provisions of the treaty made with them, and in order to compel 
their adherence to its provisions, force was used. Daring the year 1786. 
the free navigation of the Mississippi came up in Congress, and caused 
various discussions, which resulted in no definite action, only serving to 
excite speculation in regard to the western lands. Congress had promised 
bounties of land to the soldiers of the Revolution, but owing to the 
unsettled condition of affairs along the Mississippi respecting its naviga- 
tion, and the trade of the Northwest, that body had, in 1783, declared 
its inability to fulfill these promises until a treaty could be concluded 
between the two Governments. Before the close of the year 1786, how- 
ever, it was able, through the treaties with the Indians, to allow some 
grants and the settlement thereon, and on the 14th of September Con- 
necticut ceded to the General Government the tract of laud known as 
the " Connecticut Reserve," and before the close of the following year a 
large tract of land north of the Ohio was sold to a company, who at once 
took measures to settle it. By the provisions of this grant, the company 
were to pay the United States one dollar per acre, subject to a deduction 
of one-third for bad lands and other contingencies. They received 
750,000 acres, bounded on the south by the Ohio, on the east by the 
seventh range of townships, on the west by the sixteenth range, and on 
the north by a line so drawn as to make the grant complete without 
the reservations. In addition to this. Congress afterward granted 100,000 
acres to actual settlers, and 214,285 acres as army bounties under the 
resolutions of 1789 and 1790. 



58 



THE NOKTHWEST TEEEITORY. 



While Dr. Cutler, one of the agents of the company, was pressing 
its claims before Congress, that body was bringing into form an ordinance 
for the political and social organization of this Territory. When the 
cession was made by Virginia, in 17S4, a plan was offered, but rejected. 
A motion had been made to strike from the proposed plan the prohibition 
of slavery, which prevailed. The plan was then discussed and altered, 
and finally passed unanimously, with the exception of South Carolina. 
By this proposition, the Territoiy was to have been divided into states 




PRESENT Sn'E OF 1„^KK STliEET BlUDGE, CHICAGO, IX lSo3. 



I)y parallels and meridian lines. This, it was thought, would make ten 
states, which were to have been named as follows — beginning at the 
northwest corner and going southwardly : Sylvania, Michigania, Cher- 
sonesus, Assenisipia, Metropotamia, lUenoia, Saratoga, Washington, Poly- 
|)otamia and Pelisipia. 

There was a more serious objection to this plan than its category of 
names, — the boundaries. The root of the difficulty was in the resolu- 
tion of Congress passed in October, 1780, which fixed the boundaries 
of the ceded lands to be from one hundred to one hundred and fifty miles 



THE NORTHWEST TEKRITOKY. 59 

square. These resolutions being presented to the Legislatures of Vir- 
ginia and Massachusetts, they desired a change, and in July, 1786, the 
sul) ect was taken up in Congress, and changed to favor a division into 
not more than five states, and not less than three. This was approved by 
the State Legislature of Virginia. The subject of the Government was 
again taken up by Congress in 1786, and discussed throughout that year 
and until July, 1787, when the famous "Compact of 1787" was passed, 
and the foundation of the government of the Northwest laid. This com- 
pact is full}' discussed and explained in the history of Illinois in this book, 
and to it the reader is referred. 

The passage of this act and the grant to the New England Company 
was soon followed by an application to the Government by John Cleves 
Svniraes, of New Jersey, for a grant of the land between the Miamis. 
This gentlenran had visited these lands soon after the treaty of 1786, and, 
being greatly pleased with them, offered similar terms to those given to the 
New England Company. The petition was referred to the Treasury 
Board with power to act, and a contract was concluded the following 
vear. During the Autumn the directors of the New England Company 
were preparing to occupy their grant the following Spring, and upon the 
2:3d of November made arrangements for a party of forty-seven men, 
under the superintendency of Gen. Rufus Putnam, to set forward. Six 
boat-builders were to leave at once, and on the first of January the sur- 
veyors and their assistants, twenty-six in number, were to meet at Hart- 
ford and proceed on their journey westward ; the remainder to follow as 
soon as possible. Congress, in the meantime, upon the :kl of October, 
had ordered seven liundred troops for defense of the western settlers, and 
to prevent unauthorized intrusions ; and two days later appointed Arthur 
St. Clair Governor of tlje Territory of the Northwest. 

AMERICAN SETTLEMENTS. 

Tlie civil organization of the Northwest Territory was now com- 
plete, antl notwithstanding the uncertainty of Indian affairs, settlers from 
the East began to come into the country rapidly. The New England 
Company sent their men during the Winter of 1787-8 pressing on over 
the Alleghenies by the old Indian path which had been opened into 
Braddock"s road, and which has since been made a national turnpike 
from Cumberland westward. Through the weary winter days they toiled 
on, and by April were all gathered on the Yohiogany, where boats had 
been built, and at once started for the Muskingum. Here they arrived 
on the 7th of that month, and unless the Moravian missionaries be regarded 
as the pioneers of Ohio, this little band can justly claim that honor. 



60 



THE NORTHWEST TERRTTOllY. 



Gen. St. Clair, the appointed Governor of tlie Northwast, not having 
yet arrived, a set of laws were passed, written out, and published by 
being nailed to a tree in the embryo town, and Jonathan Meigs appointed 
to administer them. 

Washington in writing of this, the first American settlement in the 
Northwest, said : " No colony in America was ever settled under 
such favorable auspices as that which has just ccimmenced at Muskingum. 
Information, property and strength will be its cliaracteristics. I know 
many of its settlers personally, and there' never were men better calcu- 
lated to promote the welfare of such a community." 




A nONEEIi DWELLING. 



On the 2(1 of July a meeting of the directors and agents was held 
on the banks of the Muskingum, " for the purpose of naming the new- 
born city and its squares." As yet the settlement was known as the 
"Muskingum," but that was now changed to the name Marietta, in honor 
of Marie Antoinette. The square upon which the block - houses stood 
was called ^"^ Campus Martins f square number 19, '■^ Capitolium ;'' square 
number 61, '■'■ Oecilia ;'' and the great road through the covert way, " Sacra 
Via.'" Two days after, an oration was delivered by James M. Varnum, 
who with S. H. Parsons and John Armsti-ong had been apjjointed to the 
judicial bench of the territory on the 16th of October, 1787. On July 9, 
Gov. St. Clair arrived, and the colony began to assume form. The act 
of 1787 provided two district grades of government for the Northwest, 



THE NOItTHWEST TERRITORY. 61 

under the first of wliich the whole power was invested in the hands of a 
governor and three district judges. This was immediately formed upon 
the Governor's arrival, and the first Laws of the colony passed on the 25th 
of July. These provided for the organization of the militia, and on the 
next da}^ appeared the Governor's proclamation, erecting all that country 
that had been ceded by the Indians east of the Scioto River into the 
County of Washington. From that time forward, notwithstanding the 
doubts 3'et existing as to the Indians, all Marietta prospered, and on the 
2d of September the first court of the territory was held with imposing 
ceremonies. 

The emigration westward at this time was very great. The com- 
mander at Fort Harmer, at the month of tlie Muskingum, reported four 
thousand five hundred persons as having passed that post between Feb- 
ruary and June, 1788 — many of whom would have purchased of the 
"Associates," as the New England Company was called, had they been 
ready to receive them. 

On the 26th of November, 1787, Symmes issued a jjamphlet stating 
the terms of his contract and the plan of sale he intended to adopt. In 
Januar^r, 1788, Matthias Denman, of New Jersey, took an active interest 
in Symmes' purchase, and located aniong other tracts the sections upon 
which Cincinnati has been built. Retaining one-third of this locality, he 
sold the other two-thirds to Robert Patterson and John Filson, and the 
three, about August, commenced to lay out a town on the spot, which 
was designated as being opposite Licking River, to the mouih of which 
they proposed to have a road cut from Lexington. The naming of the 
town is thus narrated in the "Western Annals " : — " Mr. Filson, who had 
been a schoolmaster, was appointed to name the town, and, in respect to 
its situation, and as if with a prophetic perception of the mixed race that 
were to inhabit it in after days, he named it Losantiville, which, being 
interpreted, means : ville, the town ; anti, against or opposite to ; os, the 
mouth ; L. of Licking." 

Meanwhile, in Jidy, Symmes got thirt\' persons and eight four-horse 
teams under way for the West. These i-eached Limestone (now Mays- 
ville) in September, where were several persons from Redstone. Here 
Mr. Symmes tried to found a settlement, but the great freshet of 1789 
caused the " Point," as it was and is yet called, to be fifteen feet under 
water, and the settlement to be abandoned. The little band of settlers 
removed to the mouth of the Miami. Before Symmes and his colony left 
the " Point," two settlements had been made on his purchase. The first 
was by Mr. Stiltes, the original projector of the whole plan, who, with a 
colony of Redstone people, had located at the mouth of the Miami, 
whither Symmes went with his Maysville nolonj. Here a clearing had 



62 



THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 



been made by the Indians owing to tlie gi-ea>t fertility of the soil. Mr. 
Stiltes with his colony came to this place on the 18th of November, 1788, 
with twenty-six persons, and, bnilding a block-house, prepared to remain 
through the Winter. Tiiey named the settlement Columbia. Here they 
were kindly treated by the Indians, but suffered greatly from the flood 
of 1789. 

On the 4th of March, 1789, the Constitution of ihe United States 
went into operation, and on April 30, George Washington was inaug- 
urated President of the American people, and during the next Summer, 
an Indian war was commenced by the tribes north of the Ohio. The 
President at first used pacific means; but these failing, he sent General 
Harmer against the hostile tribes. He destroyed several villages, but 



-.._M- 




.» ,-^^. ;k&-j^ ■"^11 iMriir>i 



J ...i.wSS^ 



^ 



LAKE BLFFF. 
Tlie frontage of Lake Bluff Groiindson Laki.- Micliigaii, with uiie tiitmlred and seventy feet of gradual ascent. 



was defeated in two battles, near the present City of Fort Wayne, 
Indiana. From this time till the close of 1795, the principal events were 
the wars with the various Indian tribes. In 1796, General St. Clair 
was appointed in command, and marched against the Indians; but while 
he was encamped on a stream, the St. Mary, a branch of the Maumee, 
he was attacked and defeated with the loss of six hundred men. 

General Wayne was now sent against the savages. In August, 1794, 
he met them near the rapids of the Maumee, and gained a complete 
victory. ■ This success, followed by vigorous measures, compelled the 
Indians to sue for peace, and on the 30th of July, tiie following year, the 
treaty of Greenville was signed by the principal chiefs, by which a large 
tract of country was ceded to the United States. 

Before proceeding in our narrative, we will pause to notice Fort 
Washington, erected in the early part of this war on the site of Cincinnati. 
Nearly all of the great cities of the Northwest, and indeed of the 



THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 63 

wliole country, have hud their nuclei in those rude pioneer structures, 
known as forts or stockades. Thus Forts Dearborn, Washington, Pon- 
chartrain, mark the original sites of the now proud Cities of Chicago, 
Cincinnati and Detroit. So of most of the flourisliing cities east and west 
of the Mississipi)i. Fort Washington, erected by Doughty in 1790, was a 
rude but highly interesting structure. It was composed of a number of 
strongly-built hewed log cabins. Those designed for soldiers' barracks 
were- a story and a half high, while those composing tlie officers quarters 
were more imposing and more conveniently arranged and furnished. 
The whole were so placed as to form a liollow square, enclosing about an 
acre of ground, with a block house at each of the four angles. 

The logs for the construction of this fort were cut from the ground 
upon which it was erected. It stood between Third and Fourth Streets 
of the present cit}'' (Cincinnati) extending east of Eastern Row, now 
Broadway, whicli was then a narrow alley, and the eastern boundar}' of 
of the town as it was originall}' laid out. On the bank of the river, 
immediately in front of the fort, was an appendage of the fort, called the 
Artificer's Yard. It contained about two acres of ground, enclosed by 
small contiguous buildings, occupied by workshops and quartei-s of 
laborers. Within this enclosure there was a large two-story frame liouse, 
familiarly called the " Yellow House," built for the accommodation of 
the Quartermaster General. For many years this was the best finished 
and most commodious edifice in the Queen City. Fort Washington was 
for some time the lieadtjuarters of both the civil and military governments 
of the Northwestern Territorj'. 

Following the consummation of the treaty various gigantic land spec- 
ulations were entered into b}' different persons, who hoped to obtain 
from the Indians in Michigan and northern Indiana, large tracts of lands. 
These were generally discovered in time to prevent the outrageous 
schemes from being carried out, and from involving the settlers in war. 
On October 27, 1795, the treaty between the United States and Spain 
was signed, whereby the free navigation of the Mississippi was secured. 

No sooner had the treat}' of 179.5 been ratified than settlements began 
to pour rapidly into the We.st. The great event of the year 1796 was the 
occupation of that part of the Northwest including Michigan, which was 
this year, under the provisions of the treaty, evacuated by the British 
forces. Tlie United States, owing to certain conditions, did not feel 
justified in addressing the authorities in Canada in relation to Detroit 
and other frontier posts. When at last the British authorities were 
called to give thera U[i, they at once comjDlied, and General Wayne, who 
had done so much to pi-eserve the frontier settlements, and who, before 
the year's close, sickened and died near Erie, transferred his head- 



6V THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 

quarters to tho iieighhorliood of the lakes, wliere a county named after 
him was formed, whicli included the northwest of Ohio, all of Michigan, 
and the northeast of Indiana. During this same year settlements were 
formed at the present City of Chillicothe, along the Miami from Middle- 
town to Piqua, while in the more distant West, settlers and speculators 
began to appear in great numbers. In September, the City of Cleveland 
was laid out, and during the Summer and Autumn, Samuel Jackson and 
Jonathan Sliarpless erected the first manufactory of paper — the " Red- 
stone Paper Mill" — in the West. St. Louis contained some seventy! 
houses, and Detroit over three hundred, and along the river, contiguous 
to it, were more than three thousand inhabitants, mostly French Canadians, 
Indians and half-breeds, scarcely any Americans venturing yet into that 
part of the Northwest. 

The election of representatives for the territory had taken place, 
and on the 4th of February, 1799, they convened at Losantiville — now 
known as Cincinnati, having been named so by Gov. St. Clair, and 
considered the capital of the Territory — to nominate persons from whom 
the members of the Legislature were to be chosen in accordance with 
a previous ordinance. This nomination being made, the Assembly 
adjourned until the 16th of the following September. From those named 
the President selected as members of the council, Henry Vandenburg, 
of Vincennes, Robert Oliver, of Marietta, James Findlay and Jacob 
Burnett, of Cincinnati, and David Vance, of Vanceville. On the 16tli 
of September the Territorial Legislature met, and on the 21th the two 
houses were duly organized, Henry Vandenburg being elected President 
of the Council. 

The message of Gov. St. Clair was addressed to the Legislature 
September 20th, and on October 13th that body elected as a delegate to 
Congress Gen. Wm. Henry Harrison, who received eleven of the votes 
cast, being a majority of one over his opponent, Arthur St. Clair, son of 
Gen. St. Clair. 

The whole number of acts passed at this session, and apjjroved by 
the Governor, were thirty -seven — eleven others were jiassed, but received 
his veto. The most imjjortant of those passed related to the militia, to 
the administration, and to taxation. On the 19th of December this pro- 
tracted session of the first Legislature in the West was closed, and on the 
30th of December the President nominated Charles Willing Bryd to the 
office of Secretary of the Territory vice Wm. Henry Harrison, elected to 
Congress. The Senate confirmed his nomination the next day. 



THE NOKTHWEST TERRITORY. 65 



DIVISION OF THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 

The increased emigration to the Nortlnvest, the extent of the domain, 
and the inconvenient modes of travel, made it very difficult to conduct 
the ordinar}' operations of government, and rendered the efficient action 
of courts almost impossible. To remedy this, it was deemed advisable to 
divide the territory for civil purposes. Congress, in 1800, appointed a 
committee to examine the question and report some means for its solution. 
This committee, on the 3d of March, reported that : 

" In the three western countries there has been but one court having 
cognizance of crimes, in five years, and the immunity which offenders 
experience attracts, as to an asylum, the most vile and abandoned crim- 
inals, and at the same time deters useful citizens from making settlements 
ia such society. The extreme necessit)^ of judiciary attention and assist- 
ance is experienced in civil as well as in criminal cases. * * * * Xo 
minister a remedy to these and other evils, it occurs to this committee 
that it is expedient that a division of said territorj' into two distinct and 
separate governments should be made ; and that such division l)e made 
by a line beginning at the mouth of the Great Miami River, running 
directly north until it intersects the boundary between the United States 
and Canada." 

The report was accepted by Congress, and, in accordance with its 
suggestions, that body passed an Act extinguishing the Northwest Terri- 
tory, which Act was approved May 7. Among its provisions were these : 

" That from and after July 4 next, all that part of the Territory of 
the United States northwest of the Ohio River, which lies to the westward 
of a line beginning at a point on the Ohio, opposite to the mouth of the 
Kentucky River, and running thence to Fort Recovery, and thence north 
until it shall intersect the territorial line between the United States and 
Canada, shall, for the purpose of temporary government, constitute a 
separate territory, and be called the Indiana Territory." 

After providing for the exercise of the civil and criminal powers of 
the territories, and other provisions, the Act further provides : 

" That until it shall otherwise be ordered by the Legislatures of the 
said Territories, respectively, Chillicothe on the Scioto River shall be the 
seat of government of the Territory of the United States northwest of the 
Ohio River; and that St. Vincennes on the Wabash River shall be the 
seat of government for the Indiana Territory." 

Gen. Wm. Henry Harrison was appointed Governor of the Indiana 
Territory, and entered upon his duties about a year later. Connecticut 
also about this time released her claims to the reserve, and in March a law 



66 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 

was passed accepting this cession. Settlements had been made upon 
thirty-five of the townships in the reserve, mills had been built, and seven 
hundred miles of road cut in various directions. On the 3d of November 
the General Assembly met at Chillicothe. Near the close of the year, 
the first missionary of the Connecticut Reserve came, who found no 
township containing more than eleven families. It was upon the first of 
October that the secret treaty had been made between Napoleon and the 
King of Spain, whereby the latter agreed to cede to France the province 
of Louisiana. 

In January, 1802, the Assembly of the Northwestern Territory char- 
tered the college at Athens. From the earliest dawn of the western 
colonies, education was promptly provided for, and as early as 1787, 
newspapers were issued from Pittsburgh and Kentucky, and largely read 
throughout the frontier settlements. Before the close of this year, the 
Congress of the United States granted to the citizens of the Northwestern 
territory the formation of a State government. One of the provisions of 
the " compact of 1787 " provided that whenever the number of inhabit- 
ants within prescribed limits exceeded 45,000, they should be entitled to 
a separate government. The prescribed limits of Ohio contained, from a 
census taken to ascertain the legality of the act, more than that number, 
and on the 30th of April, 1802, Congress passed the act defining its limits, 
and on the 29th of November the Constitution of the new State of Oiiio, 
so named from the beautiful river forming its southern boundary, came 
into existence. The exact limits of Lake Michigan were not then known, 
but the territory now included within the State of Michigan was wholly 
within the territory of Indiana. 

Gen. Harrison, while residing at Vincennes, made several treaties 
witli the Indians, thereby gaining large tracts of lands. The next 3 ear is 
memorable in the history of tlie West for the purchase of Louisiana from 
France by the United States for $15,000,000. Thus by a peaceful mode, 
the domain of the United States was extended over a large tract of 
country west of the Mississippi, and was for a time under the jurisdiction 
of the Northwest government, and, as has been mentioned in the earl}- 
part of this narrative, was called the "New Northwest." The limits 
of this history will not allow a description of its territory. The same year 
large grants of land were obtained from the Indians, and the House of 
Representatives of the new State of Ohio signed a bill respecting the 
College Township in the district of Cincinnati. 

Before the close of the year, Gen. Harrison obtained additional 
-grants of lands from the various Indian nations in Indiana and tlie present 
limits of Illinois, and on the 18th of August, 1804, completed a treaty at 
St. Louis, whereby over 51,000,000 acres of lands were obtained from the 



THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY, 67 

aborigines. Measures were also taken to learn the condition of affairs in 
and about Detroit. 

C. Jouett, the Indian agent in Michigan, still a part of Indiana Terri- 
tory, reported as follows upon the condition of matters at that post : 

" The Town of Detroit. — The charter, which is for fifteen miles 
square, was granted in tlie time of Louis XIV. of France, and is now, 
from the best information I have been able to get, at Quebec. Of those 
two luindred and twenty-five acres, only four are occupied by tlie town 
and Fort Lenault. Tiie remainder is a common, except twenty-four 
acres, which were added twenty years ago to a farm belonging to Wm. 
Macomb. « * « A stockade incloses the town, fort and citadel. Tlie 
pickets, as well as tlie public houses, are in a state of gradual deca}'. The 
streets are nari-ow, straight and regular, and intersect each other at right 
angles. Tlie houses are, for the most part, low and inelegant." 

During tliis year, Congress granted a township of land for the sup- 
port of a college, and began to offer inducements for settlers in tliese 
wilds, and the country now comprising the State of Michigan began to 
fill rapidly with settlers along its southern borders. This same year, also, 
a law was passed organizing the Southwest Territory, dividing it into two 
portions, the Territory of New Orleans, which city was made the seat of 
government, and the District of Louisiana, which was annexed to the 
domain of Gen. Harrison. 

On the 11th of January, 1805, the Territory of Michigan was formed, 
Wra, Hull was appointed governor, with headtjuarters at Detroit, the 
change to take eifect on June 30. On th*e 11th of that month, a fire 
occurred at Detroit, which destroj'-ed almost every building in the place. 
When the officers of the new territory readied the post, they found it in 
ruins, and the inhabitants scattered throughout the country. Rebuild- 
ing, however, soon commenced, and ere long the town contained more 
houses than before the fire, and many of them much better built. 

While this was being done, Indiana had passed to the second grade 
of government, and through her General Assembly had obtained large 
tracts of land from the Indian tribes. To all this the celebrated Indian, 
Tecumthe or Tecumseh, vigorously protested, and it was the main cause 
of his attempts to unite the various Indian tribes in a conflict with the 
settlers. To obtain a full account of these attempts, the workings of the 
British, and the signal failure, culminating in the death of Tecumseh at 
the battle of the Thames, and the close of the war of 1812 in the Northwest, 
we will step aside in our story, and relate the principal events of his life, 
and liis coanection with this conflict. 



G8 



THE NOKTHWEST TERRITORY. 




TECUMSEH, THE SHAWANOE CHIEFTAIiS. 



THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. Qi) 



TECUMSEH, AND THE WAR OF 1812. 

Tliis famous Indian chief was born about the year 1768, not far from 
the site of the present City of Piqua, Ohio. His father, Puckeshinwa, 
was a member of the Kisopok tribe of the Swanoese nation, and his 
inother, Methontaske, was a memljer of the Turtle tribe of the same 
people. Tiiey removed from Florida about the middle of the last century 
to the birthplace of Tecumseh. In 1774, his father, who had risen to be 
chief, was slain at the battle of Point Pleasant, and not long after Tecum- 
seh, by his bravery, became the leader of his tribe. In 179o he was 
declared chief, and then lived at Deer Creek, near the site of the 
present City of Urbana. He remained here about one year, when he 
returned to Piqua, and in 1798, he went to White River. Indiana. In 
1805, he and his brother, Laulewasikan (Open Door), who had announced 
himself as a prophet, went to a tract of land on the Wabash River, given 
them by the Pottawatomies and Kickapoos. From this date the chiei 
comes into prominence. He was now about thirt3'-seven years of age, 
was five feet and ten inches in height, was stoutlj' built, and jiossessed of 
enormous powers of endurance. His countenance was naturally pleas- 
ing, and he was, in general, devoid of those savage attributes possessed 
by most Indians. It is stated he could read and write, and had a confi- 
(lential secretary and adviser, named Billy Caldwell, a half-breed, who 
afterward became chief of the Pottawatomies. He occupied the first 
house built on the site of Chicago. At this time, Tecumseh entered 
upon the great work of his life. He had long objected to the grants of 
bind made Viv the Indians to the whites, and determined to unite all the 
Indian tribes into a league, in order that no treaties or grants of land 
could be made save by the consent of this confederation. 

He traveled constantly, going from north to south ; from the south 
to the noi-th, everywhere urging the Indians to this step. He was a 
matchless orator, and his burning words had their effect. 

Gen. Harrison, then Governor of Indiana, by watching the move- 
ments of the Indians, became convinced that a grand conspiracy was 
forming, and made preparations to defend the settlements. Tecumseh's 
plan was similar to Pontiac's, elsewhere described, and to tlie cunning 
artifice of that chieftain was added his own sagacity. 

During the year 1809, Tecumseh and the prophet were actively pre- 
paring for the work. In that year. Gen. Harrison entered into a treaty 
with the Delawares, Kickapoos, Pottawatomies, Miamis, Eel River Indians 
and Weas, in which these tribes ceded to the whites certain lands upon 
the Wabash, to all of which Tecumseh entered a bitter protest, averring 



70 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 

I 

as one principal reason tliat he did not want tlie Indians to give up any 
lands nortli and west of the Ohio River. 

Tecumseh, in August, 1810, visited tlie General at Vincennes and 
lield a council relating to the grievances of the Indians. Becoming unduly 
angry at this conference he was dismissed fiom the village, and soon after 
departed to incite the southern Indian tribes to the conflict. 

Gen. Harrison determined to move upon the chief's headquarters at 
Tippecanoe, and for this purpose went about sixty-five miles up the 
Wabash, where he built Fort Harrison. From this placfe he went to the 
prophet's tiiwn, where he informed the Indians he had no hostile inten- 
tions, pi'ovided tiiey were true to the existing treaties. He encamped 
near the village early in October, and on the morning of November 7, he 
was attacked by a large force of the Indians, and the famous battle of 
Tippecanoe occurred. The Indians were routed and their town broken 
up. Tecumseh returning not long after, was greatly exasperated at his 
i)rother, the prophet, even threatening to kill him for rashly ju'ecipitating 
tlie war, and foiling liis (Tecumseh's) plans. 

Tecumseh sent word to Gen. Harrison tliat he was now returned 
from the South, and was ready to visit the President as had at one time 
previouslv been proposed. Gen. Harrison informed him he could not go 
as 11 chief, which method Tecumseh desired, and the visit was never 
made. 

In June of the following year, he visited the Indian agent at 
Fort Wayne. Here he disavowed any intention to make a war against 
the United States, and reproached Gen. Harrison for marching against his 
people. The .agent replied to this ; Tecumseh listened with a cold indif- 
ference, and after making a few general lemarks, with a haughty air drew 
his blanket about him, left the council liouse, and departed for Fort Mai- 
den, iu U[)p('r Canada, where he joined the British standard. 

He remained mider this Goveinment, doing effective work for the 
Crown wiiile engaged in the war o± 1812 which now opened. He was, 
however, always humane in his treatmei.'^^ of the prisoners, never allow- 
ing liis warriors to ruthlessly mutilate the bodies of those slain, or wan- 
tonly murder the captive. 

In the Summer of 1813, Perry's victorj^ on Lake Erie occurred, and 
shortly after active preparations were made to capture Maiden. On the 
27th of September, the American army, under Gen. Harrison, set sail for 
the shores of Canada, and in a few hours stood around the ruins of Mai- 
den, from which the British army, under Proctor, had retreated to Sand- 
wich, intending to make its way to tlie heart of Canada by the Valley oi 
tlie Thames. On the 29th Gen. Harrison was at Sandwich, and Gen. 
McArthur took possession of Detroit and the territory of Michigan. 



THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 



ll 



On the 2d of October, tlie AmL'ricitiis began their pursuit of Proctor, 
wh«iu tliey overtook on ihe otli, ;iikI the battle of tlie Thames foUowed. 
Eai'ly in the engagement, Tecuuiseh who was at the head of the eolunui 
of Indians was slain, and they, no longer iiearin.f the voice of their chief- 
tain, fled. The victory was decisive, and practically closed the war in 
the Northwest. 





^W^SSS^ 



INDIAN^S ATTACKING A STOCKAI>S. 



Just who killed the great chief has been a matter of mucli dis{>ute ; 
but the weight of opinion awards the act to Col. Richard M. Johnson, 
who fired at him with a pistol, the shot proving fatal. 

In 1805 occurred Burr's Insurrection. He took possession of a 
beautiful island in the Ohio, after the killing of Hamilton, and is charged 
by many with attempting to set up an independent government. His 
plans were frustrated by the general government, his property confiscated 
and he was compelled to flee the country for safety. 



72 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 

In January, 1807, Governor Hull, of Michigan Territory, made a 
treaty with the lutlians, whereby all that peninsula was ceded to the 
United States. Before the close of the year, a stockade was built about 
Detroit. It was also daring this year that Indiana and Illinois endeavored 
to obtain the repeal of that section of the compact of 1787, whereby 
slavery was excluded from the Northwest Tei'ritory. These attempts, 
however, all signally failed. 

In 1809 it was deemed advisable to divide the Indiana Territory. 
This was done, and the Territory of Illinois was formed from the western 
part, the seat of government being fixed at Kaskaskia. The next year, 
the intentions of Tecumseh manifested themselves in open hostilities, and 
then l)egan the events already narrated. 

While this war was in progress, emigration to the West went on with 
surprising rapidity. In 1811, under Mr. Roosevelt of New York, the 
first steamboat trip was made on the Ohio, much to the astonishment of 
the natives, many of whom fled in terror at the appearance of the 
" monster." It arrived at Louisville on the 10th day of October. At the 
close of the first week of Januaiy, 1812, it arrived atNatcliez, after being 
nearly overwhelmed in the great earthquake whicli occurred while on its 
downward trip. 

The battle of the Thames was fought on October 6, 1813. It 
effectually closed hostilities in the Northwest, although peace was not 
fully restored until July 22, 1814, when a treaty was formed at Green- 
ville, under the direction of General Harrison, between the United States 
and the Indian tribes, in which it was stii>ulated that the Indians should 
cease hostilities against the Americans if the war were continued. Such, 
happily, was not the case, and on the 24th of December the treaty 
of Ghent was signed by the representatives of England and the United 
States. This treaty was followed the next year by treaties with various 
Indian tribes throughout tlie West and Northwest, and quiet was again 
restored in this part of the new world. 

On the 18th of March, 1816, Pittsburgh was incorporated as a city. 
It then had a population of 8,000 people, and was already noted for its 
manufacturing interests. On April 19, Indiana Territory was allowed 
to form a state government. At that time there were thirteen counties 
organized, containing about sixty-three thousand inhabitants. The first 
election of state officers was held in August, when Jonathan Jennings 
was chosen Governor. The officers were sworn in on November 7, and 
on December 11, the State was formallj^ admitted into the Union. For 
some time the seat of government was at Corydon, but a more central 
location being desirable, the present capital, Indianapolis (City of Indiana), 
was Uiid out January 1, 1825. 



y 



THE NORTHWEST TERBITORY. 73 

Oil the 28th of December the Bank of Illinois, at Shawneetown, was 
chartered, with a capital of $300,000. At this period all banks were 
under the control of the States, and were allowed to establish branches 
at different convenient points. 

Until this time Chillicothe and Cincinnati had in turn enjoyed the 
privileges of being the capital of Ohio. But the rapid settlement of the 
northern and eastern portions of the State demanded, as in Indiana, a 
more "Central location, and before the close of the year, the site of Col- 
umbus was selected and surveyed as the future capital of the State. 
Banking had begun in Ohio as early as 1808, when the first bank was 
chartered at Marietta, but here as elsewhere it did not bring to the state 
the hoped-for assistance. It and other banks were siiljsequently unable 
to redeem their currency, and were obliged to suspend. 

In 1818, Illinois was made a state, and all the territor}- north of her 
northern limits was erected into a separate territory and joined to Mich- 
igan for judicial purposes. By the following year, navigation of the lakes 
was increasing with great rapidity and affording an immense source of 
revenue to the dwellers in the Northwest, but it was not until 1820 thai 
the trade was extended to Lake Michigan, or that steamships beg^an to 
navigate the bosom of that inland sea. 

Until the year 1832, the commencement of the Black Hawk War, 
but few hostilities were experienced with the Indians. Roads were 
opened, canals were dug, cities were built, common schools were estab- 
lished, universities were founded, many of which, especially the iMichigaii 
University, have achieved a world wide-reputation. The people were 
becoming wealthy. The domains of the United States had been extended, 
and had the sons of the forest been treated with honesty and justice, tlic 
record of many years would have been that of peace and continuous pros- 
perity. 

BLACK HAWK AND THE BLACK HAWK WAR. 

This conflict, though confined to Illinois, is an important epoch in 
the Northwestern history, being the last war with the Indians in this part 
of the United States. 

Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiah, or Black Hawk, was born in the principal 
Sac village, about three miles from the junction of Rock River with the 
Mississippi, in the year 1767. His father's name was Py-e-sa or Pahaes ; 
his grandfather's, Na-na-ma-kee, or the Thunderer. Black Hawk early 
distinguished himself as a warrior, and at the age of fifteen was permitted 
to paint and was ranked among the braves. About the year 1783, he 
Went on an expedition against the enemies of his nation, the Osages, one 



THE NOUTHWEST TERRITORY. 








nr^Acic iiAwic, the sac chieftain. 



THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 75 

of whom he killed and scalped, and for this deed of Indian bravery he was 
permitted to join in the scalp dance. Three or four years after he, at the 
• head of two hundred braves, went on another expedition against the 
Osages, to avenge the murder of some women and children belonging to 
his own tribe. Meeting an equal number of Osage warriors, a fierce 
battle ensued, in which the latter tribe lost one-half their number. The 
Sacs lost only about nineteen warriors. He next attacked the Cherokees 
for a similar cause. In a severe battle with them, near the present City 
of St. Louis, his father was slain, and Black Hawk, taking possession of 
the " Medicine Bag," at once announced himself chief of the Sac nation. 
He had now conquered the Cherokees, and about the year 1800, at the 
head of five hundred Sacs and Foxes, and a hundred lowas, he waged 
war against the Osage nation and subdued it. For two years he battled 
successfully with other Indian tribes, all of whom he conquered. 

Black Hawk does not at any time seem to have been friendly to 
the Americans. When on a visit to St. Louis to see his " Spanish 
Father," he declined to see any of the Americans, alleging, as a reason, 
he did not want two fathers. 

The treaty at St. Louis was consummated in 1804. The next year the 
United States Government erected a fort near the head of the Des Moines 
Rapids, called Fort Edwards. This seemed to enrage Black Hawk, who 
at once determined to capture Fort Madison, standing on the west side of 
the Mississippi above the mouth of the Des Moines River. The fort was 
garrisoned by about fifty men. Here he was defeated. The difficulties 
with the British Government arose about this time, and the War of 1812 
followed. That government, extending aid to the Western Indians, by 
giving them arms and ammunition, induced them to remain hostile to the 
Americans. In August, 1812, Black Hawk, at the head of about five 
hundred Ijraves, started to join the British forces at Detroit, passing on 
his way the site of Chicago, where the famous Fort Dearborn Massacre 
h:.:^ a few days before occurred. Of his connection with the British 
uc , ernment but little is known. In 1813 he with his little band descended 
the Mississippi, and attacking some United States troops at Fort Howard 
was defeated. 

In the early part of 1815, the Indian tribes west of the Mississippi 
were notified that peace had been declared between the United States 
and England, and nearly all hostilities had ceased. Black Hawk did not 
sign any treaty, however, until May of the following year. He then recog- 
nized the validity of the treaty at St. Louis in 1804. From the time of 
signing this treaty in 1816, until the breaking out of the war in 1832, he 
and his band passed their time in the common pursuits of Indian life. 

Ten years before the commencement of this war, the Sac and Fox 



76 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. I 

Indians were urged to join the lowas on the west bank of the Father of 
Waters. All were agreed, save the band known as the British Band, of 
which Black Hawk was leader. He strenuously objected to the removal, 
and \vas induced to comply only after being threatened with the power of 
the Government. This and various actions on the part of the white set- 
tlers provoked Black Hawk and his band to attempt the capture of his 
native village now occupied by the whites. The war followed. He and 
his actions were undoubtedly misunderstood, and had his wishes been 
acquiesced in at the beginning of the struggle, much bloodshed would 
have been prevented. 

Black Hawk was chief now of the Sac and Fox nations, and a noted 
warrior. He and his tribe inhabited a village on Rock River, nearly three 
miles above its confluence with the Mississippi, where the tribe had lived 
many generations. When that portion of Illinois was reserved to them, 
they remained in peaceable possession of their reservation, spending their 
time in the enjoyment of Indian life. The fine situation of their village 
and the quality of their lands incited the more lawless white settlers, who 
from time to time began to encroach upon the red men's domain. From 
one pretext to another, and from one step to another, the crafty white 
men gained a foothold, until through whisky and artifice they obtained 
deeds from many of the Indians for their possessions. The Indians were 
finally induced to cross over the Father of Waters and locate among the 
lowas. Black Hawk was strenuously opposed to all this, but as the 
authorities of Illinois and the United States thought this the best move, he 
was forced to comply. Moreover other tribes joined the whites and urged 
the removal. Black Hawk would not agree to the terms of the treaty 
made with his nation for their lands, and as soon as the military, called to 
enforce his removal, had retired, he returned to the Illinois side of the 
river. A large force was at once raised and marched against him. On 
the evening of May 14, 1832, the first engagement occurred between a 
band from this army and Black Hawk's band, in which the former were 
defeated. 

This attack and its result aroused the whites. A huge force of men 
was raised, and Gen. Scott hastened from the seaboard, by way of the 
lakes, with United States troops and artillery to aid in the subjugation of 
the Indians. On the 24th of June, Black Hawk, with 200 warriors, was 
repulsed by Major Demont between Rock River and Galena. The Ameri- 
can army continued to move up Rock Rivei- toward the main body of 
the Indians, and on the 21st of July came upon Black Hawk and his band, 
and defeated them near the Blue Mounds. 

Before this action, Gen. Henry, in command, sent word to the main 
army by whom he was immediately rejoined, and the whole crossed the J 



THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 77 

Wisconsin in pursuit of Black Hawk and his band who were fleeing to the 
Mississippi. They were overtaken on the 2d of August, and in the battle 
which followed the power of the Indian chief was completely broken. He 
fled, but was .seized by the Winnebagoes and delivered to the whites. 

On the 21st of September, 1832, Gen. Scott and Gov. Reynolds con- 
cluded a treaty with the Winnebagoes, Sacs and Foxes by which they 
ceded to the United States a vast tract of country, and agreed to remain 
])eaceable with the whites. • For the faithful performance of the iirovi- 
sions of this treaty on the part of the Indians, it was stipulated that 
Black Hawk, his two sons, the prophet Wabokieshiek, and six other chiefs 
of the hostile bands should be retained as hostages during the pleasure 
of the President. They were confined at Fort Barracks and put in irons. 

The next Spring, by order of the Secretary of War, they were taken 
to Washington. From there they were removed to Fortress Monroe, 
"there to remain until the conduct of their nation was such as to justify 
their being set at liberty-." They were retained here until the 4th of 
June, when the authorities directed them to be taken to the principal 
cities so that they might see the folly of contending against the white 
people. Ever3'where they Avere observed by thousands, the name of the 
old chief being extensively known. By the middle of August they 
reached Fort Armstrong on Rock Island, where Black Hawk was soon 
after released to go to his countrymen. As he passed the site of his birth- 
place, now the home of the white man, he was deeply moved. His village 
where he was born, where he had so happily lived, and where he had 
hoped to die, was now another's dwelling place, and he was a wanderer. 

On the next d.ay after his release, he went at once to his tribe and 
his lodge. His wife was 3'et living, and with her he passed the remainder 
of his da3-s. To his credit it may be said that Black Hawk always re- 
mained true to his wife, and served her with a devotion uncommon among 
the Indians, living with her upward of forty years. 

Black Hawk now passed his time hunting and fishing. A deep mel- 
ancholj^ had settled over him from which he could not be freed. At all 
times when he visited the whites he was received with marked atten- 
tion. He was an honored guest at the old settlers' reunion in Lee County, 
Illinois, at some of their meetings, and received many tokens of esteem. 
In September, 1838, while on his way to Rock Island to receive his 
annuity from the Government, he contracted a severe cold which resulted 
in a fatal attack of bilious fever which terminated his life on October 3. 
His faithful wife, who was devotedly attached to him, mourned deeply 
during his sickness. After his death he was dressed in the uniform pre- 
sented to him by the President while in Washington. He was buried in 
a grave six feet in depth, situated upon a beautiful eminence. " The 



( 

78 THE NORTHWEST TEIIKITORY. 

body was placed in the middle of the grave, in a sitting posture, upon a 
seat consti'ucted for the puri^ose. On his left side, the cane, given him 
by Henry Clay, was placed upright, with his right hand resting upon it. 
Many of the old warrior's troj^hies were placed in the gi'ave, and some 
Indian garments, together with liis favorite weapons." 

No sooner was the Black Hawk war concluded than settlers began 
rapidly to pour into the northern parts of Illinois, and into Wisconsin, 
now free from Indian depredations. Chicago, from a trading post, had 
grown to a commercial center, and was rapidly comiiig into prominence. 
In 1835, the formation of a State Government in Micliigan was discussed, 
but did not take active form until two years later, when the State became 
a part of the Federal Union. 

Tlie main attraction to tliat portion of the Noi'thwest lying west of 
Lake Michigan, now included in the State of Wisconsin, was its alluvial 
wealth. Copper ore was found aliout Lake Superior. For some time this 
region was attached to Michigan for judiciary purposes, but in 183(1 was 
made a territory, then including Minnesota and Iowa. The latter State 
was detached two years later. In 1848, W^isconsin was admitted as a 
State, Madison being made the capital. We have now traced the various 
divisions of the Northwest Territory (save a little in Minnesota) from 
the time it was a unit comprising this vast territory, until circumstances 
compelled its present division. 



THE XOUTHWEST TERRITORY. 



la 



PRESENT CONDITION OF THE NORTHWEST 

Preceding clia[itei's have brought us to the close of the Black Hav/k 
War, ami we now turn to the contemplation of the growth and prosperity 
cf the Northwest under the sm'.le cf peace and the blessings of our civil: ■ 
za-ti'>n. The pioneers of this region date events back to the deep sac-v?' 




OLD FORT DEARBORN', 1830. 



of 1831, no one arriving here since that date taking first honors. The 
inciting cau e of the iniraigration which overflowed the ]iraiiies early in 
the '3Us was the reports of the marvelous beauty and fertility of the 
region distributed through the East by those M-ho had participated in the 
Black Hawk campaign with Gen. Scott. ("!hicago and Milwaukee then 
had a few hundred inhabitants, and Gurdon S. Hubbard's trail from the 
former c'ty to Kaskaskia led almost through a wilderness. Vegetables 
and clothing were largely distributed through the regions adjoining the 



THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 



lakes by steamers from the Ohio towns. There are men now living in 
Illinois who came to the stute when barely an acre was in cultivation, 
and a man now prominent in the business circles of Chicago looked over 
the swampy, cheeiless site of that metropolis in 1818 and went south 
ward into civilization. Emigrants from Pennsylvania in 1830 left behind 




LINOOLX MONUMENT, SPKINGFIELD, ILLINOIS. 

them hut one small railway in tlie coal regions, thirty miles in length, 
and made their way to the Northwest mostly with ox teams, finding in 
Northern Illinois petty settlements scores of miles apart, although the 
southern portion of the state was fairly dotted with farms. The 
water courses of the lakes and rivers furnished transportation to the 
second great army of immigrants, and about 1850 railroads were 
pushed to that extent that the crisis of 1837 was precipitated upon us, 



THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 



81 



from the effects of which the Western couiitiy had not fully recovered 
at the outbreak of the war. Hostilities found the colonists of the prairies 
fully alive to the demands of the occasion, and the lioiior of recruiting 



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the vast armies of the Union fell largely to Gov. Yates, of Illinois, and 
Gov. j\Io-k-ton, of Indiana. To recount the share of the glories of the 
campaign won hy our Western troops is a needless task, except to 
mention the fact that Illinois gave to the nation the President who saved 



THE NORTHWEST TEUltlTORY. 



it. and sent out at the head of one of its regiments tne general wlio led 
•ts armies to the final \ictoTy at Appomattox. The struggle, on ths 




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< 

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a 



whole, had a marked effect for the better on the new Northwest, g: dng 
it an impetus which twenty years of jDeace would not have produced. 
In a large degree this prosperity was an inflated one, and with the rest 
of the Union we have since been compelled to atone therefor by four 



THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 83 

years of depression of values, of scarcity of employment, and loss of 
fortune. To a less degree, however, than the manufacturing or mining- 
regions has the West suffered during the prolonged panic now so near its 
end. Agriculture, still the leading feature in our industries, has been 
quite prosperous through all these dark years, and the farmers have 
cleared away many incumbrances resting over them from the period of 
fictitious values. The population has steadily increased, the arts and 
sciences are gaining a stronger foothold, the trade area of the region is 
becoming daily more extended, and we have been largely exempt from 
the financial calamities which have nearly wrecked communities on the 
seaboard dependent wholly on foreign' commerce or domestic manufacture. 

At the present period there are no great schemes broached for the 
Northwest, no proijositions for government subsidies or national works 
of improvement, but the capital of the world is attracted hither for the 
purchase of our products or the expansion of our capacity for serving the 
nation at large. A new era is dawning as to transportation, and we bid 
fair to deal almost exclusively with tlie increasing and expanding lines 
of steel rail running througli every few miles of territory on the prairies. 
The lake marine will no doubt continue to be useful in tlie warmer 
season, and to serve as a regulator of freight rates; but experienced 
navigators forecast the decay of the system in moving to the seaboard 
the enormous crops of the West. Within the past five years it has 
become quite common to see direct shipments to Europe and the West 
Indies going through from the second-class towns along the Mississippi 
and Missouri. 

As to popular education, the standard has of late risen very greatly, 
and our schools would be creditable to any section of the Union. 

j\Iore and more as the events of the war pass into obscurity will the 
fate of the Northwest be linked with that of the Southwest, and the 
next Congressional apportionment will give the valley of the Mississippi 
absolute control of the legislation of the nation, and do much toward 
securing the removal of the Federal capitol to some more central location. 

Our public men continue to wield the full share of influence pertain- 
ing to their rank in the national autonomy, and seem not to forget that 
for the past sixteen years they and their constituents have dictated the 
principles which should govern the country. 

In a work like this, destined to lie on the shelves of the library for 
generations, and not doomed to daily destruction like a newspaper, one 
can not indulge in the same glowing predictions, the sanguine statements 
of actualities that fill the columns of ephemeral publications. Time may 
bring grief to the pet projects of a writer, and explode castles erected on 
a pedestal of facts. Yet there are unmistakable indications before us of 



84 '-THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 

the same radical change in our great Northwest which characterizes its 
history for the jDast thirty years. Our domain lias a sort of natural 
geographical border, save where it melts away to the southward in the 
cattle raising districts of the southwest. 

Our prime interest will for some years doubtless be the growth of 
the food of the world, in which branch it has already outstripped all 
competitors, and our great rival in this duty will nat\irally be the fertile 
plains of Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado, to say nothing of the new 
em2iire so rapidly growing up in Texas. Over these regions there is a 
continued progress in agriculture and in railway building, and we must 
look to our laurels. Intelligent observers of events are fully aware of 
the strides made in the way of shipments of fresh meats to Europe, 
many of these ocean cargoes being actually slaughtered in the West and 
transported on ice to the wharves of the seaboard cities. That this new 
entei'prise will continue there is no reason to doubt. There are in 
Chicago several factories for the canning of prepared meats for European 
consumption, and the orders for this class of goods are already immense. 
Englisli capital is becoming daily more and more dissatisfied with railway 
loans and investments, and is gradually seeking mammoth outlays in 
lands and live stock. The stock yards in Chicago, Indianapolis and East 
St. Xouisare yearly increasing their facilities, and their plant steadily 
grows more valuable. Importations of blooded animals from the pro- 
gressive countries of Europe are destined to greatly improve the quality 
of our beef and mutton. Nowhere is there to be seen a more enticing 
display in this line than at our state and count)' fairs, and the interest 
in the matter is on the increase. 

To attempt to give statistics of our grain production for 1877 would 
be useless, so far have we surpassed ourselves in the quantity and 
quality of our product. We are too liable to forget that we are giving 
the world its first article of necessity — its food supply. An opportunity 
to learn this fact so it never can be forgotten was afforded at Cliicago at 
the outbreak of the great panic of 1873, when Canadian purchasers, 
fearing the prostration of business mightbring about an anarchical condition 
of affairs, went to that city with coin in bulk and foreign drafts to secure 
their supplies in their own currency at fii'st liands. It may be justly 
claimed by the agricultural community that their combined efforts gave 
the nation its first imj^etus toward a restoration of its crippled industries, 
and their labor brought the gold premium to a lower depth than the 
government was able to reach hy its most intense efforts of legislation 
and comi^ulsion. Tlie hundreds of millions about to be disbursed for 
farm products have already, by the anticipation common to all commercial 



THE NORTHWEST TKUUITORY. 



85 



imtions, set the wheels in uiotioii, and will relieve us from the perils so 
long shadowing our efforts to return to a healtliy tone. 

Manufacturing lias attained in the chief cities a foothold wliicli bids 
fair to render the Nm-tliwest iudeiiendent of the outside world. Nearly 




ITUXTIXC; PRAIRIE WOLVES IX AX EAKLY DAY. 



onr whole region has a distribution of coal measures which will in time 
support the manufactures necessary to our comfort and prosperity. As 
to transportation, the chief factor in the production of all articles excep*^' 
food, no section is so magnificently endowed, and our facilities are yearly- 
increasing beyond those of any other region. 



86 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 

The period from a central point of the war to the outbreak of the 
panic was marked by a tremendous growth in our railway lines, but the 
depression of the times caused almost a total suspension of operations. 
Now that prosperity is returning to our stricken country we witness its 
anticipation by the railroad interest in a series of projects, extensions, 
and leases whicli bid fair to largely increase our transjDortation facilities. 
The process of foreclosure and sale of incumbered lines is another matter 
to be considered. In the case of the Illinois Central road, which formerly 
transferred to other lines at Cairo the vast burden of freight destined for 
the Gulf region, we now see the incorporation of the tracks connecting 
through to New .Orleans, every mile co-operating in turning toward the 
northwestern metropolis the weight of the inter-state commerce of st 
thousand miles or more of fertile plantations. Three competing routes 
to Texas have established in Chicago their general freight and passenger 
agencies. Four or five lines compete for all Pacific fi-eights to a point as 
as far as the interior of Nebraska. Half a dozen or more splendid bridge 
structures have been thrown across the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers by 
the railways. The Chicago and Northwestern line has become an aggre- 
gation of over two thousand miles of rail, and the Chicago, Milwaukee 
and St. Paid is its close rival in extent and importance. The three lines 
running to Cairo via Vincennes form a through route for all traffic with 
the states to the southward. The chief projects now under discussion 
are the Chicago and Atlantic, which is to unite with lines now built to- 
Charleston, and the Chicago and Canada Southern, which line will con- 
nect with all the various branches of that Canadian enterprise. Our 
latest new road is the Chicago and Lake Huron, formed of three lines, 
and entering the city from Valparaiso on the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne 
and Chicago track. The trunk lines being mainly in operation, the 
progress made in the way of shortening tracks, making air-line branches, 
and running extensions does not show to the advantage it deserves, as 
this process is constantly adding new facilities to the established order 
of. things. The panic reduced the price of steel to a point where the 
railways could hardly afford to use iron rails, and all our northwestern 
lines report large relays of Bessemer track. The immense crops now 
being moved have given a great rise to the value of railway stocks, and 
their transportation must result in heavy pecuniary advantages. 

Few are aware of the importance of the wholesale and jobbing trade 
of Chicago. One leading firm has since the panic sold $24,000,000 of 
dry goods in one year, and they now expect most confidently to add 
seventy per cent, to the figures of their last year's business. In boots 
and shoes and in clothing, twenty or more great firms from the east have 
placed here their distributing agents or their factories ; and in groceries. 



THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 



87 



Chicago supplies the entire Northwest at rates presenting advantages 
over New York. 

Cliicago has stepped in between New York and the rural banks as a 
financial center, and scarcely a banking institution in the grain or cattle 
regions but keeps its reserve funds in the vaults of our commercial insti- 
tutions. Accumulating here throughout the spring and summer months, 
they are summoned home at pleasure to move the products of the 
prairies. This process greatly strengthens the northwest in its financial 
operations, leaving home capital to supplement local operations on 
behalf of home interests. 

It is impossible to forecast the destiny of this grand and growing 
section of the Union. Figures and predictions made at this date might 
£eem ten years hence so ludicrously small as to excite only derision. 




KTNZIE HOtJSE. 



Early History of Illinois. 



The name of this beautiful Prairie State is derived from Illim, a 
Delaware word signifying Sujjerior Men. It has a French termination, 
and is a symbol of how the two races — the French and the Indians — 
were intermixed during the early history of the country. 

The appellation was no doubt well applied to the primitive inhabit- 
ants of the soil whose prowess in savage warfare long withstood the 
combined attacks of the fierce Iroquois on the one side, and the no less 
savage and relentless Sacs and Foxes on the other. The Illinois were 
once a powerful confederacy, occupying the most beautiful and fertile 
region in the great Valley of the Mississippi, which their enemies coveted 
and struggled long and hard to wrest from them. By the fortunes of 
war they were diminished in numbers, and finally destroyed. " Starved 
Rock," on the Illinois River, according to tradition, commemorates their 
last tragedy, where, it is said, the entire tribe starved rather than sur- 
render. 

EARLY DISCOVERIES. 

The first European discoveries in Illinois date back over two hun- 
dred years. They are a part of that movement which, from the begin- 
ning to the middle of the seventeenth century, brought the French 
Canadian missionaries and fur traders into the Valley of the Mississippi, 
and which, at a later period, established the civil and ecclesiastical 
authority of France from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico, 
and from the foot-hills of the Alleghanies to the Rocky Mountains. 

The great river of the West had been discovered by DeSoto, the 
Spanish conqueror of Florida, three quarters of a century before the 
French founded Quebec in 1608, but the Spanish left the country a wil- 
derness, without further exploration or settlement within its borders, in 
which condition it remained until the Mississippi was discovered b}^ the 
agents of the French Canadian government, Jolietand Marquette, in 1673. 
These renowned explorers were not the first white visitors to Illinois. 
In 1671 — two years in advance of them — came Nicholas Perrot to Chicago. 
He had been sent by Talon as an agent of the Canadian government to 

88 



HISTOUV OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. 



89 




^i 



30 HISTOKY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. 

call a great peace convention of Western Indians at Green Bay, prepara- 
tory to the movement for the discovery of tlie Mississippi. It was 
deemed a good strolce of policy to secure, as far as possible, the friend- 
ship and co-operation of the Indians, far and near, before venturing upon 
an enterprise which their hostility might render disastrous, and which 
their friendship and assistance would do so much to make successful ; 
and to this end Perrot was sent to call together in council the tribes 
throughout the Northwest, and to promise them the commerce and pro- 
tection of the French government. He accordingly arrived at Green 
Bay in 1671, and procuring an escort of Pottawattamies, proceeded in a 
bark canoe upon a visit to tlie Miamis, at Chicago. Perrot was there- 
fore the first European to set foot upon the soil of Illinois. 

Still tiiere were others before Marquette. In 1672, the Jesuit mis- 
sionaries. Fathers Claude Allouez and Claude Dablon, bore the standard 
of the Cross from their mission at Green Bay through western Wisconsin 
and northern Illinois, visiting the Foxes on Fox River, and the Masquo- 
tiues and Kickapoos at the mouth of the Milwaukee. These missionaries 
penetrated on the route afterwards followed by Marquette as far as the 
Kickapoo village at the head of Lake Winnebago, where Marquette, in 
his journey, secured guides across the portage to the Wisconsin. 

The oft-repeated story of Marquette and Joliet is well known. 
They were the agents employed by the Canadian government to discover 
the Mississippi. Marquette was a native of France, born in 1637, a 
Jesuit priest by education, and a man of simple faith and of great zeal and 
devotion in extending the Roman Catholic religion among the Indians. 
Arriving in Canada in 1666, he was sent as a missionary to the far 
Northwest, and, in 1668, founded a mission at Sault Ste. Marie. The 
following year he moved to La Pointe, in Lake Superior, where he 
instructed a branch of the Hurons till 1670, when he removed south, and 
founded the mission at St. Ignace, on the Straits of Mackinaw. Here 
he remained, devoting a^ portion of liis time to the study of the Illinois 
language under a native teacher who had accompanied him to the mission 
from La Pointe, till he was joined by Joliet in the Spring of 1673. By 
the way of Green Bay and the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, they entered 
the Mississipjii, which they explored to the mouth of the Arkansas, and 
returned liy the way of the Illinois and Chicago Rivers to Lake Michigan. 

On his way up the Illinois, Marquette visited the great village of 
the Kaskaskias, near what is now Utica, in the county of LaSalle. The 
following year he returned and established among them the mission of 
the Immaculate Virgin Mary, which was the first Jesuft mission founded 
in liJiuois and iu the Mississippi Valley. The intervening winter he 
had spent in a hut which his companions erected on the Chicago River, a 
few leagues from its mouth. The founding of this mission was the last 



HISTOK\ OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. 91 

act of Marquette's life. He died in Michigan, on his way back to Green 
Bay, May 18, 1675. 

FIRST FRENCH OCCUPATION. 

The first French occupation of the territory now embraced in Illi- 
nois was effected by LaSalle in 1680, seven years after the time of Mar- 
quette and Joliet. LaSalle, liaving constructed a vessel, the " Griffin," 
ubove the falls of Niagara, which he sailed to Green Bay, and having 
passed thence in canoes to the mouth of the St. .Joseph River, by which 
and the Kankakee he reached the Illinois, in January, 1680, erected Fort 
Crevecoeur, at tiie lower end of Peoria Lake, wiiere the citj' of Peoria is 
now situated. The place where this ancient fort stood may still be seen 
just below the outlet of Peoria Lake. It was destined, however, to a 
temporary existence. From this point, LaSalle determined to descend 
the Mississippi to its mouth, but did not accomplish this purpose till two 
years later — in 1682. Returning to Fort Frontenac for the purpose of 
getting materials with which to rig his vessel, he left the fort in charge of 
Touti, his lieutenant, who during his absence was driven off by the Iro- 
quois Indians. These savages had made a raid upon the settlement of 
the Illinois, and had left nothing in their track but ruin and desolation. 
Mr. Davidson, in his History of Illinois, gives the following graphic 
account of tlie picture that met the eyes of LaSalle and his companions 
on their return : 

" At the great town of the Illinois they were appalled at the scene 
which opened to their view. No hunter appeared to break its death-like 
silence with a salutatory whoop ot welcome. The plain on wliich the 
town had stood was now strewn with charred fragments of lodges, which 
had so recently swarmed with savage life and hilarity. To render more 
hideous the picture of desolation, large numbers of skulls had been 
placed on the upper extremities of lodge-poles which had escaped the 
devouring flames. In the midst of these hoi'rors was the rude fort of 
the spoilers, rendered frightful by the same ghastly relics. A near 
approach showed that the graves had been robbed of their bodies, and 
swarms of buzzards were discovered gluttin:; their loathsome stomachs 
on the reeking corruption. To complete the work of destruction, the 
<rrowino- corn of the villa2:e had been cut down and burned, while the 
pits containing the products'of previous years, had been rifled and their 
contents scattered with wanton waste. It was evident the suspected 
blow of the Iroquois had fallen with relentless fury." 

Tonti had escaped LaSalle knew not whither. Passing down the 
lake in search of him and his men, IjaSalle discovered that the fort had 
been destroyed, but the vessel which he had partly constructed was still 



92 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. 

Oil the stocks, and but slightly injured. After further fruitless search, 
failing to find Tonti, he fastened to a tree a painting representing himself 
and party sitting in a canoe and bearing a pipe of peace, and to the paint- 
ing attached a letter addressed to Tonti. 

Tonti had escaped, and, after untold privations, taken shelter among 
the Pottawattaniies near Green Bay. These were friendly to the French. 
One of their old chiefs used to say, " There were but three great cap- 
tains ill the world, himself, Tonti and LaSalle." 

GENIUS OF LaSALLE. 

We must now return to LaSalle, whose exploits stand out in such 
bold relief. He was born in Rouen, France, in 1643. His father was 
wealtliy, but he renounced liis patrimony on entering a college of the 
Jesuits, from which he separated and came to Canada a poor man in 1666. 
The jiriests of St. Sulpice, among whom he had a brother, were then the 
proprietors of Montreal, the nucleus of which was a seminary or con- 
vent founded by that order. The Superior granted to LaSalle a large- 
tract of land at LaChine, where he established himself in the fur trade. 
He was a man of daring genius, and outstripped all his competitors in 
exploits of travel and commerce with the Lidians. In 1669, he visited 
the headquarters of the great Iroquois Confederacy, at Onondaga, in the 
heart of New York, and, obtaining guides, explored the Ohio River to 
the falls at Louisville. 

In order to understand the genius of LaSalle, it must, be remembered 
that for many years prior to his time the missionaries and traders were 
obliged to make their way to the Northwest by the Ottawa River (of 
Canada) on account of the fierce hostility of the Iroquois along the lower 
lakes and Niagara River, which entirely closed this latter route to the 
Upper Lakes. They carried on their commerce chiefly by canoes, pad- 
dling them through the Ottawa to Lake Nipissing, carrying them across 
the portage to French River, and descending that to Lake Huron. This 
being the route by which they reached the Northwest, accounts for the 
fact that all the earliest Jesuit missions were established in the neighbor- 
hood of the Upper Lakes. LaSalle conceived the grand idea of opening 
the route by Niagara River and the Lower Lakes to Canadian commerce 
by sail vessels, connecting it with the navigation of tlie Mississij^pi, and 
thus opening a magnificent water communication from the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico. This truly grand and comprehensive 
purpose seems to have animated him in all his wonderful achievements 
and the matchless difficulties and hardships he surmounted. As the first 
step in the accomplishment of this object he established himself on Lake ' 
Ontario, and built and garrisoned Fort Frontenac, the site of the present - 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. 95 

city of Kingston, Canada. Here he obtained a grant of land from the 
French crown and a body of troops by which he beat back the invading 
Iroquois and cleared the passage to Niagara Falls. Having by this mas- 
terly stroke made it safe to attempt a hitherto untried expedition, his 
next step, as we have seen, was to advance to the Falls with all his 
outfit for building a ship with whicli to sail the lakes. He was success- 
ful in this undertaking, though his ultimate purpose was defeated by a 
strange combination of untoward circumstances. The Jesuits evidently 
hated LaSalle and plotted against him, because he had abandoned them 
and co-operated with a rival order. The fur traders were also jealous of 
his superior success in opening new channels of commerce. At LaChine 
he had taken the trade of Lake Ontario, which but for his presence there 
would have gone to Quebec. While they were plodding with their barjc 
canoes through the Ottawa he was constructing sailing vessels to com- 
mand ohe trade of the lakes and the Mississippi. These great plans- 
excited the jealousy and envy of the small traders, introduced treason and 
revolt into the ranks of his own companicjns, and finally led to the foul 
assassination by which his great achievements were prematurely ended. 

In 1682, LaSalle, having completed liis vessel at Peoria, descended 
the Mississippi to its confluence with the Gulf of Mexico. Erecting a. 
standard on which he inscribed tlie arms of France, he took formal pos- 
session of the whole valley of the mighty river, in the name of Loui* 
XIV., then reigning, in honor of whom he named the country Louisiana. 

LaSalle tlien went to France, was appointed Governor, and returned 
with a fleet and immigrants, for the purpose of planting a colony in Illi- 
nois. They arrived in due time in the Gulf of Mexico, but failing to 
find the mouth of the Mississippi, up which LaSalle intended to sail, his 
sujjply ship, with the immigrants, was driven ashore and wrecked on 
Matagorda Bay. With tlie fragments of the vessel he constructed a 
stockade and rude huts on the shore for the protection of the immigrants, 
calling the post Fort St. Louis. 'He then made a trip into New Mexico, 
in search of silver mines, but, meeting with disappointment, returned to- 
find his little colony reduced to forty souls. He then resolved to travel 
on foot to Illinois, and, starting with his companions, had reached the 
valley of the Colorado, near the mouth of Trinity river, when he was. 
shot by one of his men. This occurred on the 19tli of March, 1687. 

Dr. J. W. Foster remarks of him : " Thus fell, not far from the banks 
of the Trinity, Robert Cavalier de la Salle, one of the grandest charac- 
ters that ever figured in American history — a man capable of originating- 
the vastest schemes, and endowed with a will and a judgment capable of 
carrying them to successful results. Had ample facilities been placed by 
the King of France at his disposal, the result of the colonization of this 
continent might have been far different from what we now behold." 



iti HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. 



EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 

A temporary settlement was made at Fort St. Louis, or the old Kas- 
kaskia village, oa the Illinois River, in what is now LaSalle County, in 
1682. In 1690, this was removed, with the mission connected with it, to 
Kaskaskia, on the river of that name, emptying into the lower Mississippi 
in St. Clair Count}^ Cahokia was settled about the same time, or at 
least, both of these settlements began in the year 1690, though it is now 
pretty well settled that Cahokia is the older place, and ranks as the oldest 
permanent settlement in Illinois, as well as in the Mississippi Valley. 
The reason for the removal of the old Kaskaskia settlement and mission, 
was probably because the dangerous and difficult route by Lake Michigan 
:and the Chicago portage had been almost abandoned, and travelers and 
traders passed down and up the Mississippi by the Fox and Wisconsin 
River route. They removed, to the vicinity of the Mississippi in order 
to be in the line of travel from Canada to Louisiana, that is, the lower 
part of it, for it was all Louisiana then south of the lakes. 

Daring the period of French rule in Louisiana, the population prob- 
ably never exceeded ten thousand, including whites and blacks. Within 
that portion of it now included in Indiana, trading posts were established 
at the principal Miami villages which stood on the head waters of the 
Maumee, the Wea villages situated at Ouiatenon, on the Wabash, and 
the Piankeshaw villages at Post Vincennes ; all of which were probably 
visited by French traders and missionaries before the close of the seven- 
teenth century. 

In the vast territory claimed by the French, many settlements of 
considerable importance had sprung up. Biloxi, on Mobile Bay, had 
been founded by DTberville, in 1699; Antoine de Laraotte Cadillac had 
founded Detroit in 1701 ; and New Orleans had been founded by Bien- 
ville, under the auspices of the Mississippi Company, in 1718. In Illi- 
nois also, considerable settlements had been made, so that in 1730 they 
■embraced one hundred and fort\' French families, about six hundred " con- 
verted Indians," and many traders and voyageurs. In that portion of the 
country, on the east side of tlie Mississippi, there were five distinct set- 
tlements, with their respective villages, viz.: Cahokia, near the mouth 
of Caliokia Creek and about five miles below the present city of St. 
Louis ; St. Philip, about forty-five miles below Cahokia, and four miles 
above Fort Chartres ; Fort Chartres, twelve miles above Kaskaskia." 
Kaskaskia, situated on tlie Kaskaskia River, five miles above its conhu- 
ence with the Mississippi; and Prairie dii Rocher, near Fort Chartres- 
To these must be added St. Genevieve and St. Louis, on the west side 
of the Mississippi. These, with the exception of St. Louis, are among 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. 95- 

the oldest French towns in the Mississippi Valley. Kaskaskia, in its best 
days, was a town of some two or three thousand inhabitants. After it 
passed from the crown of France its population for many years did not 
exceed fifteen hundred. Under British rule, in 1773, the population had 
decreased to four hundred and fifty. As early as 1721, the Jesuits had 
established a college and a monastery in Kaskaskia. 

Fort Chartres was first built under the direction of the Mississippi 
Company, in 1718, by M. de Boisbraint, a military officer, under command 
of Bienville. It stood on the east bank of the Mississippi, about eighteen 
miles .below Kaskaskia, and was for some time the headquarters of the 
military commandants of the district of Illinois. 

In the Centennial Oration of Dr. Fowler, delivered at Philadelphia, 
by appointment of Gov. Beveridge, we find some interesting facts with 
regard to the State of Illinois, which we appropriate in this history: 

In 1682 Illinois became a possession of the French crown, a depend- 
ency of Canada, and a part of Louisiana. In 17G5 the English flag was 
run up on old Fort Chartres, and Illinois was counted among the treas- 
ures of Great Britain. 

In 1779 it was taken from the English by Col. George Rogers Clark. 
This man was resolute in nature, wise in council, prudent in policy, bold 
in action, and heroic in danger. Few men who have figured in the his- 
tory of America are more deserving than this colonel. Nothing short of 
first-class ability could have rescued Vincens and all Illinois from the 
English. And it is not possible to over-estimate the influence of this 
achievement upon the republic. In 1779 Illinois became a part of Vir- 
ginia. It was soon known as Illinois County. In 1784 Virginia ceded 
all this territory to the general government, to be cut into States, to be 
republican in form, with " the same right of sovereignty, freedom, and 
independence as the other States." 

In 1787 it was the object of the wisest and ablest legislation found 
in any merely human records. No man can study the secret history of 

THE "COMPACT OF 1787," 

and not feel that Providence was guiding with sleepless eye these unborn 
States. The ordinance that on July 13, 1787, finally became the incor- 
porating act, has a most marvelous history. Jefferson had vainly tried 
to secure a system of government for the northwestern territory. He 
was an emancipationist of that day, and favored the exclusion of slavery 
from the territory Virginia had ceded to the general government; but 
the South voted hira down as often as it came up. In 1787, as late as 
July 10, an organizing act without the anti-slavery clause was pending. 
This concession to the South was expected to carry it. Congress was in 



96 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLENOIS. 

session in New York City. On July 5, Rev. Dr. Manasseh Cutler, of 
Massachusetts, came into New York to lobby on the northwestern terri- 
tory. Everything' seemed to fall into his hands. Events were ripe. 

The state of the public credit, the growing of Southern prejudice, 
the basis of his mission, his personal cliaracter, all combined to complete 
one of those sudden and marvelous revolutions of public sentiment that 
once in five or ten centuries are seen to sweep over a country like the 
breath of the Almighty. Cutler was a graduate of Yale — received his 
A.M. from Harvard, and his D.D. from Yale. He had studied and taken 
degrees in the three learned professions, medicine, law, and divinity. He 
had thus America's best indorsement. He liad published a scientific 
examination of the plants of New England. His name stood second only 
to that of Franklin as a scientist in America. He was a courtly gentle- 
man of the old style, a man of commanding presence, and of inviting 
face. The Southern members said they had never seen such a gentleman 
in the North. He came representing a company that desired to purchase 
a tract of land now included in Ohio, for the purpose of planting a colony. 
It was a speculation. Government money was worth eighteen cents on 
the dollar. This Massachusetts company had collected enough to pur- 
chase 1,500,000 acres of land. Other speculators in New York made 
Dr. Cutler their agent (lobbyist). On the 12th he represented a demand- J 
for 5,500,000 acres. Tliis would reduce the national debt. Jefferson^ 
and Virginia were regarded as authority concerning the land Virginia 
had just ceded. Jefferson's policy wanted to provide for the public credit, 
and this was a good opportunity to do something. 

Massachusetts then owned the territory of Maine, which she was 
crowding on the market. She Avas opposed to opening the northwestern 
region. This fired the zeal of Virginia. Tlie South cauglit the inspira- 
tion, and all exalted Dr. Cutler. The English minister invited him to 
dine with some of the Southern gentlemen. He was the center of interest. 

The entire South rallied round him. Massachusetts could not vote 
against him, because many of the constituents of her members were 
interested personally in the western speculation. Thus Cutler, making 
friends with the South, and, doubtless, using all the arts of the lobby, 
was enabled to command the situation. True to deeper convictions, he 
dictated one of the most compact and finished documents of wise states- 
manship that has ever adorned any human law book. He borrowed from 
Jefferson the term " Articles of Compact," which, preceding the federal 
constitution, rose into the most sacred character. He then followed very 
closely the constitution of Massachusetts, adopted three years before. 
Its most marked points were : 

1. The exclusion of slavery from the territory forever. 

2. Provision for public schools, giving one township for a seminary, 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. 97 

and every section numbered 16 in each township ; that is, one-thirty-sixth 
of all the land, for public schools. 

3. A provision prohibiting the adoption of anjr constitution or the 
enactment of any law that should nullify pre-existing contracts. 

Be it forever remembered that this compact declared that " Religion, 
morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the 
happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall always 
be encouraged." 

Dr. Cutler planted himself on this platform and would not yield. 
Giving his unqualified declaration that it was that or nothing — that unless 
they could make the land desirable they did not want it — he took his 
horse and buggy, and started for the constitutional convention in Phila- 
delphia. On July 13, 1787, the bill was put upon its passage, and was 
unanimously adopted, every Southern member voting for it, and onlj^ one 
man, Mr. Yates, of New York, voting against it. But as the States voted 
as States, Yates lost his vote, and the compact was put beyond repeal. 

Thus the great States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wis- 
consin — a vast empire, the heart of the great valle}^ — were consecrated 
to freedom, intelligence, and honesty. Thus the great heart of the nation 
was prepared for a year and a day and an hour. In the light of these eighty- 
nine years I affirm that this act was the salvation of the republic and the 
destruction of slavery. Soon the South saw their great blunder, and 
tried to repeal the compact. In 1803 Congress referred it to a committee 
of which John Randolph was chairman. He reported that tliis ordinance 
was a compact, and opj^osed repeal. Thus it stood a rock, in the way 
of the on-rushing sea of slavery. 

With all this timely aid it was, after all, a most desperate and pro- 
tracted struggle to keep the soil of Illinois sacred to freedom. It was 
the natural battle-field for the irrepressible conflict. In the southern end 
of the State slavery preceded the compact. It existed among the old 
French settlers, and was hard to eradicate. The southern part of the 
State was settled from the slave States, and this population brought their 
laws, customs, and institutions with them. A stream of population from 
the North poured into the northern part of the State. These sections 
misunderstood and hated each other perfectly. The Southerners regarded 
the Yankees as a skinning, tricky, penurious race of peddlers, filling the 
country with tinware, brass clocks, and wooden nutmegs. The North- 
erner thought of the Southerner as a lean, lank, lazy creature, burrowing 
in a hut, and rioting in whisky, dirt and ignorance. These causes aided 
in making the struggle long and bitter. So strong was the sympathy 
with slavery that, in spite of the ordinance of 1787, and in spite of the 
deed of cession, it was determined to allow the old French settlers to 
retain their slaves. Planters from the slave States might bring their 



98 HISTORY OF THT5 STATE OF LLLINOIS. 

slaves, if they would give them a chance to choose freedom or years 
of service and bondage for their children till they should become 
thirty years of age. If they chose freedom they must leave the State 
in sixty days or be sold as fugitives. Servants were whipped for offenses- 
for whicli white men are fined. Each lash paid forty cents of -the fine. A 
negro ten miles from home witliout a pass was whipped. These famous 
laws were imported from the shave States just as they imported laws ioi 
the inspection of flax and wool when there was neither in the State. 

These Black Laws are now wiped out. A vigorous effort was made 
to i)rotect slavery in the State Constitution of 1817. It barely failed. 
It was renewed in 1825, when a convention was asked to make a new 
constitution. After a hard fight the convention was defeated. But 
slaves did not disappear from the census of tlie State until 1850. There 
were mobs and murders in the interest of slavery. Lovejoy was added 
to the list of martyrs — a sort of first-fruits of that long life of immortal 
heroes who saw freedom as the one supreme desire of their souls, and 
were so enamored of her that they preferred to die rather than survive, her. 

The population of 12,282 that occupied the territory in A.D. 1800, 
increased to 45,000 in A.D. 1818, when the State Constitution was 
adopted, and Illinois took her place in the Union, with a star on the flag 
and two votes in the Senate. 

Shadrach Bond was the first Governor, and in his first message he 
recommended the construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. 

The simple economy in those days is seen in the fact that the entire 
bill for stationery for the first Legislature was only $13.50. Yet this 
simplo body actually enacted a very superior code. 

There was no money in the territory before the war of 1812. Deer 
skins and coon skins were the circulating medium. In 1821, the Legis- 
lature ordained a State Bank on the credit of the State. It issued notes 
in the likeness of bank bills. These notes were made a legal tender for 
every thing, and the bank was ordered to loan to the people $100 on per- 
sonal security, and more on mortgages. Tliey actually passed a resolu- 
tion requesting the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States to 
receive these notes for land. The old French Lieutenant Governor, Col. 
Menard, put the resolution as follows : " Gentlemen of the Senate : It is 
moved and seconded dat de notes of dis bank be made land-office money. 
All in favor of dat motion say aye ; all against it say no. It is decided 
in de affirmative. Now, gentlemen, I bet you one hundred dollar he 
never be land-office money ! " Hard sense, like hard money, is always 
above par. 

This old Frenchman presents a fine figure up against the dark back- 
ground of most of his nation. They made no progress. They clung to 
their sarliest and simplest implements. They never wore hats or cap*. 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. 99 

They pulled their lilankets over their heads in the winter like the Indians, 
with whom they freely intermingled. 

Demagogism had an eady development. One John Grammar (only 
in name), elected to the. Territorial and State Legislatures of 1816 and 
1830, invented the policy of opposing every new thing, saying, " If it 
succeeds, no one will ask who voted against it. If it proves a failure, he 
could quote its record." In sharp' contrast with Grammar was the char- 
acter of D. P. Cook, after whom the county containing Chicago was 
named. Such was his transparent integrity and remarkable ability that 
his will was almost the law of the State. In Congress, a young man. 
and from a poor State, he was made Cliairman of tlie Ways and Means 
Committee. He was pre-eminent for standing by his committee, regard- 
less of consequences. It was his integrity that elected John Quincy 
Adams to the Presidency. There were four candidates in 1824, Jackson, 
Clay, Crawford, and Joiin Quincy Adams. There being no choice by the 
people, tlie election was tlirown into the House. It was so balanced that 
it turned on his vote, and that he cast for Adams, electing him; then 
went home to face the wrath of the Jackson party in Illinois. It cost 
him all but character and greatness. It is a suggestive comment on the 
times, that there was no .legal interest till 1830. It often reached 150 
per cent., usually 50 per cent. Tiien it was reduced to 12, and now to 
10 per cent. 

PHYSICAL FE.\TURES OF THE PRAIRIE STATE. 

In area tlie State has 55,410 square miles of territory. It is about 
150 miles wide and 400 miles long, stretching in latitude from Maine to 
North Carolina. It embraces wide variety of climate. It is tempered 
on tlie north by tlie great inland, saltless, tideless sea, wliich keeps the 
thermometer fiom eitlier extreme. Being a table land, from 600 to 1,600 
feet above the level of the sea, one is prepared to find on the health 
maps, prepared b}^ the general government, an almost clean and perfect 
record. In freedom from fever and malarial diseases and consumptions, 
the three deadly enemies of the American Saxon, Illinois, as a State, 
stands without a superioi*. She furnishes one of the essential conditions 
of a great people — sound bodies. I suspect that tliis fact lies back of 
tliat old Delaware word, Illini, superior men. 

The great battles of history that have been deterniiiiativc of dynas- 
ties and destinies liave been strategical battles, chiefly the question of 
position. Thermopylaj has been the war-cry of freemen for twenty-four 
" centuries. It only tells how much tliere may be in position. All this 
advantage belongs to Illinois. It is iU the heart of the greatest valley in 
the world, the vast region between the mountains — a valley that could 



100 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. 

feed mankind for one thousand years. It is well on toward the center of 
the continent. It is in the great temperate belt, in which Jiave been 
found nearly all the aggressive civilizations of history. It lias sixty-five 
miles of frontage on the head of the lake. With the Mississippi forming 
the western and southern Ijoundary, with tlie Ohio running along the 
southeastern line, with the Illinois River and Canal dividing the State 
diagonally from the lake to the Lower Mississippi, and with the Rock and 
Wabash Rivers furnishing altogether 2,000 miles of water-front, con- 
necting with, and running through, in all about 12,000 miles of navi- 
gable water. 

But this is not all. These waters are made most available by the 
fact that the lake and the State lie on the ridge running into the great 
valley from the east. Witliin cannon-shot of the lake the water runs 
away from the lake to the Gulf. The lake now empties at both ends, 
one into the Atlantic and one into the Gulf of Mexico. The lake thus 
seems to hang over the land. This makes tlie dockage most serviceable ; 
there are no steep banks to damage it. Both lake and river are made 
for use. 

Tlie climate varies from Portland to Richmond ; it favors eveiy pro- 
duct of the continent, including the tropics, with less than half a dozen 
exceptions. It produces every great nutriment of the world except ban- 
anas and rice. It is hardly too much to say that it is the most productive 
spot known to civilization. With the soil full of bread and the earth full 
of minsrals ; with an upper surface of food and an under layer of fuel ; 
with perfect natural drainage, and abundant springs and streams and 
navigable rivers ; half way between the forests of the North and the fruits 
of the South ; within a day's ride of the great deposits of iron, coal, cop- 
per, lead, and zinc ; containing and controlling the great grain, cattle, 
pork, and lumber markets of the world, it is not strange that Illinois has 
the advantage of position. 

This advantage has been supplemented by the character of tlie popu- 
lation. In the early days when Illinois was first admitted to the Union, 
her population were cliiefly from Kentucky and Vii-ginia. But, in the 
conflict of ideas concerning slavery, a strong tide of emigration came in 
from the East, and soon changed this composition. In 18T0 her non- 
native population were from colder soils. New York furnished 133,290 ; 
Oliio gave 162,623 ; Pennsylvania sent on 98,352; the entire South gave 
us only 206,734. In all her cities, and in all her German and Scandina- 
vian and other foreign colonies, Illinois has only about one-fifth of her 
people of foreign birth. 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. IQl 



PROGRESS OF DEVELOPMENT. 

One of the greatest elements in the early development of Illuiois is 
tiie niinois and Michigan Canal, connecting the Illinois and Mississiiipi 
Rivers with the lakes. It was of the utmost importance to the State. 
It was recommended by Gov. Bond, tlie first governor, in liis first message. 
In 1821, the Legislature appropriated $10,000 for surveying the route. 
Two bright young engineers surveyed it, and estimated the cost at 
^600,000 or $700,0^00. It finally cost •$ S,000,000. In 182.5, a law was 
passed to incorporate the Canal Com[iany, but no stock was sold. In 
1826, upon the solicitation of Cook, Congress gave 800,000 acres of land 
on the line of the work. In 1826, another law — commissioners appointed, 
and work commenced with new survey and new estimates. In 18-34-3.0, 
George Farquhar made an able report on the whole matter. This was, 
doubtless, the ablest report ever made to a western legislature, and it 
became the model for subsequent reports and action. From this the 
work went on till it was finished in 1818. It cost the State a large 
amount of money; but it gave to the industries of the State an impetus 
that pushed it up into the first rank of greatness. It was not built as a 
speculation any more than a doctor is employed on a speculation. But 
it has paid into the Treasarj' of the State an average annual net sum of 
over $111,000. 

Pending the construction of the canal, the land and town-lot fevei 
l)roke out in the State, in 18d4-35. It took on the malignant type in 
Chicago, lifting tlie town up into a city. The disease spread over the 
entire State and adjoining States, It was epidemic. It cut up men's 
farms without regard to locality, and jut up the purses of the purchasers 
without regard to consequences. It is estimated that building lots enough 
were sold in Indiana alone to accommodate every citizen then in the 
United States. 

Towns and cities were exported to che Eastern market by the ship- 
load. There was no lack of buj'ers. Every up-ship came freighted with 
speculators and their money. 

This distemper seized upon the Legislature in 1836-37, and left not 
one to tell the tale. They enacted a syste'n of internal improvement 
without a parallel in the grandeur of its conception. They ordered the 
construction of 1,300 miles of railroad, crossing the State in all direc- 
tions. This was surpassed by the river and canal improvements. 
There were a few counties not touched by either railroad or river or 
canal, and those were to be comforted and compensated by the free dis- 
tribution of '1200,000 among them. To inflate this balloon beyond cre- 
dence it was ordered that work should be commenced on both ejids of 



102 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. 

each of these raUroads and rivers, and at each river-crossing, ail at tlie 
same time. The appropriations for tiiese vast improvements w.ere over- 
$12,000,000, and commissioners were appointed to borrow tlie money on 
the credit of tlie State. Remember that all tliis was in the early days of 
railroading, when railroads were luxuries ; that the State had whole 
counties with scarcely a cabin ; and that tlie population of the State was 
less than 400,000, and you can form some idea of the vigor with which 
these brave men undertook the work of making a great State. In the 
light of history I am compelled to say that this was only a premature 
throb of the power that actually slumbered in the soil of the State. It 
was Hercules in the cradle. 

At this juncture the State Biink loaned its funds largely to Godfrev 
Oilman & Co., and to other leading houses, for the purpose of drawing 
trade from St. Louis to Alton. Soon they failed, and took down the 
banlc with them. 

In 1840, all hope seemed gone. A population of 480,000 were loaded 
with a debt of $14,000,000. It had only six small cities, really only 
towiis, namely : Chicago, Alton, Springfield, Quincy, Galena, Nauvoo. 
Tliis debt was to be cared for when there was not a dollar in the treas- 
ury, and when the State had borrowed itself out of all credit, and when 
there was not good money enough in the hands of all the people to pav 
the interest of the debt for a single year. Yet, in the presence of all 
these difficulties, the young State steadily refused to repudiate. Gov. 
Find t(inl< hold of the problem and solved it, bringing the State through 
in triumph. 

Having touchcil lightly upon some of the more distinctive points in 
the history of the development of Illinois, let us next briefly consider the 

MATERIAL RESOURCES OF THE STATE. 

It is a gnrden four hundred miles long and one hundred and fifty 
miles wide. Its soil is chiefly a black sandy loam, from six inches to 
sixty feet thick. On the American bottoms it has been cultivated for 
one hundred and fifty years without renewal. About the old French 
towns it has yielded corn for a century and a half without rest or help. 
It produces nearly everything green in the tempei'ate and tropical zones. 
She leads all other States in the number of acres actually under plow. 
Her products fi'om 2.5,000,000 of acres are incalculable. Her mineral 
"vveiillh is scarcely second to her agricultural power. She has coal, iron, 
:eafl, copper, zinc, many viirieties of building stone, fire clay, cuma clay, 
'jo-nmon brick clay, sand of all kinds, gravel, mineral paint — every thing 
ni eded for a high civilization. Left to herself, she has the elements of 
all greatness. The single item of coal is too vast for an appreciative 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. 103 

handling in figures. We can handle it in general terms like algebvaical 
signs, but long before we get up into the millions and billions the huuian 
mind drops down from comprehension to mere sjmbolic apprehension. 

When I tell j'ou that nearly four-fifths of the entire State is under- 
laid with a deposit of coal more than forty feet thick on the average (now 
estimated, by recent surve\"s, at seventj'^ feet thick), you can get some 
idea of its amount, as you do of the amount of the national debt. There 
it is ! 41,000 square miles — one vast mine into which you could put 
an}'' of the States ; in which you could bury scores of European and 
ancient empires, and have room enough all round to work without know- 
ing that they had been sepulchered there. 

Put this vast coal-bed down by the other great coal deposits of the 
world, and its importance becomes manifest. Great Britain has 12,000 
square miles of coal; Spain, 3,000; France, 1,719; Belgium, .578; Illinois 
about twice as many square miles as all com!)ined. Virginia has 20,000 
s(iuare miles ;. Pennsylvania, 16,000; Oiiio, 12,000. Illinois has 41,000 
s<[iiare miles. One-seventh of all the known coal on tliis continent is in 
Illinois. 

Could we sell the coal in this single State for one-seventh of one cent 
a ton it would pay the national debt. Converted into power, even with 
the wastage in our common engines, it would do more work than could 
he done by the entire race, beginning at Adam's wedding and working 
ten hours a day through all the centuries till the present time, and right 
on into the future at the same rate for the next 600,000 years. 

Great Britain uses enough mechanical 230wer to-day to give to each 
man, woman, and child in the kingdom the help and service of nineteen 
untiring servants. No wonder she has leisure and luxuries. No wonder 
the home of the connnon artisan has in it more luxuries than could be 
found in the palace of good old King Arthur. Think, if you can conceive 
of it, of the vast army of servants that slumber in the soil of Illinois, 
impatiently awaiting the call of Genius to come forth to minister to our 
comfort. 

At the present rate of consumption England's coal supply will be 
exhausted in 250 years. When this is gone she must transfer her dominion 
either to the Indies, or to British America, which I would not resist; or 
to some other people, which I would regret as a loss to civilization. 

COAL IS KING. 

At the same rate of consnm[(tion (which far exceeds our own) the 
deposit of coal in Illinois will last 120,000 years. And her kingdom shall 
be an everlasting kingdom. 

Let us turn now from this reserve power to the annual products of 



lOi HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. 

the State. We shall not be humiliated in this field. Here we strike the 
secret of our national credit. Nature provides a market in the constant 
appetite of the race. Men must eat, and if we can furnish the provisions 
we can command the treasure. All that a man hath will he give for his 
hfe. 

According to the last census Illinois produced 30,000,000 of bushels 
of wheat. That is more wheat than was raised by any other State in the 
Union. She raised In 1875, 130,000,000 of bushels of corn — twice as 
much as any other State, and one-sixth of all the corn raised in tiie United 
States. She harvested 2,747,000 tons of hay, nearly one-tenth of all the 
hay in the Republic. It is not generally appreciated, but it is true, that 
the hay crop of the country is worth more than the cotton crop. The 
hay of Illinois equals the cotton of Louisiana. Go to Cliarleston, S. C, 
and see tliem peddling handfuls of hay or grass, almost as a curiosity, 
as we regard Chinese gods or the cryolite of Greenland ; drink your 
coffee and condensed milk ; and walk back from the coast for manj' a 
league through the sand and l)urs till you get up into the better atmos- 
phere of the mountains, without seeing a waving meadow or a grazing 
herd ; tlien you will begin to appreciate the meadows of the Prairie State, 
where the grass often grows sixteen feet high. 

The value of her farm implements is $211,000,000, and the value of 
her live stock is only second to the great State of New York. in 1875 
she had 25,000,000 hogs, and packed 2,113,845, about one-half of all that 
were packed in the United States. Tliis is no insignificant item. Pork 
is a growing demand of the old world. Since the laborers of Europe 
have gotten a taste of our bacon, and we have learned how to pack it dry 
in boxes, like dry goods, the world has become the market. 

The hog is on the march into the future. His nose is ordained to 
uncover the secrets of dominion, and his feet shall be guided by the star 
of empire. 

Illinois marketed $")7, 000,000 worth of slaughtered animals — more 
than any other State, and a seventh of all the States. 

Be patient with me, and pardon my pride, and I will give you a list 
of some of the things in which Illinois excels all other States. 

Depth and richness of soil ; per cent, of good ground ; acres of 
improved land ; large farms — some farms contain from 40,000 to 60,000 
acres of cultivated land, 40,000 acres of corn on a single farm ; number of 
farmers ; amount of wheat, corn, oats and honey produced ; value of ani- 
mals for slaughter; number of hogs ; amount of pork ; number of horses 
— three times as many as Kentucky, the horse State. 

Illinois excels all other States in miles of railroads and in miles of 
postal service, and in money orders sold per annum, and in the amount of 
hnnber sold in her markets. 



HISTORY OF THE STATE. OP ILLINOIS. 105 

Illinois is only second in many important matters. This sample list 
comprises a few of the more important : Permanent school fund (good 
for a }'oung state) ; total income for educational purposes ; number of pul>- 
lishers of books, maps, papers, etc.; value of fiirm products and imple- 
ments, and of live stock ; in tons of coal mined. 

Tlie shipping of Illinois is only second to New York. Out of one 
port during the business hours of the season of navigation she sends forth 
a vessel every ten minutes. This does not include canal boats, which gc 
one every five minutes. No wonder slie is only second in number of 
bankers and brokers or in physicians and surgeons. 

Slie is third in colleges, teachers and schools; cattle, lead, hay, 
flax, sorghum and beeswax. 

She is fourth in population, 'n children enrolled in public schools, in 
law scliools, in butter, potatoes and carriages. 

She is fifth in value of real and personal propert}', in theological 
seminaries and colleges exclusively for women, in milk sold, and in boots 
and shoes manufactured, and in book-binding. 

Siie is only seventh in the production of wood, while she is the 
twelfth in area. Surely that is well done for the Prairie State. She now 
has much more wood and growing timber than she had thirty years ago. 

A few leading industries will justif)' eniiiliasis. She manufacture.^ 
$205,000,000 W(n'lh of goods, which places her well up toward New York 
and Pennsylvania. The number of her manufacturing establishments 
increased from 18G0 to 1870, 300 per cent.; capital em[)loyed increased 350 
per cent., and the amount of product increased 400 per cent. She issued 
5,500,000 copies of commercial and financial newspapei"s — only second to 
New York. She has 6,759 miles of railroad, thus leading all other States, 
worth $03(5,458,000, using 3,245 engines, and 67,712 cars, making a train 
long enough to cover one-tenth of the entire roads of the State. Her 
stations are only five miles apart. She carried last year 15,795,000 passen- 
gers, an average of 36.V miles, or equal to taking her entire population twice 
across the State. More than two-thirds of her land is within five miles of 
a railroad, and less than two per cent, is inore than fifteen miles away. 

The State has a large financial interest in the Illinois Central railroad. 
The road was incorporated in 1850, and the State gave each alternate sec- 
tion for six miles on each side, and doubled the price of the remaining 
land, so keeping herself good. The road received 2,595,000 acres of land, 
and pays to the State one-seventh of the gross receipts. The State 
receives this year $350,000, and has receiYed in all about $7,000,000. It 
is practicall}' the people's road, and it has a most able and gentlemanly 
management. Add to this the annual receipts from the canal, #111,000, 
and a large per cent, of the State tax is provided for. 



106 HISTORY OP THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. 



THE RELIGION AND MORALS 

of the State keep step with her productions and growth. She was born 
of the missionary spirit. It was a minister who secured for her the ordi- 
nance of 17S7, by which she has been saved from slaver}", ignorance, and 
dishonesty. Rev. Mr. Wile\% pastor of a Scotch congregation in Randolph 
County, petitioned the f'onstitntional Convention of 1818 to recognize 
Jesus Christ as king, and the Scriptures as the oidy necessary guide and 
book of law. 'The convention did not act in the case, and the old Cove- 
nanters refused to accept citizenship. They never voted until 1824, when 
the slavery question was submitted to the people; then they all voted 
against it and cast the determining votes. Conscience has predominated 
whenever a great moral question has been submitted to the people. 

But little mob violence has ever been felt in the State. In 1817 
regulators disposed of a band of horse-thieves that infested the territory. 
The Mormon indignities finally awoke the same spirit. Alton was also 
the scene of a pro-slavery mob, in which Lovejoy was added to the list of 
martyrs. The moral sense of the people makes the law supreme, and gives 
tu the State unruffled peace. 

With $22,300,000 in church property, and 4,298 church organizations, 
the State has that divine police, the sleepless pati'ol of moral ideas, that 
alone is able to secure perfect safety. Conscience takes tlie knife from 
the assassin's hand and the. bludgeon from the grasp of the highwayman. 
We sleep in safety, not because we are behind bolts and bars — these only 
fence against the innocent ; not because a lone officer drowses on a distant 
corner of a street; not because a sheiiff may call his posse from a remote 
part of the county ; but because conscience guards the very portals of the 
air and stirs in the deepest recesses of the public mind. This spirit issues 
within the State 9,500,000 copies of religious papers annually, and i-eceives 
still more from without. Thus the crime of the State is only one-fourth 
that of New York and one-half that of Pennsylvania. 

Illinois never had but one duel between her own citizens. In Belle- 
ville, in 1820, Alphonso Stewart and William Bennett arranged to vindi- 
cate injured honor. The seconds agreed to make it a sham, and make 
them shoot blanks. Stewart was in the secret. Bennett mistrusted some- 
thing, and, unobserved, slipped a bullet into his gun and killed Stewart. 
He then fled the State. After two years he Avas caught, tried, convicted, 
and, in spite of friends and political aid, was hung. This fixed the code 
of honor on a Christian basis, and terminated its use in Illinois. 

The early preachers were ignorant men, who were accounted eloquent 
according to the strength of their voices. But they set the style for all 
public speakers. Lawyers and political speakers followed this rule. Gov. 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOXS. 107 

Ford says: "Nevertheless, these first preachers were of inoalculable 
Ijenefit to the country. They inculcated justice and morality. To them 
are we indebted for the first Christian character of the Protestant portion 
of the people." 

In education Illinois surpasses her material resources. The ordinance 
of 1787 conseorated one thirty-sixth of her soil to common schools, and 
the law of 1818, the first law that went upon her statutes, gave three per 
cent, of all the rest to 

EDUCATION. ' 

The ol'l compact secures this interest forever, and by its yoking 
moralit}' and intelligence it precludes the legal interference with the Bible 
in the public schools. With such a start it is natural that we should have 
11,050 schools, and that our illiteracy should be less than New York or 
Pennsylvania, and only about one-half of Massachusetts. We are not to 
blame for not having more than one-half as many idiots as the great 
States. These public schools soon made colleges inevitable. The first 
college, still flourishing, was started in Lebanon in 1828, by the M. E. 
cluirch, and named after Bishop JNIcKendiee. Illinois College, at Jackson- 
ville, supported by the Presbyterians, followed in 1830. In 1832 the Bap- 
tists built Shurtleff College, at Alton. Then the Presbyterians built Knox 
College, at Galesburg, in 1838, and the Episcopalians built Jubilee College, 
at Peoria, in 1847. After these early years colleges have rained down. 
A settler could hardly encamp on the prairie but a college would spring 
up by his wagon. Tiie State now has one very well endowed and equipped 
university, namely, the Northwestern University, at Evanston, with six 
colleges, ninety instructors, over 1,000 students, and #1,500,000 endow- 
ment. 

Rev. J. M. Peck was the first educated Protestant minister in tne 
State. He settled at Rock Spring, in St. Clair County, 1820, and left his 
impress on the State. Before 1837 only party papers were published, but 
Mr. Peck published a Gazetteer of Illinois. Soon after John Russell, of 
Bluffdale, published essays and tales showing genius. Judge James Hall 
published The Illinois 3Ionthly Magazine with great ability, and an annual 
called The Western Souvenir, which gave him an enviable fame all over the 
United States. From these beginnings Illinois has gone on till she has 
more volumes in public libaaries even than Massachusetts, and of the 
44,500,000 volumes in all the public libraries of the United States, she 
has one-thirteenth. In newspapers she stands fourth. Her increase is 
marvelous. In 1850 she issued 5,000,000 copies; in 1860, 27,590,000 ; in 
1870, 113,140,000. In 1860 she had eighteen colleges and seminaries ; in 
1870 she had eighty. That is a grand advance for the war decade. 

This brings us to a record unsurpassed in the history of any age, 







PS 



< 



THE STATE OF IOWA, 



GEOGRAPHICAL SITUATION. 

Tlie State of Iowa has an outline figure nearly approaching that of a rec- 
tangular parallelogram, the northern and southern boundaries being nearly due 
east anil west lines, and its eastern and western boundaries determined by 
southerly flowing rivers — the Mississippi on the east, and the Missouri, together 
with its tributary, the Big Sioux, on the west. The nQ»|;hern boundary is upon 
the parallel of forty-three degrees thirty minutes, and the southern is approxi- 
mately upor^ that of forty degrees and thirty-six minutes. The distance from 
the northern to the southern boundary, excluding the small prominent angle at 
the southeast corner, is a little more than two hundred miles. Owing to the 
irregularity of the river boundaries, however, the number of square miles does 
not reach that of the multiple of these numbers; but according to a report of 
the Secretary of the Treasury to the United States Senate, March 12, 1863, 
the State of Iowa contains 35,228,200 acres, or 55,044 square miles. When it 
is understood that all this vast extent of surface, except that which is occupied 
by our rivers, lakes and peat beds of the northern counties, is susceptible of the 
highest cultivation, some idea may be formed of the immense agricultural 
resources of the State. Iowa is nearly as large as England, and twice as large 
as Scotland ; but when we consider the relative area of surface which may be 
made to yield to the wants of man, those countries of the Old World will bear 
no comparison with Iowa. 

TOPOGRAPHY. 

No complete topographical survey of the State of Iowa has yet been made. 
Therefore all the knowledge we have yet upon the subject has been obtained 
from incidental observations of geological corps, from barometrical observations 
by authority of the General Government, and levelings done by railroad en- 
gineer corps within the State. 

Taking into view the facts that the highest point in the State is but a little 
more than twelve hundred feet above the lowest point, that these two points are 
nearly three hundred miles apart, and that the whole State is traversed by 
inn 



110 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

gently flowing rivers, it will be seen that in reality the State of Iowa rests 
wholly within, and comprises a part of, a vast plain, with no mountain or hill 
ranges within its borders. 

A clearer idea of the great uniformity of the surface of the State may be 
obtained from a statement of the general slopes in feet per mile, from point to 
point, in straight lines across it : 

From the N. E. corner to the S. E. corner of the State 1 foot 1 inch per mile. 

From the N E. corner to Spirit Liike 5 feet 5 inches per mile. 

From the N. W. corner to Spirit Lake u feetO inches per mile. 

From the N. W. corner to the S. W. corner of the State 2 feet inches per mile. 

From the S. W corner to the highest ridge between the two 

great rivers (in Ringgold County) 4 feet 1 inch per mile 

From the dividing ridge in the S. E. corner of the State 5 feet 7 inches per mile. 

From the highest point in the State (near Spirit Lake) to the 
lowest point in the State (at the mouth of Des Moines 
River) 4 feet inches per mile. 

It will be seen, therefore, that there is a good degree of propriety in regard- 
ing the whole State as a part of a great plain, the lowest point of which within 
its borders, the southeast corner of the State, is only 441 feet above the level of 
the sea. The average height of the whole State above the level of the sea is 
not fir from eight hundred feet, although it is more than a thousand miles 
inland from the nearest sea coast. These remarks are, of course, to be under- 
stood as applying to the surface of the State as a whole. When we come to 
consider its surface feature in detail, we find a great diversity of surface by the 
formation of valleys out of the general level, which have been evolved by the 
action of streams during the unnumbered years of the terrace epoch. 

It is in the northeastern part of the State that the river valleys are deepest ; 
consequently the country there has the greatest diversity of surface, and its 
physical features are most strongly marked. 

DRAINAGE SYSTEM. 

The Mississippi and Missouri Rivers form the eastern and western boundar 
ries of the State, and receive the eastern and western drainage of it. 

The eastern drainage system comprises not far from two-thirds of the en- 
tire surface of the State. The great watershed which divides these two systems 
is formed by the highest land between those rivers along the whole length of a 
line running southward from a point on the northern boundary line of the State 
near Spirit Lake, in Dickinson County, to a nearly central point in the northern 
part of Adair County. 

From the last named point, this highest ridge of land, between the two great 
rivers, continues southward, witliout change of character, through Ringgold 
County into the State of Missouri ; but southward from that point, in Adair 
County, it is no longer the great watershed. From that point, another and 
lower ridge bears off more nearly southeastward, through the counties of Madi- 
son, Clarke, Lucas and Appanoose, and becomes itself the great watershed. 

; 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. Ill 

IIIVERS. 

All Streams that rise in Iowa rise upon the incoherent surface deposits, 
occupying at first only slight depressions in the surface, and scarcely percept- 
ible. These successively coalesce to form the streams. 

The drift and bluff deposits are both so thick in Iowa that its streams not 
only rise upon their surface, but they also reach considerable depth into these 
deposits alone, in some cases to a depth of nearly two hundred feet from the 
general prairie level. 

The majority of streams that constitute the western system of Iowa drainage 
run, cither along the whole or a part of their course, upon that peculir deposit 
known as bluff deposit. Their banks are often, even of the small streams, 
from five to ten feet in height, quite perpendicular, so that they make the 
streams almost everywhere unfordable, and a great impediment to travel across 
the open country where there are no bridges. 

The material of this deposit is of a slightly yellowish ash color, except 
where darkened by decaying vegetation, very fine and silicious, but not sandy, 
not very cohesive, and not at all plastic. It forms excellent soil, and does not 
bake or crack in drying, except limy concretions, which are generally dis- 
tributed throughout the mass^ in shape and size resembling pebbles ; not a 
stone or pebble can be found in the whole deposit. It was called "silicious 
marl" by Dr. Owen, in his geological report to the General Government, and 
its oriirin refen-ed to an accumulation of sediment in an ancient lake, which 
was afterward drained, when its sediment became dry land. Prof Swallaw 
gives it the name of "bluff," which is here adopted ; the term Lacustral would 
have been better. The peculiar properties of this deposit are that it will stand 
securely with a precipitous front two hundred feet high, and yet is easily 
excavated with a spade. Wells dug in it require only to be walled to a point just 
above the water line. Yet, compact as it is, it is very porous, so that water 
which falls on its surface does not remain, bi^t percolates through it; neither 
does it accumulate within its mass, as it does upon the surface of and within 
the drift and the stratified formations. 

The bluff deposit is known to occupy a region through which the Missouri 
runs almost centrally, and measures, as far as is known, more than two hun- 
dred miles in length and nearly one hundred miles in width. The thickest 
part yet known in Iowa is in Fremont County, where it reaches two hundred 
feet. The boundaries of this deposit in Iowa are nearly as follows : Com- 
mencing at the southeast corner of Fremont County, follow up the watershed 
between the East Nishnabotany aild the West Tarkio Rivers to the southern 
boundary of Cass County ; thence to the center of Audubon County ; thence 
to Tip Top Station, on the Chicago & Northwestern Railway ; thence by a 
broad curve westward to the northwest corner of Plymouth County. 

This deposit is composed of fine sedimentary particle?, similar to ii'.at 
which the Missouri River now deposits from its waters, and is the same which 



112 HISTORY OF THE STATE OP IOWA. 

that river did deposit in a broad depression in the surface of the drift that 
formed a lake-like expansion of that river in tlie earliest period of the history 
of its valley. That lake, as shown by its deposit, which now remains, was 
about one hundred miles wide and more than twice as long. The water of the 
river was muddy then, as now, and the broad lake became filled with the sedi- 
ment which the river brought down, before its valley had enough in the lower 
portion of its course to drain it. After the lake became filled with the sedi- 
ment, the valley below became deepened by the constant erosive action of the 
waters, to a depth of more than sufficient to have drained the lake of its first 
waters ; but the only effect then was to cause it to cut its valley out of the de- 
posits its own muddy waters had formed. Thus along the valley of that river, 
so far as it forms the western boundary of Iowa, the bluffs which border it are 
composed of that sediment known as bluff deposit, forming a distinct border 
alo'niT the broad, level flood plain, the width of which varies from five to fifteen 
miles, while the original sedimentary deposit stretches far inland. 

All the rivers of the western system of drainage, except the Missouri itself, 
are quite incomplete as rivers, in consequence of their being really only 
branches of other larger tributaries of that great river , or, if they empty into 
the Missouri direct, they have yet all the usual characteristics of Iowa rivers, 
from their sources to their mouths. 

Chariton and Grand Rivers both rise and run for the first twenty-five miles 
of their courses uj^on the drift deposit alone. The first strata that are exposed 
by the deepening valleys of both these streams belong to the upper coal meas- 
ures, and they both continue upon the same formation until they make their 
exit from the State (the former in Appanoose County, the latter in Ringgold 
Uounty), near the boundary of which they have passed nearly or quite through 
the whole of that formation to the middle coal measures. Their valleys gradu- 
ally deepen from their upper portions downward, so that Avithin fifteen or twenty 
miles they have reached a depth of near a hundred and fifty feet below the gen- 
eral level of the adjacent high land. When the rivers have cut their valleys 
down through the series of limestone strata, they reach those of a clayey com- 
position. Upon these they widen their valleys and make broad flood plains 
(commonly termed "bottoms "), the soil of which is stifl" and clayey, except 
where modified by sandy washings. 

A considerable breadth of woodland occupies the bottoms and valley sides 
along a great part of their length ; but their upper branches and tributaries aie 
mostly prairie streams. 

Platte Hiver. — This river belongs mainly to Missouri. Its upper branches 
pass through Ringgold County, and, with the west fork of the Grand River, 
drain a large region of country. 

Here the drift deposit reaches its maximum thickness on an east and west 
line across the State, and the valleys are eroded in some instances to a depth of 
two hundred feet, apparently, through this deposit alone. 



HISTORY OP THE STATE OF lOAVA. llS 

The term " drift deposit " applies to the soil and sub-soil of the greater part 
of the State, and in it alone many of our wells are dug and our forests take 
root. It rests upon the stratified rocks. It is composed of clay, sand, gravel 
and boulders, promiscuously intermixed, ■without stratification, varying in char- 
acter in different parts of the State. 

The proportion of lime in the drift of Iowa is so great that the water of all 
our wells and springs is too '' hard '' for washing purposes ; and the same sub- 
stance is so prevalent in the drift clays tliat they are always found to have suiE- 
cient flux when used for the manufacture of brick. 

One Tlanlred and Two Rloi-r is represented in Taylor County, the valleys 
of whicli have the same general character of those just described. The country 
around and between the east and west forks of this stream is almost entirely 
prairie. 

Noilawajj Rher. — Tliis stream is represented by east, middle and west 
branches. The two former rise la Adair County, the latter in Cass County. 
Tlicse rivers and valleys are fine examples of the small rivers and valleys of 
Southern Iowa. They have the general character of drift valleys, and with 
beautiful undulating and sloping sides. The Nodaways drain one of the finest 
agricultural regions in the State, the soil of which is tillable almost to their very 
banks. The banks and the adjacent narrow flood plains are almost everywhere 
composed of a rich, deep, dark loam. 

Nlshnabotany liivcr. — Tliis river is represented by east and west branches, 
the former having its source in Anderson County, the latter in Shelby County. 
Both these branches, from tli^r source to their confluence — and also the main 
stream, from thence to the point where it enters the great flood plain of the 
Missouri — run through a region the surface of which is occupied by the bluff 
deposit. The West Kishnabotany is probably without any valuable mill sites. 
In the western part of Cass County, the East Nishnabotany loses its identity 
by becoming abruptly divided up into five or six diiTerent creeks. A few 
good mill sites occur here on this stream. None, however, that are thought 
reliable exist on either of these rivers, or on the main stream below the 
confluence, except, perhaps, one or two in Montgomery County. The 
valleys of the two branches, and the intervening upland, possess remarkable 
fertility. 

Boi/cr River. — Until it enters the flood plain of the iNIissouri, the Boyer 
rims almost, if not quite, its entii-e course through the region occupied by the 
bluff deposit, and has cut its valley entirely through it along most of its pas- 
sage. Tjie only rocks exposed are the upper coal measures, near Reed's mill, in 
Harrison County. The exposures are slight, and arfe the most northerly now 
known in Iowa. The valley of this river has usually gently sloping sides, and an 
nilistinctly defined flood plain. Along the lower half of its course the adjacent 
upland presents a surface of the billowy character, peculiar to the blu.T deposit. 
The source of this river is in Sac County. 



114 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

Soldier River, — Tlie east and middle branches of this stream have their 
source in Crawford County, and the west branch in Ida County. Tlie whole 
course of this river is through the blufif deposit. It has no exposure of strata 
along its course. 

Little Sioux River. — Under this head are ineiiided both the main and west 
branches of that stream, together with the Maple, which is one of its branches. 
Tlie west branch and the Maple are so similar to tlie Soldier River that they 
need no separate description. The main stream has its boundary near the 
northern boundary of the State, and runs most of its course upon drift deposit 
alone, entering the region of the bluff deposit in the soutliern part of Cherokee 
County. The two principal upper branches, near their source in Dickinson 
and Osceola .Counties, are small prairie creeks, with indistinct valleys. On 
entering Clay County, the valley deepens, and at their confluence has a depth 
of one hundred feet, which still further increases until along the boundary line 
between Clay and Biicna Vista Counties, it reaches a depth of two hundred 
feet. Just as the valley enters Cherokee County, it tuims to the southward and 
becomes much widened, with its sides gently sloping to the uplands. When the 
valley enters the region of the bluff deposit, it assumes the billowy appearance. 
No exposures of strata of any kind have been found in the valley of the Little 
Sioux or any of its branches. 

. Fhyd River. — This river rises upon the drift in O'Brien County, and flow- 
ing southward enters the region of tie bluff deposit a little north of the center 
of Plymouth County. Almost from its source to its mouth it is a prairie stream, 
with slightly sloping valley sides, which blend gradually with the uplands. A 
single slight exposure of sandstone of cretaceous age occurs in the valley near 
Sioux City, and which is the only known exposure of rock of any kind along 
its whole length. Near this exposure is a mill site, but farther up the stream 
It is not valuable for such purposes. 

Rock River. — This stream passes through Lyon and Sioux Counties. It 
was evidently so named from the fact tliat considerable exposures of the red 
Sioux quartzite occur along the main branches of the stream in Minnesota, a 
few miles north of our State boundary. Within this State the main stream and 
its branches are drift streams, and strata are exposed. The beds 'and banks of 
the streams are usually sandy and gravelly, with occasional boulders intermixed. 

Big Sioux River. — Tlie valley of this river, from the northwest corner of 
the State to its mouth, possesses much the same character as all tlie streams of 
the surface deposits. At Sioux Falls, a few miles above the northivest corner 
of the State, the stream meets with remarkable obstructions from the presence 
of Sioux quartzite, whiclf outcroDS directly across the stream, and causes a fall 
of aboiit sixty feet within a distance of half a mile, producing a series of cas- 
cades. For the first twenty-five miles above its mouth, tlie valley is very broad, 
with a broad, flat flood plain, with gentle slopes occasionally showing indistinctly 
defined terraces. These terraces and valley bottoms constitute some of the finest 



HISTORY OF THU STATE OF IOWA. 115 

agricultural land of the region. On the Iowa side of the valley the upland 
presents abrupt bluffs, steep as the materials of which they are composed will 
stand, and from one hundred to nearly two hundred feet high above the stream. 
At rare intervals, about fifteen miles from its mouth, the cretaceous strata are 
found exposed in the face of the bluffs of the Iowa side. No other strata are 
exposed along that part of the valley which borders our State, with the single 
exception of Sioux quartzite at its extreme northwestern corner. Some good mill 
sites may be secured along that portion of this river which borders Lyon County, 
but below this the fall will probably be found insufficient and the location for 
dams insecure. 

Missouri liiver. — This is one of tli-e muddiest streams on the globe, and its 
waters are known to be very turbid far toward its source. The chief pecul- 
iarity of this river is its broad flood plains, and its adjacent bluff deposits. 
Much the greater part of the flood plain of this river is upon the Iowa side, and 
continuous from the south boundary line of the State to Siou.x City, a distance 
of more than one hundred miles in length, varying from three to five miles in 
width. This alluvial plain is estimated to contain more than half a million acres 
of land within the State, upward of four hundred thousand of which are now 
tillable. 

The rivers of the eastern system of drainage have quite a different character 
from those of the western, system. They are larger, longer and have their val- 
leys modified to a much greater extent by the underlying strata. For the lat- 
ter reason, water-power is much more abundant upon them than upon the 
streams of the western system. 

Des Moines River. — This river has its source in Minnesota, but it enters 
Iowa before it has attained any size, and flows almost centrally through it from 
northwest to southeast, emptying into the Mississippi at the extreme southeast- 
ern corner of the State. It drains a greater area than any river within the 
State. The upper portion of it is divided into two branches known as the east 
and west forks. These unite in Humboldt County. The valleys of these 
branches above their confluence are drift-valleys, except a few small exposures 
of subcarboniferous limestone about five miles above their confluence. These 
exposures produce several small mill-sites. The valleys vary from a few hun- 
dred yards to half a mile in width, and are the finest agricultural lands. In the 
northern part of Webster County, the character of the main valley is modified 
by the presence of ledges and low cliffs of the subcarboniferous limestone and 
gypsum. From a point a little below Fort Dodge to near Amsterdam, in Ma- 
rion County, the river runs all the way through and upon the lower coal-meas- 
nre strata. Along this part of its course the flood-plain varies from an eighth 
to half a mile or more in width. From Amsterdam to Ottumwa the subcarbon- 
iferous limestone appears at intervals in the valley sides. Near Ottumwa, the sub- 
carboniferous rocks pass beneath the river again, bringing down the coal-measure 
Strata into its bed ; but they rise again from it in the extreme northwestern part 



116 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

of Van Buren County, and subcarboniferous strata resume and keep their place 
along the valley to the north of the river. From Fort Dodge to the northern 
part of Lee County, the strata of the lower coal measures are present in the 
valley. Its flood plain is frequently sandy, from the debris of the sandstone 
and sandy shales of the coal measures produced by their removal in the process 
of the formation of the valley. 

The principal tributaries of the Des Moines are upon the western side. 
These are the Raccoon and the three rivers, viz.: South, Middle and North Riv- 
ers. The three latter have their source in the region occupied by the upper 
coal-measure limestone formation, flow eastward over the middle coal measures, 
and enter the valley of the Des Moines upon the lower coal measures. These 
streams, especially South and Middle Rivei's, are frequently bordered by high, 
rocky cliffs. Raccoon River has its source upon the heavy surface deposits of 
the middle region of Western Iowa, and along the greater part of its course it 
has excavated its valley out those deposits and the middle coal measures alone. 
The valley of the Des Moines and its branches are destined to become the seat 
of extensive manufactures in consequence of the numerous mill sites of immense 
power, and the fact that the main valley traverses the entire length of the Iowa 
coal fields. 

Skunk River. — This river has its source in Hamilton County, and runs 
almost its entire course upon the border of the outcrop of the lower coal meas- 
ures, or, more properly speaking, upon the subcarboniferous limestone, just where 
it begins to pass beneath the coal measures by its southerly and westerly dip. 
Its general course is southeast. From the western part of Henry County, up 
as far as Story County, the broad, flat flood plain is covered with a rich deep 
clay soil, which, in time of long-continued rains and overflows of the river, has 
made the valley of Skunk River a terror to travelers from the earliest settle- 
ment of the country. There are some excellent mill sites on the lower half of 
this river, but they are not so numerous or valuable as on other rivers of the 
eastern system. 

Iowa River. — This river rises in Hancock County, in the midst of a broad, 
slightly undulating drift region. The first rock exposure is that of subcarbon- 
iferous limestone, in the southwestern corner of Franklin County. It enters 
the region of the Devonian strata near the southwestern corner of Benton 
County, and in this it continues to its confluence with the Cedar in Louisa 
County. Below the junction with the Cedai-, and for some miles above that 
point, its valley is broad, and especially on the northern side, with a well 
marked flood plain. Its borders gradually blend with the uplands as they slope 
away in the distance from the river. The Iowa furnishes numerous and valua- 
ble mill sites. 

Cedar River. — This stream is usually understood to be a branch of the 
Iowa, but it ought, really, to be regarded as the main stream. It rises by 
numerous branches in the northern part of the State, and flows the entire length 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 117 

of tlic State, through the region occupied bv the Devonian strata and along the 
trend occupied by that formation. 

The valley of this river, in the upper part of its course, is narrow, and the 
sides slope so gently as to scarcely show where the lowlands end and the up- 
lands begin. Below the confluence with the Shell Rock, the flood plain is more 
distinctly marked and the valley broad and shallow. The valley of the Cedar 
is one of the finest regions in the State, and both the main stream and its 
branches afford abundant and reliable mill sites. 

Wapsipinnieon River. — This river has its source near the source of the 
■Cedar, and runs parallel and near it almost its entire course, the upper half 
upon the same formation — the Devonian. In the northeastern part of Linn 
County, it enters the region of the Niagara limestone, upon which it continues 
to the Mississippi. It is one hundred miles long, and yet the area of its drain- 
age is only from twelve to twenty miles in width. Hence, its numerous mill 
sites are unusually secure. 

Turkey River. — This river and the Upper Iowa are, in many respects, un- 
like other Iowa rivers. The difi'erence is due to the great depth they have 
eroded their valleys and the different character of the material through which 
they have eroded. Turkey River rises in Howard County, and in Winnesheik 
County, a few miles from its source, its valley has attained a depth of more than 
two hundred feet, and in Fayette and Clayton Counties its depth is increased to 
three and four hundred feet. The summit of the uplands, bordering nearly the 
whole length of the valley, is capped by the Maquoketa shales. These shales 
are underlaid by the Galena limestone, between two and three hundred feet 
thick. The valley has been eroded through these, and runs upon the Trenton 
limestone. Thus, all the formations along and within this valley are Lower 
Silurian. The valley is usually narrow, and without a well-marked flood plain. 
Water power is abundant, but in most places inaccessible. 

Upper loiva River. — This river rises in Minnesota, just beyond the north- 
ern boundary line, and enters our State in Howard County before it has attained 
uny considerable size. Its course is nearly eastward until it reaches the Mis- 
sissippi. It rises in the region of the Devonian rocks, and flows across the out- 
crops, respectively, of the Niagara, Galena and Trenton limestone, fhe lower 
masnesian limestone and Potsdam sandstone, into and throufrh all of which, 
except the last, it has cut its valley, which is the deepest of any in Iowa. The 
valley sides are, almost everywhere, high and steep, and cliffs of lower magne- 
sian and Trenton limestone give them a wild and rugged aspect. In the lower 
part of the valley, the flood plain reaches a width sufficient for the location of 
small farms, but usually it is too narrow for such purposes. On the higher 
surface, however, as soon as you leave the valley you come immediately upon a 
cultivated country. This stream has the gi-eatest slope per mile of any in Iowa, 
consequently it furnishes immense water power. In some places, where creeks 
come into it, the valley widens and affords good locations for farms. The town 



118 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

of Decorah, in Winnesheik County, is located in one of these spots, whicb 
makes it a lovely location ; and the power of the river and the small spring; • 
Btreams around it offer fine facilities for manufacturing. This river and its 
tributaries are the only trout streams in Iowa. 

Mississippi River. — This river may be described, in general terms, as a broad 
canal cut out of the general level of the country through which the river flows. 
It is bordered by abrupt hills or bluffs. The bottom of the valley ranges from. 
one to eight miles in width. The whole space between the bluffs is occupied by 
the river and its bottom, or flood plain only, if we except the occasional terraces 
or remains of ancient flood plains, which are not now reached by the highest 
floods of the river. The river itself is from half a mile to nearly a mile ia 
•width. There are but four points along the wliole length of the State where the- 
bluffs approach the stream on both sides. The Lower Silurian formations com- 
pose the bluffs in the northern part of the State, but they gradually disappear 
by a southerly dip, and the bluffs are continued successively by the Upper 
Silurian, Devonian, and subcarboniferous rocks, which are reached near the 
southeastern corner of the State. 

Considered in their relation to the present general surface of the state, the 
relative ages of the river valley of Iowa date back only to the close of the 
glacial epoch ; but that the Mississippi, and all tlie rivers of Northeastern lowa^ 
if no others, had at least a large part of the rocky portions of their valleys 
eroded by pre-glacial, or perhaps even by palaeozoic rivers, can scarcely be 
doubted. 

LAKES. 

The lakes of Iowa may be properly divided into two distinct classes. The- 
first may be called drift lakes, having had their origin in the depressions left 
in the surface of the drift at the close of the glacial epoch, and have rested upon 
the undisturbed surface of the drift deposit ever since the glaciers disappeared. 
The others may be properly termed fluvatile or alluvial lakes, because they have 
had their origin by the action of rivers while cutting their own valleys out from 
the surface of the drift as it existed at the close of the glacial epoch, and are now 
found resting upon the alluvium, as the others rest upon the drift. By the term 
alluvium is meant the deposit which has accumulated in the valleys of rivers by 
the action of their own currents. It is largely composed of sand and other 
coarse material, and upon that deposit are some of the best and most productive 
soils in the State. It is this deposit which form the flood plains and deltas of 
our rivers, as well as the terraces of their valleys. 

The regions to which the drift lakes ai'e principally confined are near the 
head waters of the principal streams of the State. We consequently find them 
in those regions which lie between the Cedar and Des Moines Rivers, and the 
Des Moines and Little Sioux. No drift lakes are found in Southern Iowa. 
The largest of the lakes to be found in the State are Spirit and Okoboji, ia 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 119 

Dickinson County ; Clear Lake, in Cerro Gordo County ; and Storm Lake, in 
Bunea Vista County. 

Spirit Lake. — The width and length of this lake are about equal , and it 
•contains about twelve square miles of surface, its northern border resting directly 
•on the boundary of the State. It lies almost directly upon the great watershed. 
Its shores are mostly gravelly, and the country about it fertile. 

Okohoji Lake. — This body of water lies directly south of Spirit Lake, and 
ias somewhat the shape of a horse-shoe, with its eastern projection within a few 
rods of Spirit Lake, where it receives the outlet of the latter. Okoboji Lake 
■extends about five miles southward from Spirit Lake, thence about the same 
•distance westward, and then bends northward about as far as the eastern projec- 
tion. The eastern portion is narrow, but the western is larger, and in some 
places a hundred feet deep. The surroundings of this and Spirit Lake are very 
pleasant. Fisli are abundant in them, and they are the resort of myriads of 
water fowl. 

Clear Lake. — This lake is situated . in Cerro Gordo County, upon the 
watershed between the Iowa and Cedar Rivers. It is about five miles long, 
and two or three miles wide, and has a maximum depth of only fifteen 
feet. Its shores and the country around it are like that of Spirit Lake. 

Storm Lake. — This body of water rests upon the great water shed in Buena 
Vista County. It is a clear, beautiful sheet of water, containing a surface area 
of between four and five square miles. 

The outlets of all these drift-lakes are dry during a portion of the year, ex- 
cept Okoboji. 

Walled Lakes. — Along the water sheds of Northern Iowa great numbers of 
small lakes exist, varying from half a mile to a mile in diameter. One of the lakes 
in Wright County, and another in Sac, have each received the name of " Walled 
Lake," on account of tlie existence of embankments on their borders, which are 
supposed to be the work of ancient inhabitants. These embankments are from 
two to ten feet in height, and from five to thirty feet across. They are the 
result of natural causes alone, being referable to the periodic action of ice, aided, 
■to some extent, by the force of the waves. These lakes are very shallow, and 
an winter freeze to the bottom, so that but little unfrozen water remains in the 
middle. The ice freezes fast to everything upon tlie bottom, and the expansive 
power of the water in freezing acts in all directions from the center to the cir- 
cumference, and whatever was on the bottom of the lake has been thus carried 
to the shore, and this has been going on from year to year, from century to 
■century, forming the embankments which have caused so much wonder. 

SPRINGS. 

Springs issue from all formations, and from the sides of almost every valley, 
but they are more numerous, and assume proportions which give rise to the 
jname of sink-holes, along the upland borders of the Upper Iowa River, owing 



120 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

to the peculiar fissured and laminated character and great thickness of the strata. 
of the age of the Trenton limestone which underlies the whole region of the 
valley of that stream. 

No mineral springs, properly so called, have yet been discovered in Iowa, 
though the water of several artesian wells is frequently found charged with 
soluble mineral substances. 

ORIGIN OF THE PRAIRIES. 

It is estimated that seven-eighths of the surface of the State was prairie 
when first settled. They are not confined to level surfaces, nor to any partic- 
ular variety of soil, for witliin the State they rest upon all formations, from' 
those of the Azoic to those of the Cretaceous age, inclusive. Whatever may 
have been their origin, their present existence in Iowa is not due to the influ- 
ence of climate, nor the soil, nor any of the underlying formations. Tlie real 
cause is the prevalence of the annual fires. If these had been prevented fiftj 
years ago, Iowa would now be a timbered country. The encroachment of forest 
trees upon prairie farms as soon as the bordering woodland is protected from 
the annual prairie fires, is well known to farmers throughout the State. 

The soil of Iowa is justly famous for its fertility, and there is probably no 
equal area of the earth's surface that contains so little untillable land, or whose 
soil has so high an average of fertility. Ninety-five per cent, of its surface is 
tillable land. 

GEOLOGY. 

The soil of Iowa may be separated into three general divisions, which not 
only possess different physical characters, but also difier in the mode of their 
origin. These are drift, bluff and alluvial, and belong respectively to the 
deposits bearing the same names. The drift occupies a much larger part of the 
surface of the State than both the others. The bluff has the next greatest area- 
of surface, and the alluvial least. 

All soil is disintegrated rock. The drift deposit of Iowa was derived, to a. 
considerable extent, from the rocks of Minnesota ; but the greater part of Iowa, 
drift was derived from its own rocks, much of which has been transported but a* 
short distance. In general terms the constant component element of the drift 
soil is that portion which was transported from the north, while the inconstant 
elements are those portions which were derived from the adjacent or underlying 
strata. For example, in Western Iowa, wherever that cretaceous formation 
known as the Nishnabotany sandstone exists, the soil contains more sand thaa 
elsewhere. The same may be said of the soil of some parts of the State occu- 
pied by the lower coal measures, the sandstones and sandy shales of that forma- 
tion furnishing the sand. 

In Northern and Northwestern Iowa, the drift contains more sand and 
gravel than elsewhere. This sand and gravel was, doubtless, derived from the^ 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA 



121 



cretaceous rocks tha.t now do, or formerly did, exist there, and also in part 
from the conglomerate and pudding-stone beds of the Sioux quartzite. 

In Southern Iowa, the soil is frequently stiff and clayey. This preponder- 
ating clay is doubtless derived from the clayey and shaly beds which alternate 
with the limestones of that region. 

The bluff soil is that which rests upon, and constitutes a part of, the bluff 
deposit. It is found only in the western part of the State, and adjacent to the 
Missouri River. Although it contains less than one per cent, of clay in its 
composition, it is in no respect inferior to the best drift soil. 

The alluvial soil is that of the flood plains of the river valleys, or bottom 
lands. That which is periodically flooded by the rivers is of little value for 
agricultural purposes ; but a large part of it is entirely above the reach of the 
highest floods, and is very productive. 

The stratified rocks of Iowa range from the Azoic to the Mesozoic, inclu- 
sive ; but the greater portion of the surface of the State is occupied by those 
of the Palaeozoic age. The table below will show each of these formations in 
their order : 



SYSTEMS. 

AGES. 



Cretaceous 

Carboniferous.. 

Devonian 

Upper Silurian 

Lower Silurian 
Azoic 



GROUPS. 

PERIODS. 



Post Tertiary 

Lower Cretaceous. 

Coal Measures. 

Subcarboniferous. 

I 

Hamilton 

Niagara 

Cincinnati 

Trenton. 

Primordial. 
Huronian 



FORMATIONS. 

EPOCHS. 



Drift 

Inocernmoun bed 

Wooiiburi/ Sandstone and Shales... 

Nishyiabotani/ Sandstone 

Upper Coal Measures 

Middle Coal Measures 

Lower Coal Measures 

St. Louis Limestone 

Keokuk Limestone 

Burlington Limestone 

Kinderhook beds 

Hamilton Limestone and Shales., 

Niagara Limestone 

Maijuoketa Shales 

Galena Limestone 

jTrenron Limestone 

St. Peter's Sandstone 

Lower Magnesian Limestone 

Potsdam Sandstone 

■Sioux Quartzite 



THICKNESS. 

IN FEET. 



10 



to 200 

50 
130 
100 
200 
200 
200 

75 

90 
196 
176 
200 
350 

80 
250 
200 

80 
250 
300 

50 



THE AZOIC SYSTEM. 



The Sioux quartzite is found exposed in natural ledges only upon a few 
acres in the extreme northwest corner of the State, upon the banks of the Big 
Sioux River, for which reason the specific name of Sioux Quartzite has been 
given them. It is an intensely hard rock, breaks in splintery fracture, and a 
color varying, in different localities, from a light to deep red. The process of 
metamorphism has been so complete throughout the whole formation that the 
rock is almost everywhere of uniform texture. The dip is four or five degrees 
to the northward, and the trend of the outcrop is eastward and westward. This 



122 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

rock may be quarried in a few rare cases, but usually it cannot be secured in 
dry forms except that into which it naturally cracks, and the tendency is to 
angular pieces. It is absolutely indestructible. 

LOWEK SILURIAN SYSTEM. 

PRIMORDIAL GROU]'. 

Potsdam Sandstone. — This formation is exposed only in a small portion of 
the northeastern portion of the State. It is only to be seen in the bases of the 
bluff's and steep valley sides which border the river there. It may be seen 
underlying the lower magnesian limestone, St. Peter s sandstone and Trenton 
limestone, in their regular order, along the bluffs of the Mississippi from the 
northern boundary of the State as far south as Guttenburg, along the Upper 
Iowa for a distance of about twenty miles from its mouth, and along a few of 
the streams which empty into the Mississippi in Allamakee County. 

It is nearly valueless for economic purposes. 

No fossils have been discovered in this formation in Iowa. 

Lower 3Iagnesiuvi Limestone. — This formation has but little greater geo- 
graphical extent in Iowa than the Potsdam sandstone. It lacks a uniformity 
of texture and stratification, owing to which it is not generally valuable for 
building purposes. 

The only fossils found in this formation in Iowa are a few traces of crinoids, 
near McGregor. 

St. Peter's Sandstone. — This formation is remarkably uniform in thickness 
throughout its known geographical extent ; and it is evident it occupies a large 
portion of the northern half of Allamakee County, immediately beneath the 
drift. 

TRENTON GROUP. 

Trenton Limestone. — With the exception of this, all the limestones of both 
Upper and Lower Silurian age in Iowa are magnesian limestones — nearly pure 
dolomites. This formation occupies large portions of Winnesheik and Alla- 
makee Counties and a portion of Clayton. The greater part of it is useless for 
economic purposes, yet there are in some places compact and evenly bedded 
layers, which afford fine material for window caps and sills. 

In this formation, fossils are abundant, so much so that, in some places, the 
rock is made up of a mass of shells, corals and fragments of tribolites, cemented 
by calcareous material into a solid rock. Some of these fossils are new to 
science and peculiar to Iowa. 

Tlie Galena Limestone. — This is the upper formation of the Trenton group. 
It seldom exceeds twelve miles in width, although it is fully one hundred and 
fifty miles long. The outcrop traverses portions of the counties of Howard, 
Winnesiieik, Allamakee, Fayette, Clayton, Dubuque and Jackson. It exhibits 
its greatest development in Dubuque County. It is nearly a pure dolomite, 
with a slight admixture of silicious matter. It is usually unfit for dressing, 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 123 

though sometimes near the top of the bed good blocks for dressing are found. 
This formation is the source of the lead ore of the Dubuque lead mines. The 
lead region proper is confined to an area of about fifteen miles square in the 
vicinity of Dubuque. The ore occurs in vertical fissures, which traverse the 
rock at regular intervals from east to west ; some is found in those which have 
a north and south direction. The ore is mostly that known as Galena, or sul- 
phuret of lead, very small quantities only of the carbonate being found with it. 

CINCINNATI GROi:P. 

Maquoketn Shales. — The surface occupied by this formation is singularly 
long and narrow, seldom reaching more than a mile or two in width, but more 
than a hundred miles in length. Its most southerly exposure is in the bluffs of 
the Mississippi near Bellevue, in Jackson County, and the most northerly yet 
recognized is in the western part of Winnesheik County. The whole formation 
is largely composed of bluish and brownish shales, sometimes slightly arena- 
ceous, sometimes calcareous, which weather into a tenacious clay upon the sur- 
face, and the soil derived from it is usually stiff and clayey. Its economic 
value is very slight. 

Several species of fossils which characterize the Cincinnati group are found 
in the Maquoketa shales ; but they contain a larger number that have been 
found anywhere else than in these shales in Iowa, and their distinct faunal char- 
acteristics seem to warrant the separation of the Maquoketa shales as a distinct 
formation from any others of th • group. 

UPPER SILURIAN SYSTEM. 

NIAGARA CiOlP. 

Niagara Limestone. — The ai-ea occupied by the Niagara limestone is nearly 
one hundred and sixty miles long from north to south, and forty and fifty miles 
wide. 

This formation is entirely a magnesiun limestone, with in some places a con- 
siderable proportion of silicious matter in tlie form of chert or coarse flint. A 
large part of it is evenly bedded, and probably affords the best and greatest 
amount of quarry rock in the State. The quarries at Anamosa, LeClaire and 
Farley are all opened in this formation. 

DEVONIAN SYSTEM. 

HAMILTON GIIOUP. 

Hamilton Limestone. — The area of surface occupied by the Hamilton lime- 
stone and shales is fully as great as those by all the formations of both Upper 
and Lower Silurian age in the State. It is nearly two hundred miles long and 
from forty to fifty miles broad. The general trend is northwestward and soutli- 

.'.Ithough a large part of the material of this formation is practically quite 
"Sarthless, yet other portions are valuable for economic purposes ; and having a 



124 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

large geographical extent in the State, is one of the most important formations, 
in a practical point of view. At Waverly, Bremer County, its value for the 
production of hydraulic lime has been practically demonstrated. The heavier 
and more uniform magnesian beds furnish material for bridge piers and other- 
material requiring strength and durability. 

All the Devonian strata of Iowa evidently belong to a single epoch, and re- 
ferable to the Hamilton, as recognized by New York geologists. 

The most conspicuous and characteristic fossils of this formation are bra- 
chiopod, mollusks and corals. The coral Acervularia Davidsoni occurs near 
Iowa City, and is known as " Iowa City Marble," and " bird's-eye marble." 

CAEBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. 

Of the three groups of formations that constitute the carboniferous system, 
viz., the subcarboniferous, coal measures and permian, only the first two are 
found in Iowa. 

SUBCARBONIFEROUS GROUP. 

The area of the surface occupied by this group is very large. Its eastern 
border passes from the northeastern part of Winnebago County, with consider- 
able directness in a southeasterly direction to the northern part of Washington 
County. Here . it makes a broad and direct bend nearly eastward, striking 
the Mississippi River at Muscatine. The southern and western boundary is to- 
a considerable extent the same as that which separates it from the coal field. 
From the southern part of Pocahontas County it passes southeast to Fort Dodge, 
thence to Webster City, thence to a point three or four miles northeast of El- 
dora, in Hardin County, thence southward to the middle of the north line of 
Jasper County, thence southeastward to Sigourney, in Keokuk County, thence 
to the northeastern corner of Jefferson County, thence sweeping a few miles 
eastward to the southeast corner of Van Buren County. Its area is nearly two 
hundred and fifty miles long, and from twenty to fifty miles wide. 

The Kiriderhook Beds. — The most southerly exposure of these beds is near 
the mouth of Skunk River, in Des Moines County. The most northerly now 
known is in the eastern part of Pocahontas County, more than two hundred 
miles distant. The principal exposures of this formation are along the bluffa 
which border the Mississippi and Skunk Rivers, where they form the eastern 
and northern boundary of Des Moines County, along English River, in Wash- 
ington County ; along the Iowa River, in Tama, Marshall, Hamlin and Frank- 
lin Counties ; and along the Des Moines River, in Humboldt County. 

The economic value of this formation is very considerable, particularly in 
the northern portion of the region it occupies. In Pocahontas and Humboldt. 
Counties it is almost invaluable, as no other stone except a few boulders are 
found here. At Iowa Falls the lower division is very good for building pur-- 
poses. In Marshall County all the limestone to be obtained comes from this 
formation, and tlie quarries near LeGrand are very valuable. At this point 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 125- 

« 
some of the layers are finely veined with peroxide of iron, and are wrought into 
ornamental and useful objects. 

1, In Tama County, the oolitic member is well exposed, where it is manufac- 
tured into lime. It is not valuable for building, as upon exposure to atmosphere 
and frost, it crumbles to pieces. 

The remains of fishes are the only fossils yet discovered in this formation 
that can be referred to the sub-kingdom vertebrata ; and so far as yet recog- 
nized, they all belong to the order selachians. 

Of ARTICULATES, Only two specics have been recognized, both of which 
belong to the genus phillipsia. 

The sub-kingdom mollusca is largely represented. 

The KADIATA are represented by a few crinoids, usually found in a very im- 
perfect condition. The sub-kingdom is also represented by corals. 

The prominent feature in the life of this epoch was molluscan ; so much so 
in fact as to overshadow all other branches of the animal kingdom. The pre- 
vailing classes are : lamellibranchiates, in the more arenaceous portions ; and 
brachiopods, in the more calcareous portions. 

No remains of vegetation have been detected in any of the strata of this 
fDrmation. 

The Burlington Limestone. — This formation consists of two distinct calca- 
reous divisions, which are separated by a series of silicious beds. Both divi- 
sions are eminently crinoidal. 

The southerly dip of the Iowa rocks carries the Burlington limestone down, 
Bo that it is seen for the last time in this State in the valley of Skunk River, 
near the soutliern boundary of Des Moines County. The most northerly point 
:at which it has been recognized is in the northern part of Washington County. 
It probably exists as far north as Marshall County. 

This formation affords much valuable material for economic purposes. The 
upper division furnishes excellent common quarry rock. 

The great abundance and variety of its fossils — crinoids — now known to be 
more tlian three hundred, have justly attracted the attention of geologists in all 
parts of the world. 

The only remains of vertebrates discovered in this formation are those of 
fishes, and consist of teeth and spines ; bone of bony fishes, like those most 
common at the present day, are found in these rocks. On Buffington Creek, in 
Louisa County, is a stratum in an exposure so fully charged with these remains 
that it might with propriety be called bone breccia. 

Remains of articulates are rare in this formation. So far as yet discovered, 
they are confined to two species of tribolites of the genus jihillipsia. 

Fossil shells are very common. 

The two lowest classes of the sub-kingdom radiata are represented in the 
genera zaphrentis, amplexus and syringapora, while the highest class — echino- 
derms — are found in most extraordinary profusion. 



126 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

The Keokuk Limestone. — It is only in the four counties of Lee, Van 
Buren, Henry and Des Moines that this formation is to be seen. 

In some localities the upper silicious portion of this formation is known as 
the Geode bed. It is not recognizable in the northern portion of the formation, 
nor in connection with it where it is exposed, about eighty miles below Keokuk. 

The geodes of the Geode bed are more or less spherical masses of silex, 
usually hollow and lined with crystals of quartz. The outer crust is rough and 
unsightly, but the crystals which stud the interior are often very beautiful. 
They vary in oize from the size of a walnut to a foot in diameter. 

The economic value of this formation is very great. Large quantities of its 
stone have been used in the finest structures in the State, among which are the 
J)ost offices at Dubuque and Des Moines. The principal quarries are along the 
banks of the Mississippi, from Keokuk to Nauvoo. 

The only vertebrate fossils found in the formation are fishes, all belonging 
to the order selachians, some of which indicate that their owners reached a 
length of twenty-five or thirty feet. 

Of the articulates, only two species of the genus phillipsia have been found 
in this formation. 

Of the mollusks, no cephalopods have yet been recognized in this formation in 
this State ; gasteropods are rare ; brachiopods and polyzoans are quite abundant. 

Of radiates, corals of genera zaphrentes, amplexus and aulopera are found, 
but crinoids are most abundant. 

Of the low forms of animal life, the protozoans, a small fossil related to the 
sponges, is found in this formation in small numbers. 

The St. Louis Limestone. — This is the uppermost of the subcarboniferous 
group in Iowa. The superficial area it occupies is comparatively small, because 
it consists of long, narrow strips, yet its exten*- is very great. It is first seen 
resting on the geode division of the Keokuk limestone, near Keokuk. Pro- 
ceeding northward, it forms a narrow border along the edge of the coal fields 
in Lee, Des Moines, Henry, Jefferson, Washington, Keokuk and Mahaska 
Counties. It is then lost sight of until it appears again in the banks of Boone 
River, where it again passes out of view under the coal measures until it is 
next seen in the banks of the Des Moines, near Fort Dodge. As it exists in 
Iowa, it consists of three tolerably distinct subdivisions — the magnesian, arena- 
ceous and calcareous. 

The upper division furnishes excellent material for quicklime, and when 
quarries are well opened, as in the northwestern part of Van Buren County, 
large blocks are obtained. The sandstone, or middle division, is of little 
economic value. The lower or magnesian division furnishes a valuable 
and durable stone, exposures of wliich are found on Lick Creek, in Van Buren 
County, and on Long Creek, seven miles west of Burlington. 

Of the fossils of this formation, the vertebrates are represented only by the 
remains of fish, belonging to the two orders, selachians and ganoids. The 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 127 

articulates are represented by one species of the trilobite, genus jjliilUpsia, and 
two ostracoid, genera, cythre and beyricia. The moUusics distinguish this 
formation more than any other branch of the animal kingdom. Radiates are 
exceedingly rare, showing a marked contrast between this formation and the 
two preceding it. 

The rocks of the subcarbonifernus period have in other countries, and in 
other parts of our own country, furnished valuable minerals, and even coal, but 
in Iowa the economic value is confined to its stone alone. 

The Lower Silurian, Upper Silurian and Devonian rocks of Iowa are largely 
composed of limestone. Magnesia also enters largely into the subcarbon- 
iferous group. With the completion of the St. Louis limestone, the 
production of the magnesian limestone seems to have ceased among the rocks of 
Iowa. 

Although the Devonian age has been called the age of fishes, yet so far as 
Iowa is concerned, the rocks of no period can compare with the subcarbon- 
iferous in the abundance and variety of the fish remains, and, for this reason, 
the Burlington and Keokuk limestones will in the future become more 
famous among geologists, perhaps, than any other formations in North 
America. 

It will be seen that the Chester limestone is omitted from the subcarbon- 
iferous group, and which completes the full geological series. It is probable 
the whole surface of Iowa was above the sea during the time of the 
formation of the Chester limestone to the southward about one hundred 
miles. 

At the close of the epoch of the Chester limestone, the shallow seas in 
which the lower coal measures were formed again occupied the land, extending 
1 almost as far north as that sea had done in which the Kinderhook beds were 
formed, and to the northeastward its deposits extended beyond the subcarbon- 
iferous groups, outlines of which are found upon the next, or Devonian rock. 

THE COAL-MEASURE GROUP. 

The coal-measure group of Iowa is properly divided into three formations, 
viz., the lower, middle and upper coal measures, each having a vertical thick- 
ness of about two hundred feet. 

A line drawn upon the map of Iowa as follows, will represent the eastern 
and northern boundaries of the coal fields of the State : Commencing at the 
southeast corner of Van Buren County, carry the line to the northeast corner 
of Jefferson County by a slight easterly curve through the western portions of 
Lee and Henry Counties. Produce this line until it reaches a point six or 
eight miles northward from the one last named, and then carry it northwest- 
ward, keeping it at about the same distance to the northward of Skunk River 
and its north branch that it had at first, until it reaches the southern boundary 
of Marshall County, a little west of its center. Then carry it to a point 



128 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

three or four miles northeast from Eldora, in Hardin County ; thence west- 
"ward to a point a little north of Webster City, in Hamilton County ; and 
thence further westward to a point a little north of Fort Dodge, in Webster 
County. 

Lower Coal Measures. — In consequence of the recedence to the southward 
•of the borders of the middle and upper coal measures, the lower coal measures 
alone exist to the eastward and northward of Des Moines River. They also 
occupy a large area westward and southward of that river, but their southerly 
dip passes them below the middle coal measures at no great distance from the 
river. 

No other formation in the whole State possesses the economic value of the 
lower coal measures. The clay that underlies almost every bed of coal furnishes 
a large amount of material for potters' use. The sandstone of these measures 
is usually soft and unfit, but in some places, as near Red Rock, in Marion 
County, blocks of large dimensions are obtained which make good building 
material, samples of which can be seen in the State Arsenal, at Des Moines. 
On the whole, that portion of the State occupied by the lower coal measures, 
is not well supplied with stone. 

But few fossils have been found in any of the strata of the lower coal meas- 
ures, but such animal remains as have been found are without exception of 
marine origin. 

Of fossil plants found in these measures, all probably belong to the class 
acrogens. Specimens of calamites, and several species of ferns, are found in 
all of the coal measures, but the genus lepidodendron seems not to have existed 
later than the epoch of the middle coal measures. 

Middle Coal Measures. — This formation within the State of Iowa occupies 
■a narrow belt of territory in the southern central portion of the State, embrac- 
ing a superficial area of about fourteen hundred square miles. The counties 
more or less underlaid by this formation are Guthrie, Dallas, Polk, Madison, 
Warren, Clarke, Lucas, Monroe, Wayne and Appanoose. 

This formation is composed of alternating beds of clay, sandstone and lime- 
stone, the clays or shales constituting the bulk of the formation, the limestone 
occurring in their bands, the lithological peculiarities of which ofier many con- 
trasts to the limestones of the upper and lower coal measures. The formation 
is also characterized by regular wave-like undulations, with a parallelism which 
indicates a widespread disturbance, though no dislocation of the strata have 
been discovered. 

Generally speaking, few species of fossils occur in these beds. Some of the 
shales and sandstone have aff'orded a few imperfectly preserved land plants — 
three or four species of ferns, belonging to the genera. Some of the carbonif- 
erous shales afford beautiful specimens of what appear to have been sea-weeds. 
Radiates are represented by corals. The mollusks are most numerously repre- 
sented. Trilohites and ostracoids are the only remains known of articulates. 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 129 

Vertebrates are only known by the remains of mlacMans, or sharks, and 
ganoids. 

TJpfer Coal Measures. — The area occupied by this formation in Iowa is 
Tery great, comprising thirteen whole counties, in the southwestern part of the 
State. It adjoins by its northern and eastern boundaries the area occupied by 
■the middle coal measures. 

The prominent lithological features of this formation are its limestones, yet 
it contains a considerable proportion of shales and sandstones. Although it is 
known by the name of upper coal measures, it contains but a single bed of coal, 
and tliat only about twenty inches in maximum thickness. 

The limestone exposed in this formation furnishes good material for building 
as in Madison and Fremont Counties. The sandstones are quite worthless. No 
beds of clay for potter's use are found in the whole formation. 

The fossils in this formation are much more numerous than in either the 
middle or lower coal measures. The vertebrates are represented by the fishes 
of the orders selachians and ganoids. The articulates are represented by the 
trilobites and ostracoids. Mollusks are represented by the classes cepkalapoda, 
gasteropoda, lamelli, branchiata, brachiapoda and polyzoa. Radiates are more 
numerous than in the lower and middle coal measures. Protogoans are repre- 
sented in the greatest abundance, some layers of limestone being almost entirely 
composed of their small fusiform shells. 

CRETACEOUS SYSTEM. 

There being no rocks, in Iowa, of permian, triassic or Jurassic age, the 
next strata in the geological series are of the cretaceous age. They are found 
in the western half of the State, and do not dip, as do all the other formations 
upon which they rest, to the southward and westward, but have a general dip 
of their own to the north of westward, which, however, is very slight. 
Although the actual exposures of cretaceous rocks are few in Iowa, there is 
reason to believe that nearly all the western half of the State was originally 
occupied by them ; but being very friable, they have been removed by denuda- 
tion, which has taken place at two separate periods. The first period was 
during its elevation from the cretaceous sea, and during the long tei-tiary age 
that passed between the time of that elevation and the commencement of the 
glacial epoch. The second period was during the glacial epoch, when the ice 
produced theii entire removal over considerable areas. 

It is difficult to indicate the exact boundaries of these rocks ; the following 
will approximate the outlines of the area : 

From the northeast corner to the southwest corner of Kossuth County ; 
thence to the southeast corner of Guthrie County; thence to the southeast 
corner of Cass County ; thence to the middle of the south boundary of Mont- 
gomery County ; thence to the middle of the north boundary of Pottawattamie 
County; thence to the middle of the south boundary of Woodbury County; 



130 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

thence to Sergeant's bluffs ; up the Missouri and Big Sioux Rivers to the 
northwest corner of the State ; eastward along the State line to the place of 
beginning. 

All the cretaceous rocks in Iowa are a part of the same deposits farther up 
the Missouri River, and in reality form their eastern boundary. 

Nishnabotany Sandstone. — This rock has the most easterly and southerly 
extent of the cretaceous deposits of Iowa, reaching the southeastern part of 
Guthrie County and the soutliern part of Montgomery County. To tlie north- 
ward, it passes beneath the Woodbury sandstones and shales, the latter passing 
beneath the inoceramus, or chalky, beds. This sandstone is, with few excep- 
tions, almost valueless for economic purposes. 

The only fossils found in this formation are a few fragments of angiosper- 
mous leaves. 

Woodbury Sandstones and Shales. — These strata rest upon the Nishna- 
botany sandstone, and have not been observed outside of Woodbury County 
hence their name. Their principal exposure is at Sergeant's Bluffs, seven 
miles below Sioux City. 

This rock has no value except for purposes of common masonry. 

Fossil remains are rare. Detached scales of a lepidoginoid species have 
been detected, but no other vertebrate remains. Of remains of vegetation, 
leaves of salix meekii and sassafras cretaceum have been occasionally found. 

Inoceramus Beds. — These beds rest upon the Woodbury sandstones and 
shales. They have not been observed in Iowa, except in the bluffs which 
border the Big Sioux River in Woodbury and Plymouth Counties. They are 
composed almost entirely of calcareous material, the upper portion of which is 
extensively used for lime. No building material is to be obtained from these 
beds ; and the only value they possess, except lime, are the marls, which at 
some time may be useful on the soil of the adjacent region. 

The only vertebrate remains found in the cretaceous rocks are the fishes. 
Those in the inoceramus beds of Iowa are two species of squoloid selachians, 
or cestratrcnt, and three genera of teliosts. Molluscan remains are rare. 

PEAT. 

Extensive beds of peat exist in Northern Middle Iowa, which, it is esti- 
mated, contain the following areas : 

Counties. Aerei. 

Cerro Gordo 1,500 

Worth 2,000 

Winnebago 2,000 

Hancock 1,500 

Wright 500 

Kossuth 700 

Dickinson 80 

Several other counties contain peat beds, but the character of the peat is 

inferior to that in the northern part of the State. The character of the peat 



HISTORY OP THE STATE OF IOWA. 131 

named is equal to that of Ireland, Tlie beds are of an average depth of four 
feet. It is estimated that each acre of these beds will furnish two hundred and 
fifty tons of dry fuel for each foot in depth. At present, owing to the sparse- 
ness of the population, this peat is not utilized ; but, owing to its great distunce 
from the coal fields and the absence of timber, the time is coming when their 
value will be realized, and the fact demonstrated that Nature has abundantly 
compensated the deficiency of other fuel. 

GYP-SUM. 

The only deposits of the sulphates of the alkaline earths of any economic 
value in Iowa are those of gypsum at and in the vicinity of Fort Dodge, in 
Webster County. All others are small and unimportant. The deposit occupies 
a nearly central position in Webster County, tlie Des Moines River running 
nearly centrally through it, along the valley sides of which the gypsum is seen 
in the form of ordinary rock cliff and ledges, and also occurring abundantly in 
similar positions along both sides of the valley's of the smaller streams and of 
the numerous ravines coming into the river valley. 

I The most northerly known limit of the deposit is at a point near the mouth 
of Lizard Creek, a tributary of the Des Moines River, and almost adjoining 
the town of Fort Dodge. The most southerly point at which it has been 
found exposed is about si.x mile^, by way of the river, from this northerly point 
before mentioned. Our knowledge of the width of the area occupied by it is 
limited by the exposures seen in the valleys of the small streams and in the 
ravinea wliich come into the valley within tlie distance mentioned. As one goes 
up these ravines and minor valleys, the gypsum becomes lost beneath the over- 
lying drift. There can be no doubt that the different parts of tliis deposit, now 
disconnected by the valleys and ravines having been cut through it, were orig- 
inally connected as a continuous deposit, and there seems to be as little reason 
to doubt that the gypsum still extends to considerable distance on each side of 
the valley of the river beneath the drift which covers the region to a depth of 
from twenty to sixty feet. 

The country round about this region has the prairie surface approximating 
a general level which is so characteristic of the greater part of the State, and 
which exists irrespective of the character or geological age of the strata beneath, 
mainly because the drift is so deep and uniformly distributed that it frequently 
almost alone gives character to the surface. The valley sides of the Des Moines 
River, in the vicinity of Fort Dodge, are somewhat abrupt, having a depth there 
from the general level of the upland of about one hundred and seventy feet, 
and consequently presents somewhat bold and interesting features in the land- 
scape. 

As one walks up and down the creeks and I'avines which come into the 
valley of the Des Moines River there, he sees the gypsum exposed on 
either side of them, jutting out from beneath the drift in the form of 



[ 



132 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

ledges and bold quarry fronts, having almost the exact appearance of 
ordinary limestone exposures, so horizontal and regular are its lines of 
S' ratification, and so similar in color is it to some varieties of that rock. The 
principal quarries now opened are on Two Mile Creek, a couple of miles below 
Foi-t Dodse. 

The reader will pk-ase bear in mind that the gypsum of this remarkable 
deposit does not occur in "heaps" or "nests," as it does in most deposits of 
gypsum in the States farther eastward, but that it exists here in the form of a 
regularly stratified, continuous formation, as uniform in texture, color and 
quality throughout the whole region, and from top to bottom of the deposit 
as the granite of the Quincy quarries is. Its color is a uniform gray, result- 
ing from alternating fine horizontal lines of nearly white, with similar lines 
of darker shade. The gypsum of the white lines is almost entirely pure, the 
darker lines containing the impurity. This is at intervals barely sufficient in 
amount to cause the separation of the mass upon those lines into beds or layers, 
thus facilitating the quarrying of it into desired shapes. These bedding sur- 
faces have occasionally a clayey feeling to the touch, but there is nowhere any 
intercalation of clay or other foreign substance in a separate form. The deposit 
is known to reach a thickness of thirty feet at the quarries referred to, but 
although it will i)robably be found to exceed this thickness at some other points, 
at the natural exposures, it is seldom seen to be more than from ten to twenty 
feet thick. 

Since the drift is usually seen to rest directly upon tlie gypsum, with noth- 
^ing intervening, except at a few points where traces appear of an overlying bed 
of clayey material without douljt of the same age as the gypsum, the latter 
probably lost something of its thickness by mechanical erosion during thr 
glacial epoch ; and it has, doubtless, also suffered some diminution of thickness 
since then by solution in the waters which constantly percolate through tlie 
drift from the surfiice. The drift of this region being somewhat clayey, partic- 
ulary in its lower part, it has doubtless served in some degree as a protection 
against the diminution of the gypsum by solution in consequence of its partial 
impcrviousness to water. If the gypsum had been covered by a deposit of sand 
instead of the drift clays, it would have no doubt long since disappeared by 
being dissolved in the water that would have constantly reached it from the sur- 
face. Water merely resting upon it would not dissolve it away to any extent, 
but it rapidly disappears under the action of running water. Where little rills 
of water at the time of every rain run over the face of an unused quarry, from 
the surface above it, deep grooves are thereby cut into it, giving it somewhat the 
appearance of melting ice around a waterfall. The fact that gypsum is now 
suffering a constant, but, of course, very slight, diminution, is apparent in the 
fact the springs of the region contain more or less of it in solution in their 
waters. ,-An analysis of water from one of these springs will be found in Prof. 
Emery's report. 



HISTORT OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 133 

Besides the clayey beds that are sometimes seen to rest upon the gypsum, 
there are occasionally others seen beneath them that are also of the same 
age, and not of the age of the coal-measure strata upon which they rest. 

Ai/e of the Gypsum Deposit. — In neither the gypsum nor the associated 
clays has any trace of any fossil remains been found, nor has any other indica- 
tion of its geological age been observed, except that which is aiTorded by its 
stratigraphical relations ; and the most that can be said with certainty is that it 
is newer than the coal measures, and older than the drift. The indications 
afforded by the stratigraphical relations of the gypsum deposit of Fort Dodge 
are, however, of considerable value. 

As already shown, it rests in that region directly and unconformably upon 
tlie lower coal measures ; but going southward from there, the whole series of 
coal-measure strata from the top of tJio subcarboniferous group to the upper 
coal measures, inclusive, can be traced without break or unconformability. 
The strata of the latter also may be traced in the same manner up into the 
Permian rocks of Kansas; and through this long series, there is no place or 
horizon which suggests that the gypsum deposit might belong there. 

Again, no Tertiary deposits are known to exist within or near the borders 
of Iowa to suggest that the gypsum might be of that age ; nor are any of tlie 
palix;ozoic strata newer than the subcarboniferous unconformable upon each 
other as the other gypsum is unconformable upon the strata beneath it. It 
therefore seems, in a measure, conclusive, that the gypsum is of Mesozoic age, 
perhaps older than the Cretaceous. 

Lithohgical Origin. — As little can be said with certainty concerning the 
lithological origin of this deposit as can be said concerning its geological age, 
for it seems to present itself in this relation, as in the former one, as an isolated 
fact. None of the associated strata show any traces of a double decomposition 
of pre-existing materials, such as some have supposed all deposits of gypsum to 
have resulted from. No considerable quantities of oxide of iron nor any trace 
of native sulphur liave been found in connection with it; nor has any salt been 
found in the waters of the region. These substances are common in association 
with other gypsum deposits, and are regarded by some persons as indicative of 
the method of or resulting from their origin as such. Throughout the whole 
region, the Fort Dodge gypsum has the exact appearance of a sedimentary 
deposit. It is arranged in layers like the regular layers of limestone, and the 
whole mass, from top to bottom, is traced with fine horizontal lamintie of alter- 
nating white and gray gypsum, parallel with the bedding surface? of the layers, 
but the whole so intimately blended as to form a solid mass. The darker lines 
contain almost all the impurity there is in the gypsum, and that impurity is 
evidently sedimentary in its character. Fron these facts, and also from the 
further one that lio trace of fossil remains has been detected in the gypsum, it 
seems not unreasonable to entertain the opinion that the gypsum of Fort Dodge 
originated as a chemical precipitation in comparatively still waters which were 



134 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

saturated ■with sulphate of lime and destitute of life ; its stratification and 
impurities being deposited at the same time as clayey impurities which had been 
held suspended in the same waters. 

Physical Properties. — Much has already been said of the physical proper- 
ties or character of this gypsum, but as it is so difterent in some respects from 
that of other deposits, there are yet other matters worthy of mention in connec- 
tion ■with those. According to the results of a complete and exhaustive anal- 
ysis by Prof. Emery, the ordinary gray gypsum contains only about eight per 
cent, of impurity ; and it is possible that the average impurity for the whole 
deposit ■will not exceed that proportion, so uniform in quality is it from to top 
to bottom and from one end of the region to the other. 

When it is remembered that plaster for agricultural purposes is sometimea 
prepared from gypsum that contains as much as thirty per cent, of impurity, it 
will be seen that ours is a very superior article for such purposes. The impu- 
rities are also of such a character that they do not in anyway interfere with its 
value for use in the arts. Although the gypsum rock has a gray color, it 
becomes quite white by grinding, and still whiter l)y the calcining process nec- 
essary in the preparation of plaster of Paris. These tests have all been practi- 
cally made in the rooms of the Geological Survey, and the quality of the plaster 
of Paris still further tested by actual use and experiment. No hesitation, 
therefore, is felt in stating that the Fort Dodge gypsum is of as good a quality 
as any in the country, even for the finest uses. 

In view of the bounteousness of the primitive fertility of our Iowa soils, 
many persons forget that a time may come when Nature ■»vill refuse to respond 
so generously to our demand as she does now, without an adequate return. 
Such are apt to say that this vast deposit of gypsum is valueless to our com- 
mon^vvealth, except to the small extent that it may be used in the arts. This 
is undoubtedly a short-sighted view of the subject, for the time is even no^w 
rapidly passing a^way when a man may purchase a new farm, for less money 
than he can re-fertilize and restore the partially wasted primitive fertility of the 
one he now' occupies. There are farms even now in a large part of the older 
settled portions of the State that would be greatly benefited by the proper 
application of plaster, and such areas will continue to increase until it will bo 
difficult to estimate the value of the deposit of gypsum at Fort Dodge. It 
should be remembered, also, that the inhabitants of an extent of country 
adjoining our State more than throe times as great as its own area will find it 
more convenient to obtain their supplies from Fort Dodge than from any other 
source. 

For want of direct railroad communication between this region and other 
parts of the State, the only use yet made of the gypsum by the inhabitants is 
for the purposes of ordinary building stone. It is so compact that it is found 
to be comparatively unaffected by the frost, and its ordinary situation in walls 
of houses is such that it is protected from the dissolving action of water, which 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 135 

can at most reach it only from occasional rains, and the cSect of these is too 
slight to be perceived after the lapse of several years. 

One of the citizens of Fort Dodge, Hon. John F. Duncombe, built a lar<;e, 
fine residence of it. in 1801, the walls of which appear as unaflected by 
exposure and as beautiful as they were when first erected. It has been so long 
and successfully used for building stone by the inhabitants that they now prefer 
it to the limestone of good quality, which also exists in the immediate vicinity. 
This preference is due to the cheapness of the gypsum, as compared with the 
stone. The cheapness of the former is largely due to the facility with which it 
is ([uarried and v.rought. Several other houses have been constructed of it in 
Fort Dodge, including the depot building of the Dubuque & vSioux City Rail- 
road. The company have also constructed a large culvert of the same material 
to span a creek near the town, limestone only being used fur the lower courses, 
which come in contact witii the water. It is a fine arch, each stone of gypsum 
being nicely hewn, and it will doubtless prove a very durable one. Many of 
the .sidewalks in the town are made of the slabs or flags of gypsum which occur 
in some of the quarries in the form of thin layers. They are more durable 
than their softness would lead one to suppose. They also possess an advantage 
over stone in not becoming slippery when worn. 

The method adopted in quarrying and dressing the blocks of gypsum is 
peculiar, and quite unlike that adopted in similar treatment of ordinary stone. 
Taking a stout auger-bit of an ordinary brace, such as is used by carpenters, 
and filing the cutting parts of it into a peculiar form, the quarrynian bores his 
holes into the gypsum quarry for blasting, in the same manner and with as 
great facility as a carpenter would bore hard wood. The pieces being loosened 
by blasting, they are broken up with sledges into convenient sizes, or hewn 
into the dcsireil shapes by me;ins of hatchets or ordinary chopping axes, or cut 
by means of ordinary wood-saws. So little grit does the gypsum contain that 
these tools, made for working wood, are found to be better adapted for working 
the former substance than those tools are which are universally used for work- 
ing stone. 

MIXOR DEPOSITS OF SULPHATE OF LIME. 

Besides the great gypsum deposit of Fort Dodge, sulphate of lime in the 
various forms of fibrous gypsum, selenite, and small, amorphous masses, has 
also been discovered in various formations in difierent parts of the State, includ- 
ing the coal -measure shales near Fort Dodge, where it exists in small quanti- 
'i<^s-, quite independently of the great gypsum deposit there. The cjuantity of 
gypsum in these minOi deposits is always too small to be of any practical value, 
and frec[uently minute. They usually occur in shales and shaly clays, asso- 
ciated with strata that contain more or less sulphuret of iron (iron pyrites). 
Gypsum has thus been detected in the coal measures, the St. Louis limestone, 
the cretaceous strata, and also in the lead caves of Dubuque. In most of these 
cases it is evidently the result of double decomposition of iron pyrites and car- 



136 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

bonate of lime, previously existing there ; in which cases the gypsum is of course 
not an original deposit as the great one at Fort Dodge is supjwsed to be. 

The existence of these comparatively minute quantities of gypsum in the 
shales of the coal measures and the subcarboniferous limestone which are exposed 
within the region of and occupy a stratigraphical position beneath the great 
gypsum deposits, suggests the possibility that the former may have originated as 
a precipitate from percolating waters, holding gypsum in solution which they 
had derived from that deposit in passing over or through it. Since, however, 
the same substance is found in similar sm\ll quantities and under similar con- 
ditions in regions where they could have had no possible connection with that 
deposit, it is believed that none of those mentioned have necessarily originated 
from it, not even those that are found in close proximity to it. 

The gypsum found in the lead caves is usually in the form of efflorescent 
fibers, and is always in small quantity. In the lower coal-measure shale near 
Fort Dodge, a small mass was found in the form of an intercalated layer, which 
had a distinct fibrous structure, the fibers being perpendicular to the plane of 
the layer. The same mass had also distinct, horizontal planes of cleavage at 
right angles with the perpendicular fibers. Thus, being more or less transpa- 
rent, tlie mass combined the characters of both fibrous gypsum and selenite. 
No anhydrous sulphate of lime (anhi/dnfe) has been found in connection with 
the great gypsum dejjosit, nor elsewhere in Iowa, so far as yet known. 

SULPHATE OF STRONTIA. 
( Celestine. ) 

The only locality at which this interesting mineral has yet been found in 
Iowa, or, so far as is known, in the great valley of the Mississippi, is at Fort 
Dodi'e. It occurs there in very small quantity in both the shales of the lower 
coal measures and in the clays that overlie the gypsum deposit, and which are 
regarded as of the same age with it. The first is just below the city, near Rees' 
coal bank, and occurs as a layer intercalated among the coal measure shales, 
amounting in quantity to only a few hundred pounds' weight. The mineral is 
fibrous and crystalline, the fibers 'being perpendicular to the plane of the layer. 
Breaking also with more or less distinct horizontal planes of cleavage, it resem- 
bles, in physical character, the layer of fibro-crystalline gypsum before men- 
tioned. Its color is light blue, is transparent and shows crystaline facets upon 
both the upper and under surfaces of the layer; those of the upper surface 
being smallest and most numerous. It breaks up readily into small masses 
along the lines of the perpendicular fibers or columns. The layer is probably 
not more than a rod in extent in any direction and about three inches in maxi- 
mum thickness. Apparent lines of stratification occur in it, corresponding with 
those of the shales which imbed it. 

The other deposit was still smaller in amount, and occurred as a mass of 
crystals imbedded in the clays that overlie the gypsum at Cummins' quarry in 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 137 

the valley of Soldier Creek, upon the north side of the town. The mineral is 
in this case nearly colorless, and but for the form of the separate crystals would 
closely resemble masses of impure salt. The crystals are so closely aggregated 
that they enclose but little impurity in the mass, but in almost all cases their 
fundamental forms are obscured. This mineral has almost no real practical 
value, and its occurrence, as described, is interesting only as a mineralogical 
fact. 

SULPHATE OF BARYTA. 
[Barj/tis, Heavy Spar.) 

This mineral has been found only in minute quantities in Iowa. It has 
been detected in the coal-measure shales of Decatur, Madison and Marion 
Counties, the Devonian limestone of Johnson and Bremer Counties and in the 
lead caves of Dubuque. In all these cases, it is in the form of crystals or small 
crystalline masses. 

SULPHATE OP MAGNESIA. 
( Fpnotnite.) 

Epsomite, or native epsom salts, having been discovered near Burlington, 
•we have thus recognized in Iowa all the sulphates of the alkaline earths of 
natural origin ; all of them, except the sulphate of lime, being in very small 
quantity. Even if the sulphate of magnesia were produced in nature, in large 
quantities, it is so very soluble that it can accumulate only in such positions as 
afford it complete shelter from the rains or running water. The epsomite 
mentioned- was found beneath the overhanging cliff of Burlington limestone, 
near Starr's mill, which are represented in the sketch upon another page, illus- 
trating the subcarboniferous rocks. It occurs in the form of efflorescent encrus- 
tations upon the surface of stones and in similar small fragile masses among the 
fine debris that has fallen down beneath the overhanging cliff. The projection 
of the cliff over the perpendicular face of the strata beneath amounts to near 
twenty feet at the point where epsomite was found. Consequently the rains 
never reach far beneath it from any quarter. The rock upon which the epsom- 
ite accumulates is an impure limestone, containing also some carbonate of mag- 
nesia, together with a small proportion of iron pyrites in a finely divided con- 
dition. It is doubtless by double decomposition of these that the epsomite re- 
sults. By experiments with this native salt in the office of the Survey, a fine 
article of epsom salts was produced, but the quantity that might be annually 
obtained there would amount to only a few pounds, and of course is of no pi-ac- 
tical value whatever, on account of its cheapness in the market. 

CLIMATOLOGY. . 

No extended record of the climatology of Iowa has been made, yet much of 
great value may be learned from observations made at a single point. Prof. T. 
S. Parvin, of the State University, has recorded observations made from 1839 
to the present time. Previous to 1860, these observations were made at Mus- 



138 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

catine. Since that date, they were made in Iowa City. The result is that the 
atmospheric conditions of the climate of Iowa are in the highest degree favor- 
able to health. 

The highest temperature here occurs in August, while July is the hottest 
month in the year by two degrees, and January the coldest by three degrees. 

The mean temperature of April and October most nearly corresponds to the 
mean temperature of the year, as well as their seasons of Spring and Fall, 
while that of Summer and Winter is best repi-esented in that of August and 
December. 

The period of greatest heat ranges from June 22d to August 31st ; the next 
mean time being July 27th. Tiie lowest temperature extends from December 
16th to February 15th, the average being January 20th — the range in each 
case bein"; two full months. 

The climate of Iowa embraces the range of tliat of New York, Pennsyl- 
vania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. The seasons are not ciiaracterized by the 
frequent and sudden changes so common in the latitudes further south. The 
temperature of the Winters is somewhat lower than States eastwai-d, but of other 
seasons it is higher. The atmosphere is dry and invigorating. The surface of 
the State being free at all seasons of the year from stagnant water, with good 
breezes at nearly all .seasons, the miasmatic and pulmonary diseases are 
unknown. Mortuary statistics show this to be one of the most healtlifiil States 
in the Union, being one death to every ninety-four persons. The Spring, 
Summer and Fall months are delightful ; indeed, the glory of Iowa is her 
Autumn, and nothing can transcend the splendor of her Indian Summer, which 
lasts for weeks, and finally blends, almost imperceptibly, into Winter. 




HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 



DISCOVERY AND OCCUPATION. 

Iowa, in the symbolical nnd expressive language of the aboriginal inhab- 
itants, is said to signify " The Beautiful Land," and was applied to this 
magnificent and fruitful region by its ancient owners, to express their apprecia- 
tion of its superiority of climate, soil and location. Prior to 1803, the Mississippi 
River was the extreme western boundary of the United States. All the great 
empire lying west of the "Father of Waters," from the Gulf of Mexico on the 
south to Britisli America on the north, and westward to the Pacific Ocean, was 
a Spanisli province. A brief historical sketch of the discovery and occupation 
of this grand empire by the Spanish and French governments will be a fitting 
introduction to the history of the young and thriving State of Iowa, which, 
until the commencement of the present century, was a part of the Spanish 
possessions in America. 

Early in the Spring of 1542, fifty years after Columbus discovered tlie New 
AVorld, and one hundred and thirty years before the French missionaries discov- 
ered its upper waters, Ferdinand De Soto discovered tlie mouth of the Mississippi 
River at the mouth of the Washita. After the sudden death of De Soto, in 
May of the same year, his followers built a small vessel, and in July, 1543, 
descended the great river to the Gulf of Mexico. 

In accordance with the usage of nations, under which title to the soil was 
claimed by right of discovery, Spain, having conquered Florida and discovered 
tlie Mississippi, claimed all the territory bordering on that river and the Gulf of 
Mexico. But it was also held by the European nations that, while discovery 
gave title, that title must be perfected by actual possession and occupation. 
Althougli Spain claimed the territory by right of first discovery, she made no 
effort to occupy it; bv no permanent settlement had she perfected and held her 
title, and therefore had forfeited it when, at a later period, the Lower Mississippi 
V^alley was re-discovered and occiipied by France. 

The unparalleled labors of the zealous Fr( nc'i Jesuitsof Canada in penetrating 
the unknown region of tlie West, commencing in 1611, form a history of no ordi- 
nary interest, but have no particular connection with the scope of the present 
work, until in the Fall of 1(3(35. Pierre Claude AUouez, who had entered Lake 
vSupcrior in September, and sailed along the southern coast in search of copper, 
had arrived at the great village of tlie Chippewas at Chegoincegon. Here a 
grand council of some ten or twelve of the principal Indian nations was held. 
The Pottawatomies of Lake Michigan, the Sacs and Foxes of the AVest, the 
Hurons from the North, the Illinois from the South, and the Sioux from the 
land of tlie urairie and wild rice, were all assembled there. The Illinois told 



140 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

the storv of their ancient glory and about the noble river on tlie banks of Avliich 
they dwelt. The Sioux also told their white brother of the same great river. 
and Allouez promised to the assembled tribes the protection of the Freneh 
nation against all their enemies, native or foreign. 

The purpose of discovering the great river about which the Indian na- 
tions had given such glowing accounts appears to have originated with Mar- 
quette, in 1669. In the year previous, he and Claude Dablon had established 
the Mission of St. Mary's, the oldest white settlement within the present limits 
of the State of Michigan. Marquette was delayed in the execution of his great 
undertaking, and spent the interval in studying the language and habits of the 
Illinois Indians, among whom he expected to travel. 

About this time, the French Government had determined to extend the do- 
minion of France to the extreme western borders of Canada. Nicholas Perrot 
was sent as the agent of the government, to propose a grand council of the 
Indian nations, at St. Mary's. 

When Perrot reached Green Bay, he extended the invitation far and near ; 
and, escorted by Pottawatomies, repaired on a mission of peace and friend- 
ship to the Miamis, who occupied the region about the present location of 
Chicago. 

In May, 1671, a great council of Indians gathered at the Falls of St. 
Mary, from all parts of the Northwest, from the head waters of the St. Law- 
rence, from the valley of the Mississippi and from the Red River of the North. 
Perrot met with them, and after grave consultation, formally announced to the 
assembled nations tliat their good French Father felt an abiding interest in their 
welfare, and had placed them all under the powerfid protection of the French 
Government. 

Marquette, during that same year, had gathered at Point St. Ignace the 
vemn ants of one branch of the Hurons. This station, for a long series of 
years, was considered the key to the unknown West. 

The time was now auspicious for the consummation of Marquette's grand 
project. The .successful termination of Perrot's mission, and the general friend- 
liness of the native tribes, rendered the contemplated expedition much less per- 
ilous. But it was not until 1673 that the intrepid and enthusiastic priest was 
finally ready to depart on his daring and perilous journey to lands never trod by 
white men. 

The Indians, who had gathered in large numbers to witness his departure, 
were astounded at the boldness of the proposed undertaking, and tried to dis- 
courage him, representing that the Indians of the Mississippi A'alley were cruel 
and bloodthirsty, and would resent the intrusion of strangers u])on their domain. 
The great river itself, they said, was the abode of terrible monsters, who could 
swallow both canoes and men. 

But Marquette was not to be diverted from his purpose by these fearful re- 
ports. He assured his dusky friends that he was ready to make any sacrifice, 
even to lay down his life for the sacred cause in which he was engaged. He 
prayed with them ; and having implored the blessing of God upon his undertak- 
ing, on the 13th day of May, 1673, with Joliet and five Canadian-French voy- 
ageurs, or boatmen, he left the mission on his daring journey. Ascending 
Green Bay and Fox River, these bold and enthusiastic pioneers of religion and 
discovery proceeded until they reached a Miami and Kickapoo village, where 
Marquette was delighted to find " a beautiful cross planted in the middle of the 
town', ornamented with white skins, red girdles and bows and arrows, which 
these good people had offered to the Great Manitou, or God, to thank Him for 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 141 

tlio pity He had bestowed on tlicm during tlio Winter, in having given them 
abundant chase." 

This was tlie extreme point beyond wbicli tlie cxpkirations of tlie French 
missionaries had not then extended. Here Marquette was instructed by lii.s 
Indian liosts in the secret of a root that cures the bite of the venomous rattle- 
snake, drank mineral water with them and was entertained with generous hos- 
pitality. He called together the principal men of the village, and informed 
them that his companion, Joliet, had been sent by the French Governor of Can- 
ada to discover new countries, to be added to the dominion of France ; but that 
he, himself, had been sent by the Most High God, to carry the glorious religion 
of the Cross ; and assured his wondering hearers that on this mission he had 
no fear of death, to which be knew he would be exposed on his perilousjourneys. 

Obtaining the services of two Miami guides, to conduct his little band to the 
Wisconsin River, he left the hospitable Indians on the 10th of June. Conduct- 
ing them across the i)ortage, their Indian guides returned to their village, and 
the little party descended the AVisconsin, to the great river which had so long 
been so anxiously looked for, and boldly floated down its unknown waters. 

On the 25th of June, the explorers discovered indications of Indians on the 
west bank of the river and land d a little above the mouth of the river now 
known as Des Moines, and for the first time Eui'opeans trod the soil of Iowa. 
Leaving the Canadians to guard the canoes, Marquette and Joliet boldly fol- 
lowed the trail into the interior for fourteen miles (some authorities say six), to 
an Indian village situate on the banks of a river, and discovered two other vil- 
lages, on the rising ground about half a league distant. Their visit, while it 
created much astonishment, did not seem to be entirely unexpectofl, for there 
was a tradition or prophecy among the Indians that white visitors were to come 
to them. They were, therefore, received with great respect and hospitality, and 
were cordially tendered the calumet or pipe of peace. Tliey were informed that 
this band was a part of the Illini nation and that their village was called Mon- 
in-gou-ma or Moingona, which was the name of the river on which it stood. 
This, from its similarity of sound, Marquette corrupted into Des Moines 
(Monk's River), its present name. 

Here the voyagers remained six days, learning much of the manners and 
customs of their new friends. The new religion they boldly preached and the 
authority of the King of France they proclaimed were received without hos- 
tility or remonstrance by their savage entertainers. On their departure, they 
were accompanied to their canoes by the chiefs and hundreds of warriors. 
Marquette received from them the sacred calumet, the emblem of peace and 
safeguard among the nations, and rc-embarked for the rest of his journey. 

It is needless to follow him further, as his explorations beyond his discovery 
of Iowa more properly belong to the history of another State. 

In 1682, La Salle descended the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico, and in 
the iiame of the King of France, took formal possession of all the immense 
region watered by the great river and its tributaries from its source to its mouth, 
and named it Louisiana, in honor of his master, Louis XIV. The river he 
called " Colbert," after the French Minister, and at its mouth erected a column 
and a cross bearing the inscription, in the French language, 

" Louis the Great, King of France and Navarre, 
Reigning April 9th, 1682." 

At the close of the seventeenth century, France claimed, by right of dis- 
covery and occupancy, the whole valley of the Mississippi and its tributaries, 
including Texas, as for as the Rio del Norte. 



142 . HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA 

The province of Louisiana stretched from tlie Gulf of Mexico to the sources 
of tlie Tennessee, the Kanawha, the Alleglienj and the Monongaliela on the 
east, and the Missouri and the other great tributaries of the Fatiier of Waters 
on • the west. Says Bancroft, " France had obtained, under Providence, the 
guardianship of this immense district of country, not, as it proved, for her own 
benefit, but rather as a trustee for the infant nation by which it was one day to 
be inherited." 

By the treaty of Utrecht, France ceded to Enghmd her possessions 
in Hudson's Bay, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. France still retained 
Louisiana; but the province had so far failed to meet the expectations of the 
crown and the people that a change in the government and policy of the country 
was deemed indispensable. Accordingly, in 1711, the province was placed in 
the hands of a Governor General, w^ith headquarters at Mobile. This govern- 
ment was of brief duration, and in 1712 a charter was granted to Anthony 
Crozat, a wealthy merchant of Paris, giving him the entire control and mo- 
nopoly of all the trade and resources of Louisiana. But this scheme also failed. 
Crozat met with no success in his commercial operations ; every Spanish harbor 
on tlie Gulf was closed against his vessels; the occupation of Louisiana was 
deemed an encroachment on Spanish territory; Spain was jealous of the am- 
bition of France. 

Failing in his efforts to open the ports of the district, Crozat "sought to 
develop the internal resources of Louisiana, by causing trading posts to be 
opened, and explorations to be made to its remotest borders. But he 
actu.ally accomplished nothing for the advancement of the colony. The only 
prosperity which it ever jiossessed grew out of the enterprise of humble indi- 
viduals, Avho had succeeded in instituting a little barter bjtwe-ni themselves 
and the natives, and a petty trade with neighboring European settlements. 
After a persevering effort of nearly five years, he surrendered his charter in 
August, 1717." 

Immediately following the surrender of his charter by Crozat, another and 
moi-e magnificent scheme was inaugurated. The national government of France 
was deeply involved in debt; the colotues were nearly bankrupt, and John Law 
appeared on the scene with his famous Mississippi Comjiany, as the Louisiana 
branch of the Bank of France. The charter granted to this company gave it a 
legal existence of twenty -five years, and conferred upon it more extensive powers 
and privileges than had been granted to Crozat. It invested the new company 
with the exclusive privilege of the entire commerce of Louisiana, and of New 
France, a ad with authority to enforce their rights. T!ie Company was author- 
ized to monopolize all the trade in the country; to make treaties with the 
Indians ; to declare and prosecute war ; to grant lands, erect forts, open mines 
of precious metals, levy taxes, nominate civil oflUcers, commission those of the 
army, and to appoint and remove judges, to cast cannon, and build and equip 
ships of war. All this was to be done with the pajier currency of John Law's 
Bank of Fiance. He had succeeded in getting His Majesty the French King 
to adopt and sanction his scheme of financial operations both in France and ire 
the colonies, and probably there never was such a huge financial bubble ever 
blown by a visionary theorist. Still, such was the condition of France that i'. 
was accepted as a national deliverance, and Law became the most powerful man 
in France. He became a Catholic, and was appointed Comptroller General of 
Finance. 

Among the first operations of the Company was to send eight hundred 
emigrants to Louisiana, who arrived at Dauphine Island in 1718. 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. . 143 

In 1710, riiilipe Francis Renault anived in Illinois with two hundred 
miners and artisans. The war between France and Spain at this time rendered 
it extremely probable that the Mississippi Valley might become the theater of 
Spanish hostilities against the French settlements ; to prevent this, as well as to 
e.xtend French claims, a chain of forts was begun, to keep open the connection 
between the mouth and the sources of the Mississippi. Fort Orleans, high up 
the Mississippi River, was erected as an outpost in 1720. 

Tiie Mississippi scheme was at the zenith of its power and glory in January, 
1720, but the gigantic bubble collapsed more suddenly than it liad been inliateil, 
and the Company was declared hopelessly bankrupt in May following. France 
was impoverished by it, both private and public credit were overthrown, capi- 
talists .suddenly found themselves paupers, and labor was left without emplo}'- 
nient. The effect on the colony of Louisiana was disastrous. 

While this was going im in Lower Louisiana, the region about the lakes was 
the tlieater of Indian hostilities, rendering the passage from Canada to Louisiana 
extremely dangerous for many years. Tlie English had not only extended their 
Indian trade into the vicinity of the French settlements, but through their 
friends, the Iroijuois, had gained a marked ascendancy over the Foxes, a fierce 
and powerful tribe, of Iroquois descent, whom they incited to hostilities against 
the French. The Foxes began their hostilities with the siege of Detroit in 
1712, a siege which they continued for nineteen consecutive days, and although 
the expedition resulted in diminishing their numbers and humbling their pride, 
yet it was not until after .several successive campaigns, embodying the best 
military resources of New France, had been directed against them, tluit were 
finally defeated at the great battles of Butte des Morts, and on the Wisconsin 
River, and driven west in 1740. 

The Company, having found that the cost of defending Louisiana exceeded 
the returns from its commerce, solicited leave to surrender the Mississippi 
wilderness to the home government. Accordingly, on the 10th of April, 1732, 
the jurisdiction and control over the commerce reverted to the crown of France, 
riic Company had held possession of Louisiana fourteen years. In 1735, Bien- 
ville returned to assume command for the King. 

A glance at a few of the old French settlements will show the progress made 
in portions of Louisiana during the early part of the eighteenth century. As 
early a5 1705, traders and hunters had penetrated the fertile regions of the 
Wabash, and from this region, at that early date, fifteen thousand hides and 
skins had been collected and sent to Mobile for the European market. 

In the year 1716, the French )>opulation on the Wabash kept up a lucrative 
commerce with Mobile by means of traders and voyageurs. The Ohio River 
was comparatively unknown. 

Ill 1746, agriculture on the Wabash had attained to greater prosperity than 
in any of the French settlements besides, and in that year six hundred barrels 
of ilour were manufactured and shipped to New Orleans, together with consider- 
able quantities of hides, peltry, tallow and beeswax. 

In the Illinois country, also, considerable .settlements had been made, so that, 
in 1730, they embraced one hundred and forty French firmilies, about six 
hundred "converted Indians," and many traders and voyageurs. 

In 1753, the first actual conflict arose between Louisiana and the Atlantic 
ccionies. From the earliest advent of the Jesuit fathers, up to the period of 
which we speak, the great ambition of the French had been, not alone to preserve 
their possessions in the West, but by every possible means to prevent the 
slightest attempt of the English, east of the mountains, to extend their settle- 



144 • HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

mcnts toward the Mississippi. . France was resolved on retaining posses'viin of 
tlie great territory which her missionaries had discovered and revealed to the 
world. French commandants had avowed their purpose of seizing every 
Englishman within the Ohio Valley. 

The colonies of Pennsylvania, New York and ^"irginia were most affected by 
the encroachments of France in the extension of her dominion, and particularly 
in the great scheme of uniting Canada with Louisiana. To carry out this 
purpose, the French had taken possession of a tract of country claimed by Vir- 
ginia, and had commenced a line of forts e.xtending from the la.kes to the Ohio 
River. Virginia was not only alive to her own interests, but attentive to tlie 
vast importance of an immediate and effectual resistance on the part of all 
the English colonies to the actual and contemplated encroachments of the 
French. 

In 17C3, Governor Dinwiddle, of Virginia, sent George "Washington, then a 
young man just twenty-one, to demand of the French commandant "a reason 
for invading British dominions while a solid peace subsisted.'' Washington met 
the French commandant, Gardeur dc St. Pierre, on the head waters of the 
Alleghany, and having communicated to him the object of his journey, received 
the insolent answer that the French would not discuss the matter of right, but 
would make prisoners' of every Englishman found trading on the Oliio and its 
waters. The country, he said, belonged to the French, by virtue of the dis- 
coveries of La Salle, and they would not withdraw from it. 

In January, lTo4, 'W^ashington returned to Virginia, and made his report to 
the Governor and Council. Forces were at once raised, and AVashington, as 
Lieutenant Colonel, was dispatched at the head of a hundred and fifty men, to 
the forks of the Ohio, with orders to "finish the fort already begun there by the 
<.)hio Company, and to make prisoners, kill or destroy all who interrupted the 
English settlements." 

On his march through the forests of Western Pennsylv,ania, Washington, 
through the aid of friendly Indians, discovered the French concealed among the 
rocks, and as they ran to seize their arms, ordered his men to fire upon them, at 
the same time, with his own musket, setting the e.xample. An action lasting 
about a quarter of an hour ensued; ten of the Frenchmen were killed, among 
tliem Jumonville, the commander of the party, and twenty-one were made pris- 
oners. Tlie dead were scalped by the Indians, and the chief, bearing a toma- 
hawk and a scalp, visited all the tribes of the Miamis, urging them to join the 
Six Nations and the English against the French. The French, however, were 
soon re-enforced, and Col. Washington was compelled to retui'n to Fort 
Necessity. Here, on the ild day of July, De Villiers invested the fort with 
600 French troops and 100 Indians. On the 4th, Washington accepted 
terms of capitulation, and the English giirrison withdrew from the valley of 
the Ohio. 

This attack of Washington upon Jumonville aroused the indignation of 
France, arid war was formally declared in May, ITTHi, and the "French and 
Iii'lian War" devastated the colonies for several years. Montreal, Detroit 
and all Canada were surrendered to the English, and on the 10th of February, 
ITGo, by the treaty of Paris — which had been signed, though not formally ratified 
by the respective governments, on the 3d of November, 1762 — France relinquished 
to Great Britian all that portion of the province of Louisiana lying on the east 
side of the Mississippi, except the island and town of New Orleans. On the 
.same day that the tr?aty of Paris was signed, France, by a secret treaty, ceded 
to Spain all her possessions on the west side of the Mississippi,- including the 



i 



•^ 



IlISTORV OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 145 

whole country to the he;ul waters of the Great River, anil west to the Rocky 
Mountains, and the jurisdiction of France in America, wiiich had lasted nearly 
a century, was ended. 

At the close of tlie Revolutionary war, by the treaty of peace between Great 
Britain and the United States, the Enj;;lish Government ceded to tlie latter 
all the territory on the east side of the Mississijipi River and north of the thirty- 
first parallel of north latitude. At the sanje time, Great Britain ceded to 
Spain all the Fh)ridas, comprising all the territory east of the Mississippi and 
south of the southern limits of the United States. 

At this time, therefore, the present State of Iowa was a part of the. Span isli 
possessions in North America, as all the territory west of the Mississippi River 
was under the dominifin of Spain. That government also possessed all the 
territory of the Floridas east of the great river and south of tlie thirty-first 
parallel of north latitude. Tiie Mississippi, therefore, so essential to tlio [jros- 
perity of the western portion of the United States, for the last tliree hundred 
miles of its course flowed wholly within the Spanish dominions, and that govern- 
ment claimed the exclusive right to use and control it below the southern l)oun- 
dary of the United States. 

The free navigation of the Mississippi was a very important question during 
all the time that Louisiana remained a dependency of tlie Spanish (Jrown, and 
as the final settlement intimately affected the status of the then future State 
of Iowa, it will be interesting to trace its progress. 

Tiio people of the United States occupied and exercised jurisdiction over 
the entire eastern valle_^ of the Mississippi, embracing all the country drained 
by its eastern tributaries ; they had a natural right, according to the accepted in- 
ternational law, to follow these rivers to the sea, and to the use of the Missis- 
sippi River acconlingly, as the great natural channel of commerce. The river 
V. as not only necessary but absolutely indispensable to the prosperity and growth 
of tlie western settlements then rapidly rising into commercial and political 
importance. They were situated in the heart of the great valley, and with 
wonderfully expansive energies and accumulating resources, it was very evident 
that no power on earth could deprive them of the fiee use of the river below 
them, only while their numbers were insufficient to enable them to maintain 
their ri'ht by force. Inevitably, therefore, iraraediatcly after the ratification of 
the treaty of 1783, the Western people began to demand the free navigation 
of the Jlississippi — not as a favor, but as a right. In 1786, both banks of 
the river, below the mouth of the Ohio, were occupied by Spain, and military 
|iosts on the east bank enforced her power to exact heavy duties on all im- 
])orts by way of the river for the Ohio region. Every boat descending the 
river was forced to land and submit to the arbitrary revenue exactions of the 
Spanish authorities. Under the administration of Governor Miro, these rigor- 
ous exactions were somewhat relaxed from 1787 to 1790 ; but Spain held it as 
her right to make them. Taking advantage of the claim of the American people, 
that the Mississippi should be opened to them, iir 1791, the Spanish Govern- 
ment concocted a scheme for the dismembership of the Union. The plan was 
to induce the Western people to separate from the Eastern States by liberal land 
grants and extraordinary commercial privileges. 

Spanish emissaries, among the people of Ohio and Kentucky, informed them 
that the Spanish Government would grant them fiivorable commercial privileges, 
provided they would secede from the Federal Government east of the mountains. 
The Spanish JMinister to the United States plainly declared to his confidential 
correspondent tiiat, unless tlie Western people would declare their independence 



Mi) HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

and refuse to remain in the Union, Spain was determined never to grant the 
free navigation of the Mississippi. 

By the treaty of Madrid, October 20, 1795, however, Spain formally stip- 
ulated that the Mississippi River, from its source to the Gulf, for its entire width, 
should be free to American trade and commerce, and that the people of the 
United States should be permitted, for three years, to use the port of New 
Orleans as a port of deposit for tlieir merchandise and produce, duty free. 

In November, 1801, the United States Government received, through Rufus 
King, its Minister at the Court of St. James, a copy of the treaty between Spain 
and France, signed at Madrid ]\Iarch 21, 1801, by which the cession of Loui- 
siana to France, made the previous Autumn, was confirmed. 

Tlic change offered a favorable opportunity to secure tlie just rights of the 
United States, in relation to the free navigation of the Mississippi, and ended 
the attempt to dismember the Union by an effort to secure an independent 
government west of the Alleghany Mountains. On the 7th of January, 1803, 
the American House of Representatives adopted a resolution declaring their 
" unalterable determination to maintain the boundaries and the rights of navi- 
gation and commerce through the River Mississippi, as established by existing 
treaties." 

In tlie same month. President Jefferson nominated and the Senate confirmed 
Robert R. Livingston and Jamea Monroe as Envoys Plenipotentiary to the 
Court of France, and Charles Pinckney and James Monroe to the Court of 
Spain, with plenary powers to negotiate treaties to effect the object enunciated 
by the popular branch of the National Legislature. These envoys were in- 
structed to secure, if possible, the cession of Florida and New Orleans, but it 
does not appear tliat Mr. Jefferson and his Cabinet had any idea of purchasing 
that part of Louisiana lying on the -west side of the Mississippi. In fact, on 
the 2d of March following, tiie instructions were sent to our Ministers, conta n- 
ing a plan which expressly left to France "all her territory on tlic west side of 
the jMis.-ussippi." Had tlicse instructions been followed, it might liave been that 
there would not have been any State of Iowa or any other member of the glori- 
ous Union of States west of the " Father of Waters." 

In obedience to his instructions, however, Mr. Livingston broached this 
plan to M. Talleyranil, Napoleon's Prime Minister, when that courtly diplo- 
matist quietly suggested to the American Minister that France miyltt be willing 
to cede the whole French domain in North America to the United States, and 
asked how much the Federal Government would be willing to give for it. Liv- 
ingston intimated that twenty millions of francs might bo a fair price. Talley- 
rand thought that not enough, but asked the Americans to " think of it." A 
few days later. Napoleon, in an interview with Mr. Livingston, in effect informed 
the American Envoy that he had secured Louisiana in a contract wiih S])ain 
for tlie purpose of turning it over to the United States for a mere nominal sum. 
He had been compelled to provide for the safety of that jirovince by the treaty, 
and ho was " anxious to give the United States a magnificent bargain fur a 
mere trifle." Tlie price proposed was one hundred and twenty-five million 
francs. This was subsequently modified to fifteen million dollars, and on this 
basis a treaty was negotiated, and was signed on the 30th day of xXpril, 1803. 

This treaty was ratified by the Federal Government, and by act of Congress, 
approved October 31, 1803, the President of tlie United States was authorized 
to take possession of the territory and provide for it a temporary government. 
Accordinirly, on the 20th dav of December foil 'wing;. on behalf of the Presi- 
dent. Gov. Clairborno and Gen. Wilkinson took possession of the Louisiana 



HISTORY OF THE .STATE OF IOWA. 14T 

purchase, and raised the American flag over the newly acquired domain, at New 
Orleans. Spain, although it had by treaty ceded the province to France in 
1801, still held quasi possession, and at first objected to the transfer, but with- 
drew her opposition early in 1804. 

By this treaty, thus successfully consummated, and the peaceable withdrawal 
of Spain, the then infant nation of the New World extended its dominion west 
of the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean, and north from the Gulf of Mexico to. 
British America. 

If the original design of Jefferson's a(hninistration had been accomplished, 
the United States would have acquired only that portion of the French territory 
lying east of the Mississippi River, and while the American people would thus 
have acquired the free navigation of tliat great river, all of the vast and fertile 
empire on the west, so rich in its agricultural and inexhaustible mineral 
resources, would have remained under tlie dominion of a foreign power. To _ 
Napoleon's desire to sell the whole of his North American possessions, and Liv- 
ingston's act transcending his instructions, which was ac(iuiesced in after it was 
done, does Iowa owe her position as a part of the United States by the 
Louisiana purchase. 

By authority of an act of Congress, approved March 26, 1804, the newly 
acquired territory was, on the 1st day of October following, divided : that part 
lying south of the 33d parallel of north latitude was called the Territory of 
Orleans, and all north of that parallel the District of Louisiana, which was placed 
under the authority of the oflScers of Indiana Territory, until July 4, 1805, when 
it was organized, with territorial government of its own, and so remained until 
1812, when the Territory of Orleans became the State of Louisiana, and the 
name of the Territory of Louisiana was changed to Missouri. On the 4th of 
July, 1814, that part of Missouri Territory comprising the present State of 
Arkansas, and the country to the westward, was organized into the Arkansas 
Territory. 

On the 2d of March, 1821, the State of Missouri, being a part of the Terri- 
tory of that name, was admitted to the Union. June 28, 1834, the territory 
west of the Mississippi River and north of Missouri was made a part of the 
Territory of Michigan ; but two years later, on the 4th of July, 1836, Wiscon- 
sin Territory was erected, embracing within its limits the present States of 
Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota. 

By act of Congress, approved June 12, 1838, the 

TERRITORY OF IOWA 

was erected, comprising, in addition to the present State, much the larger part 
of Minnesota, and extending north to the boundary of the British Possessions. 

THE ORIGINAL OWNERS. > 

Having traced the early history of the great empire lying west of the Mis- 
sissippi, of which the State of Iowa constitutes a part, from the earliest dis- 
covery to the organization of the Territory of Iowa, it becomes necessary to 
give some history of 

THE INDIANS OF IOWA. 

According to the policy of the European nations, possession perfected title 

to any territory. We have seen that the country west of the Mississippi was first 

discovered by the Spaniards, but afterward, was visited and occupied by the 

French. It was ceded by France to Spain, and by Spain back to France again, 

I 



148 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

and then was purchased and occupied by the United States. During all that 
time, it does not appear to have entered into the heads or hearts of the high 
contracting parties that the country they bouglit, sold and gave away was in 
the possession of a race of men who, although savage, owned the vast domain 
before Columbus first crossed the Atlantic. Having purchased the territory, 
the United States found it still in the possession of its original owners, who had 
never been dispossessed; and it became necessary to purchase again wliat had 
already been bought before, or forcibly eject the occupants; therefore, the his- 
tory of the Indian nations Avho occupied Iowa prior to and during its early set- 
tlement by the whites, becomes an important chapter in the history of the State, 
that cannot be omitted. 

For more than one hundred years after Marquette and Joliet trod the virgin 
soil of Iowa, not a single settlement had been made or attempted ; not even a 
trading post had been established. Tlie whole country remained in the undis- 
puted possession of the native tribes, who roamed at will over her beautiful and 
fertile prairies, hunted in her woods, fished in her streams, and often poured out 
their life-blood in obstinately contested contests for supremacy. That this State 
so aptly styled ''Tiie Beautiful Land," had been the theater of numerous, 
fierce and bloody struggles between rival nations, for possession of the favored 
region, long before its settlement by civilized man, there is no room for doubt. 
In these savage wars, the weaker party, whether aggressive or defensive, was 
either exterminated or driven from their ancient hunting grounds. 

In 1673, when Marquette discovered Iowa, the Illini were a very powerful 
people, occupying a large portion of the State ; but when the country was again 
visited by the whites, not a remnant of that once powerful ti'ibe remained on 
the west side of the Mississippi, and Iowa was principally in the possession of 
the Sacs and Foxes, a warlike tribe which, originally two distinct nations, 
residing in New York and on the waters of the St. Lawrence, had gradually 
fought their way westward, and united, probably, after the Foxes had been driven 
out of the Fox River country, in 1846, and crossed tiie Mississippi. The death 
of Pontiac, a famous Sac chieftain, was made the pretext for war against the 
Illini, and a fierce and bloody struggle ensued, which continued until the Illinois 
were nearly destroyed and their hunting grounds possessed by their victorious 
foes. The lowas also occupied a portion of the State for a time, in common 
with the Sacs, but they, too, were nearly destroyed by the Sacs and Foxes, and, 
in "The Beautiful Land," these natives met their equally warlike foes, the 
Northern Sioux, with whom they maintained a constant warfare for the posses- 
sion of the country for many years. 

When the United States came in possession of the great valley of the Mis- 
sissippi, by the Louisiana purchase, the Sacs and Foxes and lowas possessed 
the entire territory now comprising the State of Iowa. The Sacs and Foxes, 
also, occupied the most of the State of Illinois. 

The Sacs had four principal villages, where most of them resided, viz. : 
Their largest and most important town — if an Indian village may be called 
such — and from which emanated most of the obstacles and difficulties encoun- 
tered by the Government in the extinguishment of Indian titles to land in this 
region, was on Rock River, near Rock Island ; another was on the cast bank of 
the Mississippi, near the mouth of Henderson River; the third was at the 
head of the i)e3 Moines Rapids, near the present site of Montrose, and the fourth 
was near the mouth of the Upper Iowa. 

The Foxes had three principal villages, viz. : One on the west side of the 
Mississippi, six miles above the rapids of Rock River ; another about twelve 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 149 

"iniles from the river, in the rear of the Dubuque lead mines, and the tliird on 
"Turkey River. 

Tlie lowas, at one time identified with tlie Sacs, of Rock River, had with- 
drawn from them and become a separate tribe. Their principal village was on 
. the Des Moines River, in A'an Euren County, on the site where lowaville now 
'■'Stands. Here the last great battle between the Sacs and Foxes and the lowas 
■'was fought, in which Elack Hawk, then a young man, commanded one division 
"■of the attacking forces. The following account of the battle has been given : 

"Contrary to long established custom of Indian attack, this battle was commenced in the day 
time, the attending circumstances justifying this departure from the well settled usages of Indian 
warfare. The battle field was a level river bottom, about four miles in length, and two miles 
wide near the middle, narrowing to a point at either end. The main area of this bottom rises 
perhaps twenty feet above the river, leaving a narrow strip of low bottom along the shore, covered 
with trees tliut belted the prairie on the river side with a thick forest, and the immediate bank of 
the river was fringed with a dense growth of willows. Near the lower end of this prairie, near 
■the river bank, was situated the Iowa village. About two miles above it and near the middle of 
the prairie is a mound, covered at the time with a tuft of small trees and underbrush growing on 
its summit. In the rear of this little elevation or mound lay a belt of wet prairie, covered, at that 
time, with a dense growth of rank, coarse grass. Bordering this wet prairie on the north, the 

■ country rises abruptly into elevated broken river blutfs, covered with a heavy forest for many 
miles in extent, and in places thickly clustered with undergrowth, aifording a convenient shelter 
for the stealthy approach of the foe. 

" Through this forest the Sac and Fox war party made their way in the night and secreted 
^themselves in the tall grass spoken of above, intending to remain in ambush during the day and 
make such observations as this near proximity to their intended victim might afford, to aid them 
in their contemplated attack on the town during the following night. From this situation their 
spies could take a full survey of the village, and watch every movement of the inhabitants, by 
which means they were soon convinced that the lowas had no suspicion of their presence. 

"At the foot of the mound abovementioned, the lowas had their race course, where they diverted 
themselves with the excitement of horse racing, and schooled their young warriors in cavixlry 
evolutions. In these exercises mock battles were fought, and the Indian tactics of attack and 

■ defense carefully inculcated, by which means a skill in horsemanship was acquired rarely excelled. 
Unfortunately for them this day was selected for their equestrian sports, and wholly uncon- 
scious of the proximity of their foes, the warriors repaired to the race ground, leaving most of 
their arms in the village and their old men and women and children unprotected. 

" Pasb-a-po-po, who was chief in command of the Sacs and Foxes, perceived at once the 
advantage tliis state of things afforded for a complete surprise of his now doomed victims, and 
ordered Bbick Hawk to file off with his young warriors through the tall grass and gain the cover 
of the timbur along the ri^er bank, and with the utmost speed reach the village and commence 
the battle, wliile he remained with his division in the ambush to make a simultaneous assault on 
the unarmed men whose attention was engrossed with the excitement of the races. The plan 
was skillfully laid and most dexterously executed. Black Hawk with his forces reached the 
village undi!:Covered, and made a furious onslaught upon the defenseless inhabitants, by tiring 
one general volley into their midst, and completing the slaughter with the tomahawk ami scalp- 
ing knife, aided by the devouring flames with which they enveloped the village as soon as the 
fire brand could be spread from lodge to lodge. 

" On the instant ot the report of fire arms at the village, the forces under Pash-a-po-po 
leaped from their cone bant position iu the grass and sprang tiger-like upon the astonished and 
unarme J lowas in the midst of their r.icing spurts. The fir^t impulse of the latter naturally led 
them to make tlie utmost speed toward their arms In the village, and protect if possible their 
wives and chd Iren from the attack of their merciless assailants. The distance from the placs of 
attack on 1 he prairie was two miles, and a great number fell in their flight by the bullets and 
tomahawks of their enemies, who pressed them closely with a running fire the whole way, and 
the survivors only reached their town in time to witness the horrors of its destruction. Their 
whole vilhige wns in fliimes, and the dourest objects of their lives lay in slaughter^'d heaps 
amidst the devouring clem jni, an 1 thj agonizing groans of the dying, mingled with (he exulting 
shouts of ihe victoriou-i foe, fillet their he, tits with maddening despair. Their wives and children 
who had been spared the general massacre were prisoners, and togeiher with their arms were in 
the hands of the victors; and all that could now be done was to draw off their shattered and 
defenseless forces, and save as many lives as possible by a retreiVt across the Des Moinei River, 
which they effected in the best possible manner, and took a position among the Soap Creek 
Hills." 

The Sacs and Foxes, prior to the settlement of their village on Rock River, 
had a fierce conflict with the Winnebagoes, subdued them and took possession 



150 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

t>f their lands. Their village on Rock River, at one time, contained upward of 
sixty lodges, and was among the largest Indian villages on the continent. Im 
182r>, the Secretary of War estimated the entire number of the Sacs and Foxes 
at 4,6U0 souls, 'i'heir village was situated in tJie immediate vicinity of the- 
upper rapids of the Mississippi, where the beautiful and flourishing towns of 
Rock Island and Davenport are now situated. The beautiful scenery of the 
island, the extensive prairies, dotted over with groves; the picturesque bluffs- 
along the river banks, the rich and fertile soil, producing large crops of corn, 
squash and other vegetables, with little labor; the aljundance of wild fruit, 
game, fish, and almost everything calculated to make it a delightful spot for an 
Indian village, wiiich was found there, had made this place a favorite home of 
the Sacs, and secured for it the strong attachment and veneration of the whole 
nation. 

North of the hunting grounds of the Sacs and Foxes, were those of the 
Sioux, a fierce and warlike nation, who often disputed possession with their 
rivals in savage and bloody warfare. The possessions of these tribes were 
mostly located in Minnesota, but extended over a portion of Northern and 
Western Iowa to the Missouri River. Their descent from the north upon the 
hunting grounds of Iowa frequently brought them into collision with the Sacs 
and Foxes ; and after many a conflict and bloody struggle, n, boundary line was 
established between them by the Government of the Unite<l States, in a treaty 
held at Prairie du Cliien, in 1825. But this, instead of settling the difficulties, 
caused them to quarrel all the more, in consequence of alleged trespasses upon 
each other's side of the line. These contests were kept up and became so unre- 
lenting that, in 1830, Government bought of the respective tribes of the Sac» 
and Foxes, and the Sioux, a strip of land twenty miles in widtli, on both sides 
of the line, and thus throwing them forty miles apart by creating between them 
a "neutral ground," commanded them to cease their hostilities. Both the 
Sacs and Foxes and the Sioux, however, were allowed to fish and hunt on this 
ground unmolested, provided they did not interfere with each other on United 
States territory. The Sacs and Foxes and the Sioux were deadly enemies, and 
neither let an opportunity to punish the other pass unimproved. 

In April, 1852, a fight occurred between the Musquaka band of Sacs and. 
Foxes and a band of Sioux, about six miles above Algona, in Kossuth County, 
on the west side of the Des Moines River. The Sacs and Foxes were under 
the leadership of Ko-ko-wah, a subordinate chief, and had gone up from their 
home in Tama County, by way of Clear Lake, to what was then the " neutral 
ground." At Clear Lake, Ko-ko-wah was informed that a party of Sioux were 
encamped on the west side of the East Fork of the Des Moines, and he deter- 
mined to attack them. With sixty of his warriors, he started and arrived at a> 
point on the east side of the river, about a mile above the Sioux encampment, 
in the night, and concealed themselves in a grove, where they were able to dis- 
cover the position and strength of their hereditary foes. The next morning, 
after many of the Sioux braves had left their camp on hunting tours, the vin- 
dictive Sacs and Foxes crossed the river and suddenly attacked the camp. The- 
conflict was desperate for a short time, but the advantage was with the assail- 
ants, and the Sioux were routed. Sixteen of them, including some of their 
women and children, were killed, and a boy 14 years old was captured. One 
of the Musquakas was shot in the breast by a squaw as they were rushing into 
the Sioux's camp. He started to run away, when the same brave squaw shot 
him through the body, at a distance of twenty rods, and he fell dead. Three 
other Sac braves were killed. But few of the Sioux escaped. The victorious 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 151 

party hurriedly buried their own dead, leaving the dead Sioux above ground, 
-and made their way home, with their captive, with all possible expedition. 

pike's expedition. 

Very soon after the acquisition of Louisiana, the United States Government 
adopted measures for the exploration of the new territory, having in view the 
-conciliation of the numerous tribes of Indians by whom it was possessed, and, 
;a;lso, the selection of proper sites for the establishment of military posts and 
trading stations. The Army of the West, Gen. James Wilkinson commanding, 
had its head((uarters at St. Louis. From this post, Captains Lewis and Clark, 
■with a sufficient force, were detailed to explore the unknown sources of the 
Missoiiri, and Lieut. Zebulon M. Pike to ascend to the head waters of the Mis- 
sissippi. Lieut. Pike, with one Sergeant, two Corporals and seventeen privates, 
left the military camp, near St. Louis, in a keel-boat, with four months' rations, 
►on the 9th day of August, 1805. On the 20th of the same month, the expe- 
•dition arrived within the present limits of Iowa, at the foot of the Des Moines 
Rapids, where Pike met William Ewing, who had just been apjiointed Indian 
Agent at this point, a French interpreter and four chiefs and fifteen Sac and 
Fox warriors. 

At the head of the Rapids, where Montrose is now situated. Pike held a 
■council with the Indians, in which he addressed them substantially as follows : 
■""Your great Father, the President of the United States, wished to be more 
intimately acquainted with the situation and wants of the different nations of 
red people in our newlv acquired territory of Louisiana, and has ordered the 
'General to send a number of his warriors in different directions to take them by 
:the hand and make such inquiries as might afford the satisfaction required." 
At the close of the council he presented the red men with some knives, whisky 
and tobacco. 

Pursuing his way up the river, he arrived, on the 2;:5d of August, at what is 
supposed, from his description, to be the site of the present city of Burlington, 
which he selected as the location of a iiiilitar\' post. He describes the place as 
being " on a hill, about forty miles above the River de Moyne Rapids, on the 
west side of the river, in latitude about 41° 21' north. The channel of the 
river runs on that shore; the hill in front is about sixty feet perpendicular; 
nearly level on top ; four hundred yards in the rear is a small prairie fit for 
gardening, and immediately under the hill is a limestone spring, sufficient for 
the consumption of a whole regiment." In addition to this description, which 
corresponds to Burlington, the spot is laid down on his map at a bend in the 
river, a short distance below tbe mouth of the Henderson, which pours its waters 
into the Mississippi from Illinois. The fort was built at Fort Madison, but from 
the distance, latitude, description and map furnished by Pike, it could not have 
been the place selected by him, -while all the circumstances corroborate the 
opinion that the place he selected was the spot where Burlington is now located, 
called by the early voyagers on the Mississippi, "Flint Hills." 

On the 24:th, with one of his men, he went on shore on a hunting expedition, 
and following a stream which they supposed to be a part of the Mississippi, they 
were led away from their course. Owing to the intense heat and tall grass, his 
two favorite dogs, which he had taken with him, became exhausted and he left 
them on the prairie, supposing that they would follow him as soon as they 
shoidd g(^t rested, and went on to overtake his boat. Reaching the river, he 
waited some time for his canine friends, but they did not come, and as he deemed 
it inexpedient to detain the boat longer, two of his men volunteered to go in pur- 



152 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

suit of them, and he continued on his Tvay up the river, expecting that the twcj' 
men would soon overtaive him. They lost their way, however, and for six days 
were without food, except a few morsels gathered from the stream, and might 
have perished, had they not accidentally met a trader from St. Louis, who in- 
duced two Indians to take them up the river, and they overtook the boat at- 
Dubuque. 

At Dubuque, Pike was cordially received by Julien Dubuque, a Frenchman, 
who held a mining claim under a grant from Spain. Dubuque had an old field 
piece and fired a salute in honor of the advent of the first Americans who had 
visited that part of the Territory. Dubuque, however, was not disposed to pub- 
lish the wealth of his mines, and the young and evidently inquisitive officer 
obtained but little information from him. 

After leaving this place. Pike pursued his way up the river, but as he passed 
beyond the limits of the present State of Iowa, a detailed history of his explo- 
rations on the upper waters of the Mississippi more properly belongs to the his- 
tory of another State. 

It is sufficient to say that on the site of Fort Snelling, Minnesota, at the 
mouth of the Minnesota River, Pike held a council with the Sioux, September 
23, and obtained from them a grant of one hundred thousand acres of land. 
On the 8th of January, 1806, Pike arrived at a trading post belonging to the 
Northwest Company, on Lake De Sable, in latitude 47°. At this time the 
then powerful Northwest Company carried on their immense operations from 
Hudson's Bay to the St. Lawrence ; up that river on both sides, along the great 
lakes to the head of Lake Superior, thence to the sources of the Red River of 
the north and west, to the Rocky Mountains, embracing within the scope of 
their operations the entire Territory of Iowa. After successfully accomplishing 
his mission, and performing a valuable service to Iowa and the whole Northwest,. 
Pike returned to St. Louis, arriving there on the 30th of April, 1800. 

INDIAN WARS. 

The Territory of Iowa, although it had been purchased by the United States,. 
and was ostensibly in the posses>ion of the Government, was still occupied by 
the Indians, who claimed title to the soil by right of ownership and possession. 
Before it could be open to settlement by the whites, it was indispensable that 
the Indian title should be extinguished and the original owners removed. The 
accomplishment of this purpose required the expenditure of large sums of 
money and blood, and for a long series of years the frontier was disturbed by 
Indian wars, terminated repeatedly by treaty, only to be renewed by some act 
of oppression on the part of the whites or some violation of treaty stipidation. 

As previously shown, at the time when the United States assumed the con- 
trol of the country by virtue of the Louisiana purchase, nearly the whole State 
was in possession of the Sacs and Foxes, a powerful and warlike nation, who 
were not disposed to submit without a struggle to what they considered the 
encroachments of the pale faces. 

Among the most noted chiefs, and one whose restlessness and hatred of the 
Americans occasioned more trouble to the Government than any other of his 
tribe, was Black Hawk, who was born at the Sac village, on Rock River, in 
1767. He was simply the chief of his own band of Sac warriors, but by his 
energy and ambition he became the leading spirit of the united nation of Sacs 
and Foxes, and one of the prominent figures in the history of the country from 
180-1 until his death. In early manhood he attained some distinction as a 
fighting chief, having led campaigns against the Osages, and other neighboring:. 



HLSTOKY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 153 

tribes. About the beginning of the present century he began to appear prom- 
inent in attairs on the Mississippi. Some liistorians have added to the statement 
that " it does not appear that he was ever a great general, or possessed any of 
the qualifications of a successful leader." If this was so, his life was a marvel. 
How any man who had none of the qualifications of a leader became so prom- 
inent as such, as he did, indicates either that he had some ability, or that his 
cotemporaries, both Indian and Anglo-Saxon, had less than he. He is said 
to have been tlie " victim of a narrow prejudice and bitter ill-will against the 
Americans,' but the impartial historian must admit that if he was the enemy 
of the Americans, it was certainly not without some reason. 

It will be remembered that Spain did not give up possession of the country 
to France on its cession to the latter power, in 1801, but retained possession of 
it, and, by the authority of France, transferred it to the United States, in 1804. 
Black Hawk and his band were in St. Louis at the time, and were invited to be 
present and witness the ceremonies of the transfer, but he refused the invitation, 
and it is but just to say that this refusal was caused probably more from 
regret that the Indians were to be transferred from the jurisdiction of the 
Spanish authorities than from any special hatred toward the Americans. In 
his life he says : " I found many sad and gloomy faces because the United 
States were about to take possession of the town and country. Soon after the 
Americans came, I took my band and wont to take leave of our Spanish father. 
The Americans came to see him also. Seeing them approach, we passed out 
of one door as they entered another, and immediately started in our canoes for 
our village, on Rock River, not liking the change any more than our friends 
appeared to at St. Louis. On arriving at our village, we gave the news that 
strange people had arrived at St. Louis, and that we should never see our 
Spanish father again. Tlie information made all our people sorry." 

On the 3(1 day of November, 1804, a treaty was concluded between William 
Henry ILirrison, then Governor of Indiana Territory, on behalf of the United 
States, and five chiefs of the Sac and Fox nation, by which the latter, in con- 
sideration of two thousand two hundred and thirty-four dollars' worth of goods 
then delivered, and a yearly annuity of one thousand dollars to be paid in 
goods at just cost, ceded to the United States all that land on the east side of 
the Rlissi.ssppi, extending from a point opposite the Jefferson, in Missouri, to 
the Wisconsin River, embracing an area of over fifty-one millions of acres. 

To this treaty Black Hawk always objected and always refused to consider 
it binding upon his people. He asserted that the chiefs or braves who made it 
had no authority to relinquish the title of the nation to any of the lands they 
held or occupied ; and, moi-eover, that they had been sent to St. Louis on quite 
a different errand, namely, to get one of their people released, who had been 
imprisoned at St. Louis for killing a white man. 

The year following tliis treaty (180')), Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike came up 
the river for the purpose of holding friendly councils with the Indians and select- 
ing sites for forts Avithin the territory recently acquired from France by the 
United States. Lieutenant Pike seems to have been the first American whom 
Black Hawk ever met or had a personal interview with ; and ho was very much 
prei)i)sscssed in Pike's favor. Ho gives the following account of his visit to 
Rock Island : 

" A boat came up the river with a young American chief and a small party 
of soldiers. We heard of them soon after they passed Salt River. Some of our 
young braves watched them every day, to sec what sort of people he had on 
board. The boat at length arrived at Rock River, and the young chief came on 



154 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

Bliore ■with his interpreter, and made a speecli and gave us some presents. We 
in turn presented them with meat and sucii otlier provisions as we had to spare. 
'We were well pleased with the young chief. He gave us good advice, and said 
our American lather would treat us well." 

Tiie events which soon followed Pike's expedition were the erection of Fort 
Edwards, at what is now Warsaw, Illinois, and Fort Madison, on the site of the 
present town of that name, the latter being the first fort erected in Iowa. These 
movements occasioned great uneasiness among the Indians. When work was 
commenced on Fort Edwards, a delegation from their' nation, headed by some of 
their chiefs, Avent down to see what the Americans were doing, and had an in- 
terview with the comipander; after which they returned home apparently satis- 
fied. In like manner, when Fort Madison was being erected, they sent down 
another delcgatiun from a council of the nation held at Ruck River. Accord- 
ing to Black Hawk's account, the Amei-ican chief told them that he was build- 
ing a house for a trader who was coming to sell them goods cheap, and that the 
soldiers were coming to keep him company — a statement which Black Hawk 
says they distrusted at the time, believing that the fort was an encroachment 
upon their rights, and designed to aid in getting their lands away from them. 

It has been held by good American authorities, that the erection of Fort 
Madison at the point where it was located was a violation of the treaty of 1804. 
By the eleventh article of that treaty, the United States had a right to build a 
fort near the mouth of the AVisconsin River ; by article six they had bound 
themselves ''that if any citizen of the United States or any other Avhite persons 
should firm a settlement upon their lands, such intruders should forthwith be 
removed." Probably the authorities of the United States did not regard the 
Establishment of military posts as coming properly within the meaning of the 
term "settlement," as used in tiie treaty. At all events, they erected Fort 
Madison within tlie territory reserved to the Indians, who became very indig- 
nant. Not long after the fort was built, a party led by Black Hawk attempted 
its destruction. They sent spies to watch the movements of the garrison, who 
ascertained that the soldiers were in the habit of marching out of the fort every 
morning and evening for parade, and the plan of the party was to conceal them- 
'selves near the fort, and attack and surprise them when they were outside. On 
the morning of the proposed day of attack, five soldiers came out and were fired 
upon by the Indians, two of them being killed. The Indians were too hasty in 
their movement, for the regular drill had not yet commenced. However, they 
kept up the attack for several days, attempting the olil Fox strategy of setting 
fire to the fort with blazing itrrows ; but finding their eflbrts unavailing, ihey 
soon gave up and returned to Rock River. 

' When war was declared between tlie United States and Great Britain, m 
1812, Black Hawk and his band allied themselves with th^ British, partly 
because he was dazzled by their specious promises, and more probably because 
they had been deceived by the Americans. Black Hawk himself declared that 
they were ''forced into the war by being deceived." He narrates the circum- 
stances as follows : " Several of the chiefs and head men of the Sacs and 
Foxes were called upon to go to Washington to see their Great Father. On 
their return, they related what had been said and done. They said the Great 
Father wished them, in the event of a war taking place with England, not to 
interfere on cither si<le, but to remain neutral. He did not want our help, but 
•wished tis to hunt and support our families, and live in peace. He said that 
British traders would not be permitted to come on the jMississippi to furnish us 
with goods, but that we should be supplied with an American trader. Our 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 155 

chiefs then told him that the British traders always gave them credit in the 
Fall for guns, powder and goods, to enable us to hunt and clothe our families. 
He repeated that the traders at Fort Madison would have plenty of goods ; 
that we should go there in the Fall and he would supply us on credit, as the 
British traders had done." 

Black Hawk seems to have accepted of this proposition, and he and his 
•people were very much pleased. Acting in good faith, they fitted out for their 
Winter's hunt, and went to Fort Madison in high spirits to receive from the 
trader their outfit of supplies. But, after waiting some time, they were told by 
the trader that he would not trust them. It was in vain that they pleaded the 
promise of their great father at Washington. The trader was inexorable ; and, 
disappointed and crest&llen, they turned sadly toward their own village. •' Few 
■of us," says Black Hawk, "slept that night; all was gloom and discontent. In 
the morning, a canoe was seen ascending the river ; it soon arrived, bearing an 
•express, who brought intelligence that a British trader had landed at Hock 
Island with two boats loaded with goods, and recjuested us to come up imme- 
diately, because he had good news for us, and a variety of presents. The 
express presented us with tobacco, pipes and wampum. The news ran through 
■our camp like fire on a prairie. Our lodges were soon taken down, and all 
sfartcd for Rock Island. Here ended all hopes of our remaining at peace, 
having been forced into the war by being deceived." 

He joined the British, who flattered him, styled him " Gen. Black Hawk," 
decked him with medals, excited his jealousies against the Americans, and 
armed his band ; but he met with defeat and disappointment, and s jon aban- 
doned the service and came home. 

■ With all his skill and courage. Black Hawk was unable to lead all the Sacs 
and Foxes into hostilities to the United States. A portion of them, at the head 
of whom was Keokuk (''the Watchful Fox"), were disposed to abide by the 
treaty of 1804, and to cultivate friendly relations with the American people. 
Therefore, when Black Hawk and his liand joined the fortunes of Great 
Britain, the rest of the nation remained neutral, and, for protection, organized, 
■with Keokuk for their chief. This diviiled the nation into the " War and the 
I'eace party." 

Black 'Hawk says he was informed, after he hail gone to the war, that the 
nation, which had been reduced to so small a body of fighting men, were unable 
to defend themselves in case the Americans sliould attack them, and having all 
the old men and women and children belonging to the warriors who had joined 
the British on their hands to provide for, a council was held, and it was agreed 
4hat Quash-qiia-me (the Lance) and other chiefs, together with the old men, 
•women and children, and such others as chose to accompany them, should go to 
St. Louis and place themselves under the American chief stationed tliere. 
'They aqf:;ordingly went down, and were received as the "friendly band" of the . 
Sacs and Foxes, and were provided for and sent up the Missouri River. On 
Black Hawk's return frohi the British army, he says Keokuk was introduced 
'to him as the Avar chief of the braves then in the village. He inquired how he 
liad become chief, and was informed that their spies had seen a large armed 
force goi'ng toward Peoria, and fears were entertained of an attack upon the 
village; whereupon a council was held, which concluded to leave the village 
and cross over to the west side of the Mississippi. Keokuk had been standing 
jrt the door of the lodge where tlie council was lield, not being allowed to enter 
on account of never having killed an enemy, where he retnained until Wa-co-me 
came out. Keokuk asked permission to speak in the council, which Wa-co-me 



J.56 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

obtained for him. Keiikuk then addressed the chiefs ; he remonstrated against 
the desertion of their village, their own homes and the graves of their fathers, 
and offered to defend the village. The council consented that he should be- 
their war chief. He marshaled his braves, sent out spies, and advanc»d on the 
trail leading to Peoria, but returned without seeing the enemy. The Americans 
did not disturb the village, and all were satisfied with the appointment of 
Keokuk. 

Keokuk, like Black Hawk, was a descendant of the Sac branch of the 
nation, and was born on Rock River, in 1780. He was of a pacific disposition, 
but possessed the elements of true courage, and could fight, when occasion; 
required, with a cool judgment and heroic energy. In his first battle, he en- 
countered and killed a Sioux, which placed him in the rank of warriors, and he 
was honored with a public feast by his tribe in commemoration of the event. 

Keokuk has been described as an orator, entitled to rank with the most 
gifted of his race. In person, he was tall and of portly bearing ; in his public 
speeches, he displayed a commanding attitude and graceful gestures ; he spoke- 
rapidly, but his enunciation was clear, distinct and forcible ; he culled his fig- 
ures from the stores of nature and based his arguments on skillful losric. Un- 
fortunately for the reputation of Keokuk, as an orator among white people, he 
was never able to obtain an interpreter who could claim even a slight acquaint- 
ance with philosophy. With one exception only, his interpreters were unac- 
quainted with the elements of their mother-tongue. Of this serious hindrance 
to his fame, Keokuk was well aware, and retained Frank Labershure, who had 
received a rudimental education in the French and English languages, until the 
latter broke down by dissipation and died. But during the meridian of his 
career among the white people, he was compelled to submit his speeches for 
translation to uneducated men, whose range of thought fell below the flights of 
a gifted mind, and the fine imagery drawn from nature was beyond their power 
of reproduction. He had sufficient knowledge of the English language to make 
him sensible of this bad rendering of his thoughts, and often a feeling of morti- 
fication at the bungling efforts was depicted on his countenance while speaking. 
The proper place to form a correct estimate of his ability as an orator was in 
the Indian council, where he addressed himself exclusively to those who under- 
stood his language, and witness the electrical effect of his eloquence upon his 
audience. 

Keokuk seems to have possessed a more sober judgment, and to have had a 
more' intelligent view of the greatstrengtli and resources of the United States, 
than his noted and restless cotemporary, BLick Hawk. He knew from the first 
that the reckless war which Black Hawk and his band had determined to carry on 
could result in nothing but defeat and disaster, and used every argument against 
it. The large number of warriors whom he had dissuaded from following Black 
Hawk became, however, greatly excited with the war spirit after Stillman's- 
defeat, and but for the signal tact displayed by Keokuk on that occasion, would 
have forced him to submit to their wishes in joining the rest of the warriors in 
the field. A war-dance was held, and Keokuk took part in it, seeming to be 
moved with the current of the rising storm. When the dance was over, he 
called the council to prepare i'nv war. He made a speech, in which he admitted 
the justice of their complaints against the Americans. To seek redress was a 
noble aspiration of their nature. The blood of their brethren had been shed by 
the white man, and the spirits of their braves, slain in battle, called loudly for 
vengeance. "T am your chief," he said, "and it is ray duty to lead you to bat- 
tle, if, after fully considering the matter, you are determined to go. But before 



HISTORY OF THK STATE OF IOWA. 157 

/ 
you decide on taking tins important step, it is wise to inquire into the chances of" 
success." He tlien portrayed to them the great power of the United States, 
against whom they woukl have to contend, that their chance of success was 
utterly hopeless. '' But," said he, '' if you do determine to go upon the war- 
path, I will agree to lead you, on one condition, viz.: that before we go, we will 
kill all our old men and our wives and children, to save them from a lingering 
death of starvation, and that every one of us determine to leave our homes on 
the other side of the Mississippi." 

This was a strong but truthful picture of the prospect before them, and was 
presented in sucli a forcible light as to cool their ardor, and cause them to aban- 
don the rash undertaking. 

But during the war of 1832, it is now considered certain that small bands of 
Indians, from the west side of the Mississippi, made incursions into the white 
settlements, in the lead mining region, and committed some murders aixl dep- 
redations. 

When peace was declared between the United States and England, Black 
Hawk was required to make peace with tlie former, and entered into a treaty 
at Portage des Sioux, September 14, 1815, but did not "touch the goose-quill 
to it until May 13, 1816, when he smoked the pipe of peace with the great 
white chief," at St. Louis. This treaty was a renewal of the treaty of 1804, 
but Black Hawk declared lie had been deceived ; tliat he did not know that by 
signing the treaty lie was giving away his village. This weighed upon his mind, 
already soured by previous disappointment and tlie irresistible encroachments of 
the whites ; and when, a few years later, lie and his people were driven from 
their possessions by tlie military, he determined to return to the home of his 
fathers. 

It is also to be remarked that, in 1816, by treaty witli various tribes, the 
United States reliiujuished to the Indians all the lands lying north of a line 
drawn from the southernmost point of Lake Michigan west to the Mississippi, 
except a reservation five leagues square, on the Mississippi River, supposed then 
to be sufficient to include all the mineral lands on and adjacent to Fever River, 
and one league square at the mouth of the Wisconsin River. 

THE BLACK HAWK WAR. 

The immediate cause of the Indian outbreak in 1830 was the occupation or 
Black Hawk's village, on the Rock River, by the whites, during the absence of 
the chief and his braves on a hunting expedition, on the west side of the 
Mississippi. When they returned, they found their wigwams occupied by white 
families, and their own women and children were slielterlcss on the banks of 
the river. The Indians were indignant, and determined to repossess their village 
at all hazards, and early in tlie Spring of 1831 recrossed the Mississippi and 
'•lenacingly took possession of their own cornfields and cabins. It may be well 
to remark here tliat it was expressly stipulated in tlie treaty of 1804, to which 
they attributed all their troubles, that tlie 'Indians should not be obliged to 
leave their lands until they were sold by the United States, and it does not 
appear thattliey occupied any lands otlier tlian those owned by the Government. 
If this was true, the Indians had good cause for indignation and complaint. 
But the whites, driven out in turn by tlie returning Indians, became so clamorous 
against what they termed the encroachments of the natives, that Gov. Reynolds, of 
Illinois, ordered Gen Gaines to Rock Island with a military force to drive the- 
Indians again from their homes to the west side of the Mississippi. Black Hawk 
says he did not intend to be provoked into war by anytliing less than the blood of 



158 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

some of his own people ; in other ■words, that there would be no war unless it should 
be commenced by the pale faces. But it was said and probably thought by the mili- 
tary commanders along the frontier that the Indians intended to unite in a general 
■war asrainst the whites, from Rock River to the Mexican borders. But it does not 
appear that the hardy frontiersmen themselves had any fears, for their experi- 
ence had been that, wlien well treated, their Indian neighbors were not danger- 
ous. Black Hawk and his band had done no more than to attempt to repossess the 
the old homes of whicli the}- had been deprived in their absence. No blood 
had been shed. Black Hawk and his chiefs sent a Hag of truce, and a new 
treaty was made, by which Black Hawk and his band agreed to remain forever- 
on the Iowa side and never recross the river without the permission of the 
President or tlie Governor of Illinois. Whether the Indians clearly understood 
the terms of this treaty is uncertain. As was usual, the Indian traders had 
dictated terms on their behalf, and they had received a large amount of pro- 
visions, etc., from tlie Government, but it may well be doubted whether the 
Indians comprehended that tliey could never revisit the graves of their fathers 
without violating their treaty. They undoubtedly thought that they had agreed 
never to recross the Mississippi with hostile intent. However this may be, on 
the 6th day of April, 18-32, Black Hawk and his entire band,- ■with their women 
and children, again recrossed the Mississippi in plain view of the garrison of 
Fort Armstrong, and went up Rock River. Although this act was construed 
into an act of hostility by the military authorities, who declared that Black 
Hawk intended to recover his village, or the site where it stood, by force ; but 
it does not appear that he made any such attempt, nor did his apearance 
preate any special alarm among the settlers. They knew that the Indians never 
went on the war i)ath encumbered with the old men, their women and their 
children. 

Tlie Galenian, printed in Galena, of May 2, 1832, says that Black Hawk 
was invited by the Prophet and had taken possession of a tract about forty 
miles up Rock River ; but that he did not remain there long, but commenced 
his march up Rock River. Capt. W. B. Green, who served in Capt. Stephen- 
son's com'pany of mounted rangei's, says that "Black Hawk and h's band 
■crossed the river with no hostile intent, but that his band had had bad luck in 
hunting during the jirevious Winter, were actually in a starving condition, and 
had come over to spend the Summer with a friendly tribe on tlie hea<l waters of 
the Rock and Illinois Rivers, by invitation from their chief Other old set- 
tlers, who all agree that Black Hawk had no idea of fighting, say that he came 
back to the west side expecting to negotiate another treaty, and get a new 
■supply of provisions. The most reasonable explanation of this movement, which 
resulled so disisti'ously to Black Hawk and his starving people, is that, during 
the Fall and Winter of 1831-2, his people became deejily indebted to their 
favorite trader at Fi)rt Armstrong (Rock Island). They had not been fortunate** 
in hunting, and he was likely to lose heavily, as an Indian debt was outlawed 
in one year. If, therefore, the Indians could be induced to come over, and the 
fears of the military could be sufficiently aroused to pursue them, another treaty 
could be negotiated, and from tlie payments from the Government the shrewd 
trader could get his pay. Just a week after Black Hawk crossed the river, on 
the loth of April, 1832, George Davenport wrote to Gen. Atkinson : " I am 
Informed that the British band of Sac Indians are determined to make war on 
the frontier settlements. * * * From eveiy information that I have 
received. I am of tlie opinion that the intention of the British band of Sac 
Indians is to commit dei^redations on the inhabitants of the frontier." And 



HISTORr OP THE STATE OF IOWA. 159' 

yet, from the 6th day of April until after Stillman's men commenced war by 
firing on a flag of truce from Black Hawk, no murders nor depredations were- 
committed by the British band of Sac Indians. 

It is not tlie purpose of this sketch to detail the incidents of the Black 
Hawk war of 1832, as it pertains rather to the history of the State of Illinois. 
It is sufficient to say that, after the disgraceful affair at Stillman's Run, Black 
Hawk, concluding that the whites, refusing to treat witli him, were determined 
to exterminate liis people, determined to return to the Iowa side of the Missis- 
sippi. He could not retifrn by the way he came, for the army was behind him, 
an array, too, that would sternly I'efuse to recognize the white flag of peace. 
His only course was to make liis way northward and reach the Mississippi, if 
possible, before the troops could overtake him, and this he did ; but, before he 
could get his w'onien and children across the Wisconsin, he was overtaken, and a 
battle ensued. Here, again, he sued for peace, and, through his trusty Lieu- 
tenant, "the Prophet," the whites were plainly informed that the starving 
Indians did not wish to fight, but would return to the west side of the Missis- 
sippi, peaceably, if they could be permitted to do so. No attention was paid to 
this second effort to negotiate peace, and, as soon as supplies could be obtained, 
the pursuit was resumed, the flying Indians were overtaken again eight miles 
befi)re they reached the mouth of the Bad Axe, and the slaughter (it should not 
be digtiified by the name of battle) commenced. Here, overcome by starvation- 
and tlie victorious whites, his band was scattered, on the 2d day of August, 
1832. Black Hawk escaped, but was brought into camp at Prairie du Chien 
by three Winnebagoes. He was confined in Jefferson Barracks until the 
Spring of 1833, when he was sent to Washington, arriving there April 22. On 
the 2Gtb of April, they were taken to Fortress Monroe, where they remained 
till the 4th of June, 1833, when orders were given for them to be liberated and 
returned to their own country. By order of the President, he was brought 
back to Iowa through the principal Eastern cities. Crowds flocked to see him 
all along his route, and he was very much flattered by the attentions he 
received. He lived among his people on the Iowa River till that reservation 
was sold, in 183G, when, with the rest of the Sacs and Foxes, he removed to 
the Des Moines Reservation, where he remained till his death, which occurred 
on the 3d of October, 1838. 



INDIAN PURCHASES, RESERVES AND TREATIES. 

At the close of the Black Hawk Wai', in 1832, a treaty was made at a 
council held on the west bank of the Mississippi, where now stands the thriving 
city of Davenport, on grounds now occupied by the Chicago, Rock Island & 
Pacific Railroad Company, on the 21st day of September, 1832. At this 
council, the United States were represented by Gen. Wmfield Scott and Gov. 
Reynolds, of Illinois. Keokuk, Pash-a-pa-ho and some thirty other chiefs and 
warriors of the Sac and Fox nation were present. By this treaty, the Sacs anJ 
Foxes ceded to the United States a strip of land on the eastern border of Iowa 
fifty miles wide, from the northern boundary of Missouri to the mouth of the 
Upper Iowa River, containing about six million acres. The western line of the 
purchase was parallel with the Mississippi. In consideration of this cession, 
the United States Government stipulated to pay annually to the confederated 
tribes, for thirty consecutive years, twenty thousand dollars in specie, and to 
pay the debts of the Indians at Rock Island, which had been accumulating for 



"160 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

seventeen years and amountcil to fifty thousand dollars, due to Davenport & 
Farnham, Indian traders. The Government also generously donated to tlie 
Sac and Fox women and children whose husbands and fiithers had fallen in the 
Black Hawk Avar, thirty-five beef cattle, twelve bushels of salt, thirty barrels of 
pork, fifty barrels of flour and six thousand bushels of corn. 

This territory is known as the " Black Hawk Purchase." Although it was 
not the first portion of Iowa ceded to the United States by the Sacs and Foxes, 
it was the first opened to actual settlement by the tide of emigration that flowed 
across the Mississippi as soon as the Indian title was extinguished. The treaty 
was ratified February 13, 1833, and took effect on the 1st of June following, 
when the Indians quietly removed fi'om the ceded territory, and this fertile and 
beautiful region was opened to white settlers. 

By the terms of the treaty, out of the Black Hawk Purchase was reserved for 
the Sacs and Foxes 400 s([uare miles of land situated on the Iowa River, and in- 
Icuding within its limits Keokuk's village, on the right bank of that river. This 
tract was known as " Keokuk's Reserve, ' and was occupied by the Indians until 
1836, when, by a treaty made in September betAveen them and Gov. Dodge, of 
Wisconsin Territory, it was ceded to the United States. The council was held 
on the banks of the Mississippi, above Davenport, and was the largest assem- 
blage of the kind ever held by the Sacs and Foxes to treat for the sale of lands. 
About one thousand of their chiefs and braves were present, and Keokuk was 
their leading spirit and principal speaker on the occasion. By the terms of the 
treaty, the Sacs and Foxes were removed to another reservation on the Des 
Moines River, where an agency was established for them at what is now the 
town of Agency City. 

Besides the Keokuk Reserve, the Government gave out of the Black HaAvk 
Purchase to Antoine Le Claire, interpreter, in fee simple, one section of land 
opposite Rock Island, and another at the head of the first rapids aboA^e the 
island, on the loAva side. This was the first land title granted by the United 
States to an individual in Iowa. 

Soon after the removal of the Sacs and Foxes to their ncAv reservation 
on the Des Moines River, Gen. Joseph M. Street Avas transferred from the 
agency of the Winnebagoes, at Prairie du Chien, to establish an agency 
among them. A farm Avas selected, on Avhich the necefesary buildings were 
erected, including a comfortable farm house for the agent and his family, at 
the expense of the Indian Fund. A salaried agent Avas employed to superin- 
tend the farm and dispose of the crops. Tavo mills Avere erected, one on Soap 
Creek and the other on Sugar Creek. The latter Avas soon sAvept aAvay by a 
flood, but the former remained and did good service for many years. Connected 
■with the agency were Joseph Smart and John Goodell, interpreters. The 
latter Avas interpreter for Hard Fish's band. Three of the Indian chiefs, Keo- 
kuk, AVapello and Appanoose, had each a large field improved, the -two former 
on the right bank of the Des Moines, back from tlie river, in Avhat is noAv 
"Keokuk's Prairie," and the latter on tiie present site of the city of OttuniAva. 
-Among the traders connected Avith the agency Avere the Messrs. EAving, from 
Ohio, and Phelps & Co., from Illinois, and also Mr. J. P. Eddy, Avho estab- 
lished his post at Avhat is now the site of Eddyville. 

The Indians at this agency became idle and listless in the absence of their 
natural and Avonted excitements, and many of them plunged into dissipation. 
Keokuk himself became dissipated in the latter years of his life, and it has 
been reported that he died of delirium tremens after his removal Avith his 
tribe to Kansas. 



HISTORV OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 161 

In May^ 1843, most of the Indians were removed up the Des Moines River, 
•above the temporary line of Red Rock, having ceded the remnant of their 
lands in Iowa to the United States on tlie 21st of September, 1837, and on tlie 
11th of October, 1842. By the terms of the hitter treaty, they held possession 
■of the " New Purchase " till the Autumn of 1845, when the most of them 
■,vfere removed to their reservation in Kansas, the balance being removed in the 
Spring of 1846. 

1. Treat!/ icith the Sioux— Mm\q .Uily 19. \H\r)- ratified December 16, 181'.. This treaty 
■was made at Portage des Sioux, between the Sioux of Minnesota and Upper Iowa and the United 
States, by William Claris and Ninian Edwards, t'ommissioners, and was merely a treaty of peace 
and friendship on the part of those Indians toward the United States at the close of the war of 
181-2. 

2. Treat;! with the Sacs. — A similar treaty of peace was made at Portage des Sioux, between 
ihe United States and the Sacs, by William Clark, Ninian Edwards and Auguste Clioteau, on the 
13ih of September, 1815, and ratified at the same date as the above. Iq this, the treaty of 1804 
was re-affirmed, and the Sacs liere represented promised for themselves and their bands to keep 
entirely separate from the Sacs of Rock River, who, under Black Hawk, had joined the British 
in the war just then closed. 

3 . Treaty with the Foxes. — A separate treaty of peace was made with the Foxes at Portage 
■des Sioux, by the same Commissioners, on the 14th of September, 1815, and ratified the same as 
the above, wherein the Foxes re-affirmed the treaty of St. Louis, of November 3, 1804, and 
agreed to deliver up all their prisoners to the officer in command at Fort Clark, now Peoria, 
Illinois. 

4. Treaty with the loiuas. — A treaty of peace and mutual good will was made between the 
United Slates and the Iowa tribe of Indians, at Portage des Sioux, by the same Commissioners 
as above, on the 16th of September, 1815, at the close of the war with Great Britain, and ratified 
M the same date as the others. 

6. Treaty with the Sacs of Rock River— M&de at St. Louis on the 13th of May, 1816, between 
the United States and the Sacs of Rock River, by the Commissioners, William Clark, Ninian 
Edwards and Auguste Choteau, and ratified December 30, 1810. In this treaty, that of 1804 
was reestablished and confirmed by twenty-two cliiefs and head men of the Sacs of Rock River, 
and Black Hawk himself attached to it his signature, or, as he said, " touched the goose quill." 

C. Treaty of ISSi — On the 4th of August, 1824, a treaty was made between the United 
St.atcs and the Sacs and Foxes, in the city of Washington, by William Clark, Commissioner, 
wherein the Sao and Fox nation relinquished their title to all lands in Missouri and that portion 
of the southeast corner of Iowa known as the " Half-Breed Tract" was set off and reserved for 
the use of the half-breeds of the Sacs and Foxes, they holding title in the same manner as In- 
dians. Ratified January 18, 1825, 

7. Treaty of August 19, IS'25. — At this date a treaty was made by William Clark and Lewis 
Cass, at Prairie du Chien, between the United States and the Chippewas, Sacs and Foxes, Me- 
nomonees, Winnebagoes and a portion of the Ottawas and Pottawatomies. In this tre.aty, in 
order to make peace between the contending tribes as to the limits of (heir respective hunting 

■ grounds in Iowa, it was agreed that the United States Government should run a boundary line 
between the Sioux, on the north, and the Sacs and Foxes, on the south, as follows : 

Commencing at'lhe mouth of the Upper Iowa River, on the west bank of the Mississippi, 
and ascending said Iowa River to its west fork ; thence up the fork to its source ; thence cross- 
ing the fork of Red Cedar River in a direct line to the second or upper fork of the Des Moines 
River ; thence in a direct line to the lower fork of the Calumet River, and down that river to its 
junction with the Missouri River. 

8. Treaty of JS30. — On the ]-5th of July, 1830, the confederate tribes of the Sacs and Foxes 
ceded to the United States a strip of country lying south of the above line, twenty miles in width, 
and extending along the line aforesaid from the Mississippi to the Des Moines River. The Sioux 
also, whose possessions were north of the line, ceded to the Government, in the same treaty, a 
like strip on the north side of the boundary. Thus the United States, at the ratification of tlii') 
treaty, February 24, 1831, came into possession of a portion of Iowa forty miles wide, extend 
ing along the Clark and Cass line of 1825, from liie Mississippi to the Des Moines River. Xhij 
territory was known as the " Neutral Ground," and the tribes on either side of the line were 
allowed to fish and hunt on it unmolested till it was made a Winnebago reservation, and tha 
Winneb.agoes were removed to it in 1841. 

9. Treaty wtih the Sues and F'lxes and other Tribes.— Ki the same time of the above treaty re- 
specting the " Neutral Ground" (July 15, 1830), the Sacs and Foxes, Western Sioux, Omahas, 
lowas and Missouris ceded to the United States a portion of the western slope of Iowa, the boun- 
daries of which were defined as follows: Beginning at the upper fork of the Des Moines River, 
and passing the sources of the Little Sioux and Floyd Rivers, to the fork of the first creek that 
falls into the Big Sioux, or Calumet, on the east side ; thence down said creek and the Calumel 



162 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

River to the Missouri River; thence down said Missouri River to the Missouri State line above 
the Kansas ; tlience along said line to the northwest corner of said State ; thence to the high lands 
between the waters falling into the Missouri and Des iMoines, passing to said high lands along 
the dividing ridge between the forks of tlie Grand River ; thence along said high lands or ridge 
separating the waters of tlie Missouri from those of tlie Des Moines, to a point opposite the source 
of the Rciyer River, and thence in a direct line to the upper fork of the Des Moines, the place of 
beginning. 

It was understood that the lands ceded and relinquished by this treaty were to be assigned 
and allotted, under the direction of the President of the United States, to the tribes then living 
thereon, or to such oilier tribes as the President might locale thereuii for hunting and other pur- 
poses. In consideration of three tracts of land ceded in this treaty, the United States agreed to 
pay to the Sacs three thnusand dollars ; to the Foxes, three thousand dollars; to the Sioux, 
two thousand dollars; to llic Vanklon and Santie bands of Sioux, three thousand dollars; to the 
Omalius, two thousand live huudi-ed dollars; and lo the Otioes and Missouris, two thousand five 
hundred dollars — to lie paid annuaily fur ten successive years. In addiiion to these annuities, 
the (jovernmeiit agreed to furnish some of the tribes with blacksmiths and agricultural imple- 
ments lo the amount of two hundred dollars, at the expense of tlie United States, and to set apart 
three thousand dollars annually for the education of the children of these tribes. It does not 
appear that any fort was erected iu this territory prior to the erection of Fort Atkinson on the 
Neutral Ground, in 184U-41. 

This treaiy was made by William Clark, Superintendent of Indian affairs, and Col. Willoughbjr 
Morgan, of the United States First Infantry, and came into effect by proclamation, February 
24, 1831. 

10. Treatri with the Wimebagoes. — Made at Fort Armstrong, Rock Island, September 1.5, 1832, 
by Gen. Wintield Scott and Hon. John Reynolds, Governor of Illinois. In this treaty the Win- 
nebagucs ceded lo the United States all their land lying on the east side of the Mississippi, and 
in part consideration therefor the United States granted to the Winnebagoes, to be held as other 
Indian lauds are held, that portion of Iowa known as the Neutral Ground. The exchange of the 
two tracts of country was to take place on or before the 1st day of June, 1833. In addition to 
the Neutral Ground, it was stipulated that the United States should give the Winnebagoes, begin- 
ning in September, 18;)3, and continuing for twenty-seven successive years, ten thousand dollars 
in specie, and establish a school among them, with a farm and garden, and provide other facili- 
ties for the education of their children, not to exceed in cost three thousand dollars a year, and 
to cohiinue the same for twenty-seven successive years. Six agriculturists, twelve yoke of oxen 
and plows and other farming tools were to be supplied by the Government. 

11. TmiUi of 1S3J will), tie Sacn and Foxe'. — Already mentioned as the Black Hawk purchase. 
VI. Treatij cf 1S3G, with the Sacs and Foxes, ceding Keokuk's Reserve to the United Slates; 

for which the Government stipulated to pay thirty thousand dollars, and an annuity often thou- 
sand dollars for ten successive years, together with other sums and debts of the Indians to 
various parties. > 

13. Tnaly of 1SS7 —On the 21st of October, 1837, a treaty was made at the city of Wash- 
ington, between Carey A. Harris, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and the confederate tribes of 
Sacs and Foxes, ratified February 21, 1838, wherein another slice of the soil of Iowa was obtained, 
described in the tredy as follows: "A tract of country containing 1,2-50,000 acres, lying west 
and adjoining the tract conveyed by them to the United States in the treaty of September 21, 
1832. It is understood that the points of termination for the present cession shall be the north- 
ern and southern points of said tract as fixed by the survey made under the authority of the 
United Stales, and that a line shall be drawn between them so as to intersect a line extended 
weaiwardly from the angle of said tract nearly opposite to Rock Island, as laid down in the above 
survey, so far as may be necessary to include the number of acres hereby ceded, which last 
mentioned line, it is estimated, will be about twenty-five miles," 

This piece of land was twenty-five miles wide in the middle, and ran off to a point at both 
ends, lying directly back of the Black Hawk Purchase, anil of the same length. 

14 Tr^aiij of RelinquhhmrnL — At the same date as the above treaty, in the city of Washing- 
ton, Carpy A. Harris, Commissioner, the Sacs and Foxes ceded to the United States all their 
right .anil interest in the country lying south of the boundary line between the Sacs and Foxes 
and Sioux,' .as described in the treaty of August 19, 1825, and between the Mississippi and Mis- 
souri Rivers, the United States p.aying.for the same one hundred and sixty thousand dollars. 
The Indians also gave up all claims and interests under the treaties previously made with them, 
for the satisfaction of which no appropriations had been made. 

15. Treiiiij of lS43.—T\\<i last treaty was made with the Sacs and Foxes October 11, 1842; 
ratified March 23, 1843. It was made at the Sac and Fox agency (.\gency City), by John 
Chambers, Commissioner on behalf of the United Stales. In this treaty the Sac and Fox Indians 
. " ceded to the United St.xtes all their lands west of the Mississippi to which they had any claim 
or title. " By the terms • f this treaty they were to be removed from the country at the expira- 
Uon of three years, and all wlio remained after that were to move at their own expense. Part 
of them were removed to Kansas in the Fall of 1845, and the rest the Spring following. 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 16;] 



SPANISH GRANTS. 

Wliilc the territory now embraced in the State of Iowa was untlcr Spanish 
nile as a part of its province of Louisiana, certain claini.s to and grants of land 
were made by the Span ish authorities, with which, in addition to the extinguishment 
of Indian titles, the United States had to deal. It is proper that these should 
be hrielly reviewed. 

Dabuqtic — On the 22d day of September, 1788, Julion Dubuque, a French- 
man, from Prairie du Chicii, obtained from the Foxes a cession or lease of lands 
on the Mississippi River for mining purposes, on the site of the present city of 
Dubuque. Lead had been discovered here eight years before, in 1780, by the 
wife of Peosta Fox, a warrior, and Dubuque's claim embraced nearly all the lend 
bearing lands in that vicinity. lie immediately took possession of his claim and 
commenceil mining, at the same time making a settlement. Tlie place became 
known as the "Spanish Miners," or, more commonly, "Dubuque's Lead 
Mines." 

In 179(5, Dubuque filed a petitimi with Baron do Carondelet, the Spanish 
Governor of Louisiana, asking that the tract ceded to him by the Indians might 
be granted to him by patent from the Spanish Government. In this petition, 
Dubuque rather indefinitely set forth the boundaries of this claim as "about 
seven leagues along the Mississippi River, and three leagues in width from the 
river," intending to include, as is supjwsed, the river front between the Little 
Maquoketa and tlie Tete <les Mcrtz Rivers, embracing more than twenty thou- 
sand acres. Carondelet grantai the prayer of the petition, and the grant was 
subse(iuently confirmed by the Board of Land Commissioners of Louisiana. 

In October, 1804, Dubufjue transferred the larger part of his claim to 
Augustc (Jhoteau, of St. Louis, and on the 17th of May, 1805, he and Choteau 
jointly tiled their claims with the Board of Commissioners. On the 20th of 
September, 180(3, the Board decided in their favor, pronouncing the claim to be 
a regular Spanish grant, made and completed prior to the 1st day of October, 
1800, only one member, J. B. C. Lucas, dissenting. 

Dubu(|ue died March 24, 1810. The Indians, understanding that the claim 
of DnbuqiK! under their former act of cession was only a permit to occupy the 
tract and work the mines during his life, and that at his deatli they reverted to 
them, took possession and continued mining operations, and were sustained by 
tlie military authority of the United States, notwithstanding the decision of the 
Commissioners. When the Black Hawk purchase was consummated, the Du- 
bu([ue claim thus held by the Indians was absorbed by the United States, as the 
Sacs and Foxes made no reservation of it in the treaty of 1832. 

Tlie hcii's of Choteau, however, were not disposed to relin(juish their claim 
without a struggle. Late in 1832, they employed an agent to look after their 
interests, and authorized him to lease the right to dig lead on the lands. The 
miners who commenced work under this agent were compelled by the military to 
abandon their operations, and one of the claimants went to Galena to institute 
legal proceedings, but found no court of competent jurisdiction, although he did 
bring an action for the recovery of a quantity of lead dug at Dubuque, for the 
purpose of testing the title. Being unable to identify the lead, however, he was 
non-suited. , 

By act of Congress, approved July 2, 1836, the town of Dubuque was sur- 
veyed and TDlatted. After lets had been sold and occupied by the purchasers, 
Henry Choteau brouglit an action of ejectment against Patrick Malony, who 
J 



164 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

iiekl land in Dubuque under a patent from the United States, for the reeoveiy 
of seven undivided eighth parts of the Dubuque claim, as purchased by Augusta 
Choteau in 1804. The case ■was tried in the District Court of tlie United States 
for the District of Iowa, and was decided adversely' to the plaintiff. The case was 
carried to the Supreme Court of the United States on a writ of error, when it 
was heard at the December term, 1853, and the decision of the lower court was 
affirmed, the court holding that the permit from Carondolet was merely a lease 
or permit to work the mines ; that Dubuque asked, and the Governor of Louisiana 
granted, nothing more than the "peaceable possession " of certain lands obtained 
li'oni tlie Indians ; that Carondelet harl no legal autliority to make snch a grant 
as claimed, and that, even if he had, this was but an " inchoate and imperfect 
title." 

Giard. — In 1795, the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Louisiana granted to 
Basil Giard five thousand eight hundred and sixty acres of land, in what is now 
Clayton County, known I as the "Giard Tract." He occupied the land during 
the time that Iowa passed from Spain to France, and from France to the United 
States, in consideration of which tlie Federal Government granted a patent of 
the same to Giard in his own right. His heirs sold the whole tract to James II. 
Lockwood and Thomas P. Burnett, of Prairie du Chien, for three hundred dollars. 

Honori. — March 30, 1799, Zenon Trudeau, Acting Lieutenant Governor of 
Upper Louisiana, granted to Louis Ilonoi'i a tract of land on the site of the 
present town of Montrose, as follows: " It is permitted to Mr. Louis (Fresson) 
Henori, or Louis Honore Fesson, to establish himself at the head of the rapids 
of the River Des Moines, and his establishment once formed, notice of it shall be 
given to the Governor General, in order to obtain for him a commission of a space 
sufficient to give value to such establishment, and at the same time to render it 
useful to the commerce of the peltries of this country, to watch the Indians and 
keep them in the fidelity which they owe to His Majesty." 

Honori took immediate possession of his claim, which he retained until 1805. 
While trading with the natives, he became indebted to Joseph Robetlonx, who 
obtained an execution on which the property was sold May 13, 1803, and was 
purchased by the creditor. In these proceedings the property was described as 
being " about six leagues above tlie River Des Moines." Robedoux died soon 
after he purchased the proprerty. Auguste Choteau, his executor, disposed of 
the Honori tract to Thomas F. Reddeck, in April, 1805, up to whicii time 
Honori continued to occupy it. The grant, as made by the Spanisii government, 
was a league square, but only one mile square was confirmed by the Uuited 
States. After the half-breeds sold their lands, in which the Honori grant was 
included, various claimants resorted to litigation in attempts to invalidate the 
title of the Reddeck heirs, but it was finally confirmed by a decision of the 
Su])reme Court of the United States in 1839, and is the oldest legal title to any 
laud in the State of Iowa. 

THE HALF-BREED TRACT. 

Before any permanent settlement had been made in the Territory of Iowa, 
white adventurers, trappers and traders, many of whom were scattered along 
the Mississippi and its tributaries, as agents and employes of the American Fur 
Company, intermarried with the females of the Sac and Fox Indians, producing 
a race of half-breeds, whose number was never definitely ascertamed. There 
were some respectable and excellent people among them, cliildren of men of 
some refinement and education. For instance : Dr. Muir, a gentleman educated 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 1G5 

at Edinburgh, Scotland, a surgeon in the United States Army, stationed at a 
military post located on tlic present site of Warsaw, married an Indian woman, 
and reared his family of three daughters in the city of Keokuk. Other exam- 
ples might he cited, but they are proljably exceptions to the general rule, and 
the race is now nearly or quite extinct in Iowa. 

A treaty was made at Wasliington, August 4, 1824, between the Sacs and 
Foxes and the United Stales, by which that portion of Lee County was reserved 
to the half breeds of those tribes, and wliich was afterward known as " The 
Half-Breed Tract." Tliis reservation is the triangular. piece of land, containing 
about 110,000 acres, lying between the Mississippi and Des Moines Rivers. It is 
bounded on the norlh by the prolongation of the northern line of Missouri. 
Tiiis line was intended to be a straight one, running due east, which would have 
caused it to strike the Mississippi River at or below Montrose ; but the surveyor who 
run it took no notice of the change in the variation of the needle as he proceeded 
eastward, and, in consecpience, the line he run was bent, deviating more and more 
to tlie northward of a direct line as he approached the Mississippi, so that it 
struck that river at (he lower edge of the town of Fort Madison. "This errone- 
ous line," says Judge Mason, "has been acquiesced in as well in fixing the 
northern limit of the Half-Breed Tract as in determining the northern boundary 
line of the State of Missouri." The line thus run included in the reservation 
a portion of the lower part of the city of Fort Madison, and all of the present 
townships of Yan Burcn, Charleston, Jeil'erson, Des Moines, Montrose and 
Jackson. 

Under the treaty of 1824, the half-breeds had the right to occupy the soil, 
but could not convey it, the reversion being reserved to the United States. But 
on the 30th day of' January, 1834, by act of Congress, this reversionary right 
was relinquished, and tlie half-breeds acquired the lands in fee simple. This 
was no sooner done, than a horde of speculators rushed in to buy land of the 
half breed owners, and, in many instances, a gun, a blanket, a pony or a few 
<[uarts of whisky was suflicient for the purchase of large estates. There was 
a deal of sharp practice on both sides ; Indians would often claim ownership of 
land by virtue of being half-breeds, and had no difficulty in proving their mixed 
blood by the Indians, and they would then cheat the speculators by selling land 
to wliich they h;id no riglitful title. On the other hand, speculators often 
claimed land in which they had no ownership. It was diamond cut diamond, 
until at last things became badly mixed. There were no authorized surveys, 
and no boundary lines to claims, and, as a natural result, numerous conflicts and 
«£uarrels ensued. 

To settle these difficulties, to decide the validity of claims or sell them for 
the benefit of the real owners, by act of the Legislature of AVisconsin Territory, 
ap]iroved January 1(3, 1838, Edward Johnstone, Thomas S. Wilson and David 
Brigham were appointed Commissioners, and clotlied with power to effect these 
objects. The act provided that these Commissioners should be paid six dollars 
a day each. The commission entered upon its duties and continued until the 
next session of the Legislature, when the act creating it was repealed, invalidat- 
ing all that had been done and depriving the Commissioners of their pay. The 
repealing act, however, authorized the Commissioners to commence action against 
the owners of the Ilalf-Breed Tract, to receive pay for their services, in the Dis- 
trict Court of Lee County. Two judgments were obtained, and on execution 
the wluilo of the tract was sold to Hugh T. Raid, the Sheriff executing the 
deed. Mr. Reid sold portions of it to various parties, but his own title was 
questioned and he became involved in litigation. Decisions in favor of Reid 



166 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF lOVv'A. 

and those liolding under him -were made by botli District and Supremo Courts, 
hut in December, 1S50, tliese decisions were finally reverseil liy tlie Supreme 
Court of tlie Unite<l States in the case of Joseph Webster, phiintiff in error, vs. 
Hugh T. Reid, and the judgment titles failed. About nine years before the 
"judgment titles " were finally abrogated as above, another class of titles were 
brought into competition with them, and in the conflict between the two, the 
final decision was obtained. These were the. titles based on the " decree of 
partition " issued by the United States District Court for the Territory of Iowa, 
on the 8th of May, 1S41, and certified to by the Clerk on the 2d day of June of 
tiiat year. Edward Johnstone and Hugh T. Reid, then law partners at Fort 
.Madison, filed the petition for the decree in behalf of the St. Louis claimants of 
half breed lands. Francis S. Key, author of the Star Spangled Banner, who 
was then attorney for the New York Land Company, which held heavy interests 
in thesG lands, took a leading part in the measure, and drew np the document in 
which it was presented to the court. Judge Charles Mason, of Burlington, pre- 
sided. The plan of partition divided the tract into one hundred and one shares 
and arranged that each claimant should draw his proportion by lot, and should 
abide the result, whatever it might be. The arrangement ivas entered into, the 
lots drawn, and the plat of the same filed in the Recorder's office, October (!, 
1841. L'pon this basis the titles to land in the Half-Breed Tract are now held. 



EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 

The first permanent settlement by the whites within the limits of Iowa was 
made by Julien Dubuijue, in 1788, when, with a small party of miners, he set- 
tled on the site of the city that now bears his name, where he lived until his 
death, in 1810. Louis Honori settled on the site of the present town of Mon- 
trose, probably in 1709. and resided there until 1805, when his property passed 
into other hands. Of the Giard settlement, opposite Prairie dii Cliion, little is 
known, except that it was occupied by some parties prior to the commencement 
of tl;e present century, and contained three cabins in 1805. Indian traders, 
although not strictly to" be considered settlers, had established themselves at 
various points at an early date. A Mr. Johnson, agent of the American Fur 
Company, had a trading post below Burlington, where he carried on traffic with 
the Indians some time before the L'nited States possessed the country In 
1820, Le Moliese, a French trader, had a station at what is now Sandusky, six 
miles above Keokuk, in Lee County. In 1829, Dr. Isaac Gallaiul made a set- 
tlement on the Lower Rapids, at what is now Nashville. 

The first settlement in Lee County was made in 1820, by Dr. Samuel C. 
Muir, a surgeon in the LTnited States army, who had been stationed at Fort 
Edwards, now Warsaw, 111., and who built a cabin where the city of Keokuk 
now stands. Dr. Muir was a man of strict integrity and irreproachable char- 
acter. While stationed at a military post on the LTpper Mississippi, he had 
married an Indian woman of the Fox nation. Of his marriage, the following 
romantic account is given : 

Thp post at which he wns st:itionccI was visituil by a beautiful Inrlian maiden — whose native 
nnnie, unfortunately, lias not been preserved — who, in her dreams, had seen a white brave un- 
moor his canoe, paddle it across Die river and come directly to her lodge. She felt assured, 
according to the superstitious belief of her race, that, in her dreams, she had seen her future 
liusband, and had come to the fort to find liim. Meeting Dr. Muir, she instantly recognized 
liini as the hero of her dream, wliicli, with chiMlike innocence and simplicity, she related to 
him. Her dream was, indeed, prophetic, (^harmed with Sophia's beauty, innocence and devo- 
tion, the doctor honorably married her; but after a while, the sneers and gibes of his brother 



HISTORY' OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 167 

officers — 1ps3 honorable than he, perhaps — m;i(Ie hiiu feel ashamed of his clark-skinneil wife, and 
when his regiment was ordered down the river, to Bellefoniaiae, it is said he embraced the 
opportunity to rid liimself of her, and left her, never expecting to see her again, ami little 
dreaming that she would have the courage to follow him. Uut, with her infant child, this in- 
trepiil wife and mother started alone in her canoe, and. after many days of weary labor and a 
lonely journey of nine huudrtd miles, she, at last, readied him. She afterward remarked, when 
speaking of this toilsome journey down the river in seaich of her husband, " When I got there 
1 wasall perished away — so thin ! " The doctor, touched by such unexampled devotion, took her 
to liis henrt, and ever after, until his death, treated her wilh marked respect. Slie always pre- 
sided lit his table witli grace and dignity, but never abandoned her native style of dress. In 
181 '.l-'iO, he was stationed at Fort Edward, but the senseless riilicule of some of his brother 
officers on account of his Indian wife induced him to resign his commission. 

After building his cabin, as above slated, he leased his claim for a term of years to Otis 
Reynolds and .Jolin Culver, of St. Louis, and went to La Pointe. afierward Galena, where he 
practiced his profession for ten years, when he returned to Keokuk. His Indian wife bore to 
him four children — Louise (married at Keokuk, since dead), James, (drowned at Keokukl, Mary 
and Sophia. Dr. Muir died suddenly of cholera, in 1S:!'2, but left his property in such condition 
that it was soon wasted in vexatious litigation, and his brave and faithful wile, left friendless and 
penniless, became discouraged, and, with her children, disappeared, and, it is said, returned to 
her people on the Upper Missouri. 

Messrs. Revnnlils & Culver, who htitl leased Dr. Muirs claim at Keokuk, 
.sulisequetitly employed as tlieir agent Mr. Moses Stilhvell. who arrived with 
liis family in 1828, and took possession of Muir's cabin. His brothers-in-law, 
Amos and Valencourt Vaji Anstlal, came with him and settled near. 

His daughter, Margaret Stillwell (afterward Mrs. Ford) was born in 1831, 
at the foot of the rapids, called by the Indians Pucli-a-she-tuck, where Keokuk 
now stands. She was probably the first white American child born in Iowa. 

In 1881, Mr. Johnson, Agent of the American Fur Company, who had a 
station at the foot of the rapid.«, removed to another location, and, Dr. Muir 
having returned from Galena, he and Isaac R. Campbell took the place and 
buildings vactxted by the Company and carried on trade witli the Indians and 
half-breeds. Campbell, who bad first visited and traveled througii the southern 
part of Iowa, in 1821, w;is an enterprising settler, and besides trading with the 
natives carried on a farm and kept a ttivern. 

Dr. Muir died of cholera in 1832. 

In 1830, James L. and Lucius H. Langworthy, brothers and natives of 
Vermont, visited the Territory for the purpose of working the lead mines ;it Du- 
butiue. They had been engaged in lead mining at Galena, Illinois, the former 
from ;is early as 1824. The lead mines in the Dubmjuc region were an object 
of great interest to the miners about Galena, for they were known to be rich in 
lead ore. To e.xplore these mines and to obtain permission to work them was 
therefore eminently desirable. 

In 1829, James L. Langworthy resolved to visit the Dubuque mines. Cross- 
ing the Mississi]ipi at a \)oiat now known as Dunleith, in a canoe, and swim- 
ming his horse by his si<le, he landed on the sjjot now known ;xs Jones Street 
Levee. Before him spread out a beautiful prairie, on which the city of Du- 
butjue now stands. Two miles south, at the mouth of Catfish Creek, was a vil- 
lage of Sacs and Foxes. Thither Mr. Langworthy proceeded, and was well re- 
ceived by the natives. He endeavored to obtain permission from them to mine 
in their hills, biit this they refused. He, however, succeeded in gaining the con- 
fidence of the chief to such an extent as to be allowed to travel in the interior 
for three weeks and e.xplore the country. He employed two young Indians as 
guides, and traversed in different directions the whole region lying between the 
Maipioketa and Turkey Rivers. He returned to the village, secured the good 
will of the Indians, and, returning to Galena, formed plans for future opera- 
tion.s, to be executed as soon as circumstances would permit. 



168 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

In 1830, with liis brothei-, Lucius H., and others, liaving obtained the con-' 
sent of the Indians, Mr. Laugwurthy crossed the Mississippi and commenced 
mining in the vicinity around Dubu(|ue. 

At tliis time, tlie lands were not in the actual possession of the United States. 
Although they had been purchased from France, the Indian title had not been 
extinguished, and these adventurous persons were beyond the limits of any State 
or Territorial government. The first settlers were therefore obliged to be their 
own law-makers, and to airree to such reo;ulations as the e-xisencics of the case 

o ..... . . ^ 

demanded. The first act resembling civil legislation within the limits of the 
present State of Iowa was done by the miners at this point, in June, 1830. They 
met on tlie bank of the river, by the side of an old cottonwood drift log, at 
what is now the Jones Street Levee, Dubuque, and elected a Committee, con- 
sisting of J. L. Langworthy, II. F. Lander, Jaines McPhetres, Samuel Scales, 
and E, M. Wren. This may be called the first Legislature in Iowa, the mem- 
bers of which gathered around that old cottonwood log, and agreed to and re- 
ported the following, written by Mr. Langworthy, on a half sheet ofcoar.se, un- 
ruled paper, the old log being the writing desk : 

We, a Comniiltee having heen cliosen to draft certain rules an.'l regulations (laws) by 
whicli we as miners will be governed, and liaving duly considereil the subject, do unanimously 
agree that we will lie governeil by the regulations un the east side of the Mississippi River,* with 
the following exceptions, to wit ; 

Abticlu I. That each and every man shall hold 200 yards square of ground by working 
said ground one day in six. 

AiiTirL". ir. We further agree that there shall be chosen, by the majority of the miners 
present, .a person who shall hold this article, and who sljall grant letters of .arbitration on appli- 
cation having been made, and that said letters of arbitration shall be obligatory on the parties so 
applying. 

The report was accepted by the miners present, who elected Dr. Jarote, in 
accoi dance with Article "2. Here, then, we liave, in 1830, a jirimitive Legisla- 
ture elected by the people, the law drafted by it being submitted to the people 
for approval, and under it Dr. Jarote was elected first Governor within the 
limits of the present State of Iowa. And it is to be saitl that the laws thus 
enacted were as promptly obeyed, and the acts of the executive officer thus 
elected as duly respected, as any have been since. 

Tlie miners who had thus erected an indcjieiident government of their own 
on the west s'de of the IMississippi River continued to work successfully for a 
long time, and the new settlement attracted considerable attention. But the 
west side of the Mississippi belonged to the Sac and Fox Indians, and the Gov- 
ernment, in order to preserve peace on the frontier, as well as to protect the 
Indians in their rights under the treaty, ordered the .settlers not only to stop 
mining, but to remove from the Indian territory. They were simply intruders. 
The execution of this order was entrusted to Col. Zachary Taylor, then in com- 
mand of the military post at Prairie dii Cliien, who, early in July, sent an officer 
to the miners with orders to forbid settlement, and to command the miners to 
remove within ten days to the east side of the Mississippi, or they would be 
driven off by armed force. The miners, however, were reluctant about leaving 
the rich "leads" they had already discovered and opened, and were not dis- 
po-ed to obey the order to remove with any consider.able ilegree of ahicrity. In 
due time. Col. Taylor despatched a detachment of troops to enforce his order. The 
miners, anticipating their arrivtil, had, excepting three, recrossed the river, and 
from the east bank saw the troops land on the western shore. The three who 
had lingered a little too long were, however, permitted to make their escape 

* Established by tl.e Superintendent of U. S. Lead lilines at Fever River. 



HISTOUT OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 160 

unmolosteil. From this time, a military force was stationed at Dubuque to 
prevent the settlers from returning, until June, 1832. The Indians returned, 
and were encouaged to operate the rich mines opened by the late white 
occujwnts. 

In June, 1832, the troops were ordered to the east side to assist in the 
anniliilation of the very Indians whose rights they had been protecting on the 
west side. Immediately after the close of the Black llawlc war, and the negotia- 
tions of the treaty in September, 1832, by which the Sacs and Foxes ceded to 
the United States the tract known as the "Black Hawk Purchase," the set- 
tlers, supposing that now they had a right to re-enter the territory, returned 
and took possession of their claims, built cabins, erected furnaces and prepared 
large ([uaiitities of lead for market. Dubuque was becoming a noted place on 
the ri\cr, but the prospects of the hardy and enterprising settlers and miners 
were again ruthlessly interfered with by the Government, on the ground that 
the treaty with the Indians would not go into force until June 1, 1833, although 
they liad withdrawn from the vicinity of the settlement. Col. Taylor was again 
ordered by tlie War Department to remove the miners, and in January, 1$33, 
troops wore again sent from Prairie du Chien to Dubuque for that purpose. 
This was a serious and perhaps unnecessary hardship imposed upon the settlers. 
Tliey were compelled to abandon their cabins and homes in mid-winter. It 
must now be said, simply, that "red tape" should be respected. The purchase 
had been made, the treaty ratified, or was sure to be ; tlie Indians had retired, 
and, after the lapse of nearly fifty years, no very satisfactory reason for this 
rigorous action of the Government can be given. 

But the orders had been given, and tliere was no alternative but to obey. 
Many of the settlers recrossed the river, and did not return ; a few, however, 
removed to an island near the east bank of the river, built rude cabins of poles, 
in wiiieh to store their lead until Spring, when they could float the fruits of 
their labor to 8t. Louis for sale, and where they could remain until the treaty 
went into force, when they could return. Among these were James L. Lang- 
worthy, and his brother Lucius, who had on hand about three hundred thousand 
pounds of lead. 

Lieut. Covington, who had been placed in command at Dubuque by Col. 
Taylor, ordered some of the cabins of the settlers to be torn down, and wagons 
and other property to be destroyed. This wanton and inexcusable action on 
the part of a subordinate clothed with a little brief authority was sternly 
rebukwl by Col. Taylor, and Covington w;is superseded by Lieut. George Wil- 
son, who pui-sued a just and friendly course with the pioneers, who were only 
waiting for the time when they could reposse-ss their claims. 

June 1, 1833, the treaty formally went into effect, the troops were withdrawn, 
and the Langworthy brothers and a few others at once returned and resumed 
possession of their home claims and mineral prospects, and from this time the 
first permanent settlement of tliLs portion of Iowa must date. Mr. John P. 
Sheldon was appointed Superintendent of the mines by the Government, and a 
system of permits to miners and licenses to smelters was adopted, similar to that 
which had been in operation at Galena, since 182.3, under Lieut. Martin Thomas 
and Capt. Thomas C. Legate. Substantially the primitive law enacted by the 
miners assembled around that old cottonwood drift log in 1830 was adopted and 
enforced by tlie L'nited States Government, except tliat miners were required to 
sell their mineral to licensed smelters and the smelter was required to give bonds 
for the payment of six per cent, of all lead manufactured to the Government. 
This was the same rule adopted in the United States mines on Fever River in 



170 HISTORY Oi THE STATE OF IOWA. 

Illinois, except that, until 1830, the Illinois miners -nfre C(]mpelk'il to pay 10 
per cent. tax. This tax upon the miners created much dissatisfaction among 
the miners on the Avest side as it had on tlie east side of the Mississippi. Thev 
tliought tlicy had sufi'ered hardsliips and privations enough in opening the Avay 
for civilization, without being subjected to tlie imposition of an odious Govern- 
ment tax upon their means of subsistence, ivhen the Federal Government could 
better afford to aid than to extort from them. The measure soon became unpop- 
ular. It was difficult to collect the taxas, and the whole system was abolished 
in about ton years. 

During l(S>5o, after the Indian title was fully extinguished, about five hun- 
dred i)e()ple arrived at the mining district, about one hundred and fifty of them 
from Galena. 

In the same year, Mr. Langworthy assisted in building the first school house 
in Iowa, and thus was formed the nucleus of the now populous and thriving 
City of Dubuque. Mr. Langworthy lived to see the naked prairie on which he 
first landed become the site of a city of fifteen thousand inliabitants, the small 
school house which he aided in constructing replaced by three substantial edifices, 
wherein two thousand children were being trained, churches erected in every 
part of the city, and railroads connecting the wilderness which he first explored 
with all the eastern world. He died suddenly on the 13th of March, 1865, 
while on a trip over the Dubuijue & Southwestern Railroad, at Monticello, 
and the evening train brought the news of his death and his remains. 

Lucius 11. Langworthy, his ]>rother, was one of the most worthy, gifted and 
influential of the old settlers of tjiis section of Iowa. He died, greatly lamented 
by many friends, in June, 1865. 

The name Dubuque was given to the settlement by the miners at a meeting 
held in 1834. 

In 1832, Captain James White made a claim on the present site of Montrose. 
In 1834, a military post was established at this point, and a garrison of cavalry 
was stationed here, under the command of Col. Stephen Vv'. Kearney. Tiie 
soldiers were removed from this post to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1837. 

During the same year, 1832, soon after the close of the Black Hawk War, 
Zacliariah Hawkins, Benjamin Jennings, Aaron White, Augustine Horton, 
Samuel Gooch, Daniel Thompson and Peter Williams m:',de claims at Fort 
Madison. In 1833, these claims were purchased by John and Nathaniel 
Knapp, upon which, in 1835, they laid out the town. The next Summer, lots 
were sold. The town was subsequently re-surveyed and platted by the United 
States Government. 

At the close of the Black Hawk War. parties Avho had been impatiently 
looking across upon "Flint Hills," now Burlitigton, came over from Illinois 
and made claims The first was Samuel S. White, in the Fall of LS32, who 
erected a cabin on the site of the city of Burlington. About the same time, 
David Tothero made a claim on the prairie about three miles back from the 
river, at a place since known as thefaim of Judge Morgan. In the Winter of 
that year, tliey were driven off by the military from Rock Island, as intruders 
upon the rights of the Indians, and White's cabin was burnt by the soldiers. 
He retired to Illinois, where he spent the Winter, and in the Summer, as soon 
as the Indian title was extinguished, returned and rebuilt his cabin. White 
was joined by his brother-in-law, Doolittle, and they laid out the original town 
of Burlington in 1834. 

All along the river borders of the Black Hawk Purchase settlers were flocking 
into Iowa. Immediately after the treaty with the Sacs and Foxes, in Septem- 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 171 

ber, 1832, Col. George Davenport made the first claim on the spot where the 
thriving city of Davenport now stands. As early as 1827, Col. Davenport had 
established a flatboat ferry, which ran between the island and the main shore of 
Iowa, by which he carried on a trade with the Indians west of the Mississippi. 
In 1833, Capt. Benjamin W. Clark moved across from Illinois, and laid the 
foundation of the town of Buffalo, in Scott County, which was the first actual 
settlement within the limits of tliat county. Among other early settlers in this 
part of the Territory were Adrian H. Davenport, Col. John Sullivan, Mulli- 
gan and Franklin Easly, Capt. John Coleman, J. M. Camp, William White, 
II. W. Higgins, Cornelius Harrold, Richard Harrison, E. H. Shepherd and 
Dr. E. S. Barrows. 

The first settlers of Davenport were Antoine LeClaire, Col. George D.iven- 
port. Major Tliomas Smith, Major William Gordon, Philip Hainbough, Alexan- 
der W. McGregor, Levi S. Colton, Capt. James May and others. Of Antoine 
LeClaire, as the representative of the two races of men who at this time occu' 
pied Iowa, Hon. C. C. Nourse, in his admirable Centennial Address, says : 
" Antoine LeClaire was born at St. Joseph, Michigan, in 1797. His father 
was French, his mother a granddaughter of a Pottowatomie chief. In 1818, 
he acted as official interpreter to Col. Davenport, at Fort Armstrong (now Rock 
Island). lie was well acquainted with a dozen Indian dialects, and was a man 
of strict integrity and great energy. In 1820, he married the granddaughter 
of a Sac chief. The Sac and Fox Indians reserved for him and his wife two 
sections of land in the treaty of 1833, one at the town of LeClaire and one at 
Davenport. The Pottawatomies, in the treaty at Prairie du Chien, also 
reserved for him two sections of land, at the present site of Moline, 111. He 
received the appointment of Postmaster and Justice of the Peace in the Black 
Hawk Purchase, at an early day. In 1833, he bought for $100 a claim on the 
land upon which the original town of Davenport was surveyed and platted in 
1836. In 1836, LeClaire built the hotel, known since, with its valuable addi- 
tion, as the LeClaire House. He died September 25, 1861." 

In Clayton County, the first settlement was made in the Spring of 1832, 
on Turkey River, by Robert Hatfield and William W. Wayman. No further 
settlement was made in this part of the State till the beginning of 1836. 

In that portion now known as Muscatine County, settlements were made in 
1834, by Benjamin Nye, John Vanater and G. W. Kasey, who were the first 
settlers. E. E. Fay, William St. John, N. Fullington, II. Reece, Jona Petti- 
bone, R. P. Lowe, Stephen Whicher, Abijah Whiting, J. E. Fletcher, W. D. 
Abernethy and Alexis Smith were early settlers of ^luscatine. 

During the Summer of 1835, William Bennett and his family, from Galena, 
built the first cabin within the present limits of Delaware County, in some 
timber since known as Eads' Grove. 

The first post office in Iowa was established at Dubuque in 1833. I\Iilo H. 
Prentice was appointed Postmaster. 

The first Justice of the Peace was Antoine Le Claire, appointed in 1833, as 
" a very suitable person to adjust the tliffieulties between the white settlers and 
the Indians still remaining there." 

The first Methodist Society in the Territory was formed at Dubuque on 
the 18th of May, 1834, and the first class meeting was held June 1st of that 
year. 

The first churcli bell brought into Iowa was in March. 1834. 

The first mass of the Roman Catholic Church in the Territory was celebrated 
at Dubuque, in tiie house of Patrick Quigley, in the Fall of 1833. 



172 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

The first school house in the Territory was erected by the Dubuque miners 
in 1833. 

The fii'st Sabbatli scliool was organized at Dubuque early in tlie Summer 
of 1834. 

The first woman who came to tliis part of the Territory with a view to per- 
manent residence was Mrs. Noble F. Dean, in the Fall of 1832. 

The first family that lived in this part of Iowa was that of Hosea T. Camp, 
in 1832. 

The first meeting house was built by the Methodist Episcopal Church, at 
Dubuque, in 1834. 

The first newspaper in Iowa was the Dubuque Visitor, issued May 11th, 1836. 
John King, afterward Judge King, was editor, and William C. Jones, printer. 

The pioneers of Iowa, as a class, were brave, hardy, intelligent and 
enterprising people. 

As early as 1824, a French trader named Hart had established a trading 
post, and built a cabin on the bluffs above the large spring now known as 
"Mynster Spring," within the limits of the present city of Council Bluff's, and 
had probably been there some time, as the post was known to the employes of 
the American Fur Company as Lacote de Hart, or " Hart's Bluff'." In 1827, 
an agent of tlie American Fur Company, Francis Guittar, with others, encamped 
in the timber at the foot of the bluff's, about on the present location of Broad- 
way, and afterward settled there. In 1839, a block house was built on the 
bluff" in the east part of the city. The Pottawatomie Indians occupied this part 
of the State until 1846-7, when they relinquished the territory and removed to 
Kansas. Billy Caldwell was then principal chief. There were no white settlers 
in that part of the State except Indian traders, until the arrival of tlie Mormons 
under the lead of Brigham Young. These people on their way westward halted 
for the Winter of 1846-7 on the west bank of the Missouri River, about five 
miles above Omaha, at a place now called Florence. Some of them had 
reached the eastern bank of the river the Spring before, in season to jilant a 
crop. In the Spring of 1847, Young and a portion of the colony pursued their 
journey to Salt Lake, but a large portion of them returned to the Iowa side and 
settled mainly within the limits of Pottawattamie County. The principal settle- 
ment of this strange community was at a place first called " Miller's .Hollow," 
on Indian Creek, and afterward named Kanesville, in honor of Col. Kane, of 
Pennsylvania, who visited them soon afterward. The Mormon settlement 
extended over tlie county and into neighboring counties, wherever timber and 
water furnished desirable locations. Orson Hyde, priest, lawyer and editor, was 
installed as President of the Quorum of Twelve, and all that part of the State 
remained under Mormon control for several years. In 1846, they raised a bat- 
talion, numbering some five hundred men, for the Mexican war. In 1848, Hyde 
started a paper called the Frontier Guardian, at Kanesville. In 1849, after 
many of the faithful had left to join Brigham Young at Salt Lake, the JSIormons 
in this section of Iowa numbered 6,552, and in 1850, 7,828, but they were not 
all within the limits of Pottawattamie County. This county was organized in 
1848, all the first officials being Mormons. In 1852, the order was promulgated 
that all the true believers should gather together at Salt Lake. Gentiles flocked 
in, and in a few years nearly all the first settlers were gone. 

May 9, 1843, Captain James Allen, with a small detachment of troops on 
board llie steamer lone, arrived at the present site of the capital of tlie State, 
Des Moines. The lone was the first steamer to ascend the Des Moines River 
to this point. The troops and stores were lauded at what is now the foot of 



HISTOUV OP THE STATE OF IOWA. 173 

Court avenue, Des Moines, ami Capt. Allen returned in tlie steamer to Fort 
Sanford to arrange for bringing up more soldiers and supj)lies. In due time 
they, too, arrived, and a fort was built near tlie mouth of Raccoon Fork, at its 
confluence with the Des Moines, and named Fort Des Moines. Soon after the 
arrival of the troops, a ti'ading post was e.stablished on the east side of the river, 
by two noted Indian traders named Ewing, from Ohio. 

Among the first settlers in this part of Iowa were Benjamin Bryant, J. B. 
Scott, James Drake (gunsmith), Jolin Sturtevant, Robert Kinzie, Alexander 
Turner, Peter Newcomer, and others. 

The Western States have been settled by many of the best and most enter- 
prising men of the older States, and a large immigration of the best blood of 
the Old World, who, removing to an arena of larger opportunities, in a more 
fertile soil and congenial climate, have developed a spirit and an energy 
peculiarly Western. In no country on the globe have enterprises of all kinds 
been puslied forward with such rajiidity, or has there been such independence 
and freedom of competition. Auiong those who have pioneered the civiliza- 
tion of the West, and been the founders of great States, none have ranked 
higher in tlie scale of intelligence and moral worth than the pioneers of Iowa, 
who came to tlie territory when it was an Indian country, and through hardship, 
privation and suffering, laid the foundations of the populous and prosperous 
commonwealth which to-day dispenses its blessings to a million and a quarter 
of people. From her firs^t settlement and from her first organization as a terri- 
tory to the present day, Iowa has had able men to manage her affairs, wise 
statesmen to shape her destiny and frame her laws, and intelligent and impartial 
jurists to administer justice to her citizens ; her bar, pulpit and press have been 
able and widely influential ; and in all the professions, arts, enterprises and 
industries which go to make up a great and prosperous commonwealth, she has 
taken and holds a front rank among her sister States of the West. 



TERRITORIAL HISTORY. 

By act of Congress, approved October 31, 1803, the President of the United 
States was authorized to take possession of the territory included in the 
Louisiana purchase, and provide for a temporary government. By another act 
of the same session, approved March 2^3, 1804, the newly acquired country was 
divided, October 1, 1804 into the Territory of Orleans, south of the thirty-third 
parallel of north latitude, and the district of Louisiana, which latter was placed 
under the authority of the officers of Indiana Territory. 

In 1805, the District of Louisiana was organized as a Territory with a gov- 
ernment of its own. Inl807, Iowa was included in the Territory of Illinois, 
and in 1812 in the Territory of Missouri. When Missouri was admitted as a 
State, March 2, 1821, " Iowa," says Hon. C. C. Nourse, "was left a political 
orphan," until by act of Congress, approved June 28, 1834, the Black Hawk 
l)urchase having been made, all tiie territory west of the Mississippi and north 
of the northern boundary of Missouri, was made a,part of Michigan Territory. 
Up to this time there had been no county or other organization in what is now 
the State of Iowa, although one or two Justices of the Peace had been appointed 
and a post office was established at Dubuque in 1833. In September, 1834, 
however, the Territorial Legislature of Michigan created two counties on the 
west side of the JMississippi River, viz. : Dubuque and Des Moines, separated 
by a line drawn westward from the foot of Rock Island. These counties were 



174 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

partially organized. John King was appointed Chief Justice of Dubuque 
County, and Isaac Lettier, of Burlington, of Des Moines County. Two 
Associate Justices, in each county, were appointed by the Governor. 

On the first Monday in October, 1835, Gen. George W. Jones, now a citi- 
zen of Dubuque, was elected a Delegate to Congress from this part of Michigan 
Territory. On the "2Uth of April, 1836, through the efforts of Gen. Jones, 
Congress passed a bill creating the Territory of Wisconsin, which went into 
operation, July 4, 1836, and Iowa was then included in 

THE TERRITORY OF WISCON'^IN, 

of which Gen. Henry Dodge was appointed Governor; John S. Horner, Secre- 
tary of the Territory ; Charles Dunn, Chief Justice ; David Irwin and William 
C. Frazer, Associate Justices. 

September 9, 1836, Governor Dodge ordered the census of the new Territory 
to be taken. This census resulted in showing a population of 10,531 in the 
counties of Dubuque and Des Moines. Under the apportionment, these two 
counties were entitled to six members of the Council and thirteen of the House 
of Representatives. The Governor issued his proclamation for an election to be 
belli on the first Monday of Octobei', 1836, on which day the following members 
of the First Territorial Legislature of Wisconsin were elected from tlie two 
counties in the Black Hawk purchase : 

Dubuque County. — Council: John Fally. Thomas McKnight, Thomas Mc- 
Craney. House : Loring Wheeler, Hardin Nowlan, Peter Hill Engle, Patrick 
Quigley, Hosea T. Camp. 

jDes Moines Countij. — Council: Jeremiah Smith, Jr., Joseph B. Teas, 
Arthur B. Ingram. House: Isaac Lefher, Thomas Blair, W^arren L. Jenkins, 
John Box, George W. Teas, Eli Reyndlds, David R. Chance. 

The first Legislature assembled at Belmont, in the present State of Wiscon- 
sin, on the 25th day of October, 1836, and Avas organized by electing Henry T. 
Baird President of the Council, and Peter Hill Engle, of Dubuque, Speaker of 
the House. It adjourned December 9, 1836. 

The second Legislature assembled at Burlington, November 10, 1837. 
Adjourned January 20, 1838. The third session was at Burlington ; com- 
menced June 1st, and adjourned June 12, 1838. 

During the first session of the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature, in 1836, 
the county of Des Moines was divided into. Des Moines, Lee, Van Buren, Henry, 
Muscatine and Cook (the latter being subsequently changed to Scott) and defined 
their boundaries. During the second session, out of the territory embraced in 
Dubuque County, were created the counties of Dubuque, Clayton, Fayette, 
Delaware, Buchanan, Jackson, Jones, Linn, Clinton and Cedar, and their boun- 
daries defined, but the most of them were not organized until several years 
afterward, under the authority of the Territorial Legislature of Iowa. 

The question of a separate territorial organization for Iowa, which was then 
a part of Wisconsin Territory, began to be agitated early in the Autumn of 
1837. The wishes of the people found expression in a convention held at Bur- 
lington on the 1st of November, which memorialized Congress to organize a 
Territory west of the Mississippi, and to settle the boundary line between Wis- 
consin Territory and Missouri. The Territorial Legislature of Wisconsin, then 
in session at Burlington, joined in the petition. Gen. George W. Jones, of 
Dubuque, then residing at Sinsinawa Mound, in what is now Wisconsin, was 
Delegate to Congress from Wisconsin Territory, and labored so earnestly and 
successfully, that " An act to divide the Territory of Wisconsin, and to estab- 



HISTORY OP THE STATE OP IOWA. 175 

lish the Territoriul Government of Iowa," was approved June 12, 1838, to take 
effect and be in force on and after July 3, 1838. The new Territory embraced 
"all that part of the present Territory of Wisconsin ■\vhich lies west of the Mis- 
sissippi River, and west of a line drawn due north from the head water or 
sources of the Mississippi to the territorial line." The organic act provided 
for a Governor, whose term of oifice should be three years, and for a Secretai-y, 
Chief Justice, two Associate Justices, and Attorney and Marshal, who sh(.)uld 
serve four years, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and 
consent of the Senate. The act also provided for the election, by the white 
male inhabitants, citizens of the United States, over twenty-one years of age, 
of a House of Representatives, consisting of twenty-six members, and a Council, 
to consist of thirteen members. It also a]>propriated $5,000 for a public library, 
and §20,000 fir the erection of public buildings. 

President Van Buren appointed Ex-Governor Robert Lucas, of Ohio, to be 
the first Governor of the new Territory. William B. Conway, of Pittsburgh, 
was appointed Secretary of the Territory; Charles Mason, of Burlington, 
Chief Justice, and Thomas S. Wilson, of Dubuque, and Joseph Williams, of 
Pennsylvania., Associate Judges of the Supreme and District Courts; JMr. Van 
Allen, of New York, Attorney; Francis Gehon, of Dubuque, Marshal; Au 
gustus C. Dodge, Register of the Land Office at Burlington, and Thomas Me- 
Knight, Receiver of the Land Office at Dubuque. Mr. Van Allen, the Distrid 
Attorney, died at Rockingham, soon after his appointment, and Col. Charleti 
Weston was appointed to fill his vacancy. Mr. Conway, the Secretary, alsu 
died at Burlingtun, during the second session of the Legislature, and Jameti 
Clarke, editor of the Guzctte, was appointed to succeed him. 

Immediately after his arrival. Governor Lucas issued a proclamation for thtt 
election of members of the first Territorial Legislature, to be held on the lOtk 
of September, dividing the Territory into election districts for that purpose, and 
appointing the 12th day of November for meeting of the Legislature to bo 
elected, at Burlington. 

The first Territorial Legislature was elected in September and assembled a1; 
Burlington on the 12th of November, and consisted of the following members: 

Cmincil^Jesse B. Brown, J. Keith, E. A. M. Swazey, Arthur Ingram, 
Robert Ralston, George Ilepner, Jesse J. Payne, D. B. Hughes, James M 
Clark, Charles Whittlesey, Jonathan W\ Parker, Warner Lewis, Stephen 
Hempstead. 

House. — William Patterson, Hawkins Taylor, Calvin J. Price, Jame« 
Brierly, James Hall, Gideon S. Bailey, Samuel Parker, James W. Grimes. 
George Temple, Van B. Delashmutt, Thomas Blair, George II. Beeler,'' 
William G. Coop, William H. Wallace, Asbury B. Porter, John Frierson, 
William L. Toole, Levi Thornton, S. C. Hastings, Robert G. Roberts, Laurel 
Summers,! Jabez A. Burchard, Jr., Chauncey Swan, Andrew Bankson, Thomas 
Cox and Hardin Nowlin. 

Notwithstanding a large majority of the members of both branches of the 
Legislature were Democrats, yet Gen. Jesse B. Browne (Whig), of Lee County, 
was elected President of the Council, and Hon. William H. Wallace (Whig), of 
Henry County, Speaker of the House of Representatives — the former unani- 
mously and the latter with but little opposition. At that time, national politics 

* Cynig S. Jacobf, ttIio \ra8 Mfctpd for Tps Moinea County, was killed in an unfortunate encounter at Burlington 
before the meeting ot tlio Legislature, and Mr, Beeler was elected to till the vacancy. 

fSiimuel v.. Murra;' W03 returued oa elected from Clinton County, but bic £eat wa« successfully contested iy 
Burcuani. 



176 HISTORY OP THE STATE OF IOWA. 

were little heeded by the people of the new Territory, but in 1840, during the 
Presidential campaign, party lines were strongly drawn. 

At the election in September, 1838, for members of the Legislature, a Con- 
gressional Delegate wa.s also elected. There were four candidates, viz. : William 
W. Chapman and David Rohrer, of Des Moines County ; B. F. Wallace, of 
Henry County, and P. H. Engle, of DubiKjue County. Chapman was elected, 
receiving a majority of thirty-six over Engle. 

The first session of the Iowa Territorial Legislature was a stormy and excit- 
ing one. By the organic law, the Governor was clothed with almost unlimited 
veto power. Governor Lucas seemed disposed to make free use of it, and tlie 
independent Hawkeyes could not quietly submit to arbitrary and absolute rule, 
and the result was an unpleasant controversy between the Executive and Legis- 
lative departments. Congress, however, by act approved March 3, 1830, 
amended the organic law by restricting the veto power of the Governor to the 
two-thirds rule, and took from him the power to appoint Sherifls and Magistrates. 

Among tlie first important matters demanding attention was the location of 
the seat of government and provision for the erection of public buildings, for 
which Congress had appropriated $:iO,0U0. Governor Lucas, in his message, 
had recommended the appointment of Commissioners, with a view to making a 
central location. The extent of the future State of Iowa was not known or 
thought of. Only on a strip of land fifty miles wide, bordering on the Missis- 
sippi River, was the Indian title extinguislied, and a central location meant some 
central point in the Black Hawk Purchase. The friends of a central location 
supported the Governor's suggestion. The southern members were divided 
between Burlington and Mount Pleasant, but finally united on the latter as the 
proper location for the seat of government. The central and southern parties 
were very nearly equal, and, in consequence, much excitement prevailed. The 
central party at last triumphed, and on the 21st day of January, 1839, an act 
was passed, appointing Chauncey Swan, of Dubuque County ; John Ronalds, 
of Louisa County, and Robert Ralston, of Des Moines County, Commissioners, 
to select a site for a permanent seat of Government within the limits of John- 
son County. 

Johnson County had been created by act of the Territorial Legislature of 
Wisconsin, approved December 21, 1837, and organized by act passed at the 
special session at Burlington in June, 1838, the organization to date from July 
4th, following. Napoleon, on the Iowa River, a few miles below the future 
Iowa City, was designated as the county seat, temporarily. 

Then there existed good reason for locating the capital in the county. The 
Territory of Iowa was bounded on the north by the British Possessions ; east, by 
the Mississippi River to its source; thence by a line drawn duo north to the 
northern boundary of the LTnited States; south, by the State of Missouri, and west, 
by the Missouri and White Earth Rivers. But this immense territory was in un- 
disputed po.ssession of the Indians, except a strip on the Mississippi, known as 
the Black Hawk Purchase. Johnson County was, from north to south, in the 
geographical center of this purchase, and as near the east and west geographical 
center of tlie future State of Iowa as could then be made, as the boundary line 
between the lands of the LTnited States and the Indians, esUiblished by the 
treaty of October 21, 1837, was immediately west of the county limits. 

The Commissioners, after selecting the site, were directed to lay out 640 
acres into a town, to be called Iowa City, and to proceed to sell lots and erect 
public buildings thereon. Congress having granted a section of land to be 
selected by the Territory for this purpose. The Commissioners met at Napo- 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 177 

leon, Johnson County, May 1, 1839, selected for a site Section 10, in Town- 
ship 79 North of Range 6 West of the Fifth Principal iNIoridian, and immedi- 
ately surveyed it and laid off the town. The first sale of lots took place August 
16, 1839. The site selected for the public buildings was a little west of the 
■geographical center of the section, where a square of ten acres on the elevated 
grounds overlooking the river was reserved for the purpose. Tlie capitol is 
located in the center of this square. The second Territorial Legislature, which 
assembled in November, 1839, passed an act requiring the Commissioners to 
adopt such plan for the building that the aggregate cost when complete should 
not exceed $51,000, and if they had already adopted a plan involving a greater 
expenditure they were directed to abandon it. Plans for the building were designed 
and drawn by Mr. John F. Rague, of Springfield, 111., and on the 4th day of July, 
1840, the corner stone of the edifice was laid with appropriate ceremonies. 
Samuel C. Trowbridge was Marshal of the day, and Gov. Luca* delivered the 
address on that occasion. 

When the Legislature assembled at Burlington in special session, Jidy 13, 
1840, Gov. Lucas announced that on the 4th of that month he had visited Iowa 
City, and found the basement of the capitol nearly completed. A bill author- 
izing a loan of ^20,000 for the building was passed, January 15, 1841, the 
unsold lots of Iowa City being the security offered, but only $5,500 was 
obtained under the act. 

THE BOUNDARY QUESTION. 

The boundary line between the Territory of Iowa and the State of Missouri 
was a difficult question to settle in 1838, in consequence of claims arising from 
taxes and titles, and at one time civil war was imminent. In defining the 
boundaries of the counties bordering on Missouri, the Iowa authorities had fixed 
a line that has since been established as the boundary between Iowa and Mis- 
souri. The Constitution of Missouri defined her northern boundary to be the 
p.irallel of latitude which passes through the rapids of the Des Moines River 
The lower rapids of the Mississippi immediately above the mouth of the Des 
Moines River had always been known as the Des Moines Rapids, or "the 
rapids of the Des Moines River." The Missourians (evidently not will versed 
in history or geography) insisted on running the northern boundary line from 
tiie rapids in the Des Moines River, just below Keosau(|ua, thus taking from 
Iowa a strip of territory eight or ten miles wide. Assuming this as her 
northern boundary line, Missouri attempted to exercise jurisdiction over the 
disputed territory by assessing taxes, and sending her Sheriffs to collect them by 
distraining the personal property of the settlers. The lowans, however, were 
not disposed to submit, and the Missouri ofiRcials were arrested by the Sheriffs 
of Davis and Van Buren Counties and confined in jail. Gov. Boggs, of 
Missouri, called out his mihtia to enforce the claim and sustain the officers of 
Missouri. Gov. Lucas called out the militia of Iowa, and both parties made 
active preparations for war. In Iowa, about 1,200 men were enlisted, and 
500 were actually armed and encamped in Van Buren ('ounty, ready to defend 
the integrity of the Territory. Subsequently, Gen. A. C. Dodge, of Burlington, 
Gen. Churchman, of Dubuque, and Dr. Clark, of Fort Madison, were sent to 
Missouri as envoys plenipotentiary, to effect, if possible, a peaceable adjustment 
of the difficulty. Upon their arrival, they found that the County Commissioners 
ofClarke County, Missouri, had rescinded their order for the collection of the taxes, 
and that Gov. Boggs had despatched messengers to the Governor of Iowa proposing 



178 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 



to submit an agreed case to tlie Supreme Court of the United States for the 
final settlement of the boundary (juestion. This proposition was declined, but 
afterward Congress authorized a suit to settle the controversy, which was insti- 
tuted, and which resulted in a judgment for Iowa. Under this decision, 
William G. Miner, of Missouri, and Henry B. Hcnder.shott were appointed 
Commissioners to survey and establish the boundary. Mr. Nourse remarks 
that " the expenses of the war on the part of Iowa were never paid, either by 
the United States or the Territorial Government. The patriots who furnished 
supplies to the troops had to bear the cost and charges of the struggle." 

The first legislative assembly laid the broad foundation of civil equality, on 
which has been constructed one of the most liberal governments in the Union. 
Its first act was to recognize the equality of woman with nuin before the law by 
providing that " no action commenced by a single woman, who intermaiTies 
during the perKlency thereof, shall abate on account of such marriage." This prin- 
ciple has been adopted by all subsequent legislation in Iowa, and to-day woman 
has full and equal civil rights witli man, except only the right of the ballot. 

Religious toleration was also secured to all, personal liberty strictly guarded, 
the rights and privileges of citizenship extended to all white persons, and the 
purity of elections secured by Iieavy penalties against bribery and corruption. 
The judiciary power was vested in a Supreme Court, District Court, Probate 
Court, and Justices of the Peace. Real estate was made divisible by will, and 
intestate property divided equitably among heirs. Murder was made punishable 
by death, and proportionate penalties fixed for lesser crimes. A system of free 
schools, open for every class of white citizens, was established. Provision was 
made for a system of roads and iiighways. Thus under the territorial organi- 
zation, the country began to emerge from a savage wilderness, and take on the 
forms of civil government. 

By act of Congress of June 12, 1838, the lands which had been purchased 
of the Indians were brought into market, and land offices opened in Dubuque 
and Burlington. Congress provided for military roads and bridges, which 
greatly aided the settlers, who were now coming in by thousands, to make their 
homes on the fertile prairies of Iowa--" the Beautiful Land." The fame of the 
country had spread far and wide; even before the Indian title was extinguished, 
many were crowding the borders, impatient to cross over and stake out their 
claims on the choicest spots they could find in the new Territpry. As 
soon as the country was open for settlement, the borders, the Black Hawk 
Purchase, all along the Mississipi, and up the principal rivers and streams, and 
out over the broad and rolling prairies, began to be thronged with eager land 
hunters and immigrants, seeking homes in Iowa. It was a sight to delight the 
eyes of all comers from every land — its noble streams, beautiful and picturesque 
hills and valleys, broad and fertile prairies extending as far as the eye could 
reach, with a soil surpassing in richness anything which they had ever seen. It 
is not to be wondered at that immigration into Iowa was rapid, and that Avithin 
less than a decade from the organization of the Territory, it contained a hundred 
and fifty thousand people. 

As rapidly as the Indian titles were extinguished and the original owners 
removed, the resistless tide of emigration flowed westward. The following extract 
from Judge Nourse's Centennial Address shows how the immigrants gathered 
on the Indian boundary, ready for the removal of the barrier : 

In obedience to our progressiTe and aggressive spirit, the Government of the United States 
made another treaty with the Sac and Fox Indians, on the llth day of August, 1842, lOr thi 
remaining, portion of their ;and in Iowa. The treaty provided tnat the Indians should reitin 



HISTORV OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 179 

possession of all the lands (bus ceilcil until May 1, 184", ami sbouM occupy tliat portion of the 
ceded territory west of a line runnins north and south through Kedrociv, until October 11, 1845. 
These tribes, at this time, bad tlieir principal village at Ot-tum-wa-no, now called Ottumwa. As 
soon as it became known that tlje treaty bad been concluded, there was a ru>h of immigration to 
Iowa, and a great number of temporary settlements were made near the Indian boundary, wait- 
ing for the 1st day of M ly. As tlie day approached, hundreds of £:xmilies encamped along the 
line, and tlieir tents and wagons gave the scene the appearance of a military expedition. The 
country beyond bad been thoroughly explored, but the United States military authorities had 
prevented any .settlement or even tlie making out of claims by any monuments whatever. 

To aid them in making out their claims when the hour sliould arrive, the settlers had placed 
piles of dry wood on tlie rising ground, at convenient distances, and a short time before twelve 
o'clock of the night of the iWih of April, these were lighted, and when the midnight hour arrived, 
it was announced by the discharge of firearms. The niglit was dark, but this army of occupa- 
tion pressed forward, torch in band, with axe and hatchet, blazing lines with all manner of 
curves and angles. When daylight came and revealed the confusion of the.se wonderful surveys, 
numerous disputes arose, seliled generally by compromise, but sometimes by violence Between 
midnight of the .jOth of April and sundown of the 1st of May, over one thousand families had 
settled on their new purchase. 

While this scene was transpiring, the retreating Indians were enacting one more impressive 
and melancholy. The Winter of 1842-43 was one of unusual severity, and the Indian prophet, 
who had disapproved of the treaty, attributed the severity of the Winter to the anger of the Great 
Spirit, because tliey had sold their country. Many religious rites were performed to atone for 
the crime. When the lime for leaving Ot-tum-wa-no arrived, a solemn silence pervaded the Indian 
camp, and the faces of tlieir stoutest men were bathed in tears; and when their cavalcade was 
put in motion, toward the setting sun, there was a spontaneous outburst of frantic grief from the 
entire procession. ' 

The Indians remained the appointed time beyond the line running north and south through 
Redrock. Tlie government established a trading post and military encampment at the Raccoon 
Fork of the Des Moines Kiver, then and for many years known as Fort Ites Moines. Here the 
red man lingered until the 11th of October, 184'), when the same scene that we have before 
described was re-enacted, and the wave of immigration swept over the remainder of the *' New 
Purchase." The lands thus occupied and claimed by the settlers still belonged in fee to the Gen- 
eral Government. The surveys were not completed until some time after the Indian title was 
extinguished. After their survey, the lands were publicly proclaimed or advertised for sale at 
public auction. Under the laws of the United States, a pre-emption orexclusive right to purchase 
public lands could net be ac(|uired until after the lands had thus been publicly oft'ered and not 
sold for want of bidders. Then, and not until then, an occupant making improvements in good 
faith might acquire a right over others to enter the land at the minimum price of $1.2.5 per 
acre. The " claim laws" were unknown to the United States statutes. They originated in the 
" eternal fitness of things." and were enforced, probaljly, as belonging to that class of natural 
rights not enumerated in the constitution, and not impaired or dispar.aged by its enumeration. 

The settlers oi-ganized in every settlement prior to the public land sales, appointed officers, 
and adopled their own rules and regulations. Each man's claim was duly ascertained and 
recorded by tlie Secretary. It was the duty of all to attend the sales. The Secretary bid off the 
lands of each settler at §1.2-5 per .acre. The others were there, to see, first, that he did his duty 
and bid in the land, and, secondly, to see that no one else bid. This, of course, sometimes led to 
trouble, but it saved the excitement of competition, and gave a formalily and degree of order 
and regularity to the proceedings they would not otherwise have attained. As far as practicable, 
the Territorial Legislature recognized the validity of these " claims " ujion the public lands, and 
in 1839 passed an act legalizing their sale and making their transfer a valid consideration to sup- 
port a promise to pay for the same. (Acts of 1843, p. 4-56). The Supreme Territorial Court 
held Ibis law to be valid. (See Hill v. Smith, 1st Morris Rep. 70). The opinion not only con- 
tains a decision of the question involved, but also contains much valuable erudition upon that 
" spirit of Anglo-Saxon liberty" which the Iowa seltlers unquestionably inherited in a direct 
line of descent from the said " Anglo-Saxons." But the early settler was not always able to pay 
even this dollar and twenty-five cents per acre for his land. 

Many of the settlers had nothing to begin with, save their hands, health and 
courage and their family jewels, "the pledges of love," and the "consumers of 
bread." It was not so ea.sy to accumulate money in the early days of the State, 
and the "beautiful prairies," the "noble streams," and all that sort of poetic 
imagery, did not prevent the early settlers from becoming discouraged. 

An old settler, in speaking of the privations and trials of those early days, 
says : 

Well do the "old settlers ' of Iowa remember the days from the first settlement to 1840. . 
Those were days of sadness and distress. The endearments of home in another land had beea 



180 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

broken up ; and all that was hallowed on earth, the home of childhood and the scenes of youth, 
we severed ; and we sat down by the gentle waters of our noble river, and often " hung our harps 
on the willows." 

Another, from another part of the State, testifies : 

There was no such thing as getting money for any kind of labor. I laid brick at f .3.00 
per thousand, and took my pay in anything I could eat or wear. I built the first Methodist 
Church at Keokuk, 42x60 feet, of brick, for ijiOOO, and took ray pay in a subscription paper, part 
of which I never collected, and upon which I only received $-50 00 in money. Wheat was hauled 
100 miles from the interior, and sold for 37J cents per bushel. 

Another old settler, speaking of a later period, 1843, says : 

Land and everything had gone down in value to almost nominal prices. Corn and oats 
could be bought for six or ten cents a bushel ; pork, $1.00 per hundred ; and the best horse a 
man could raise sold lor $.J0.0O, Nearly all were in debt, and the Sheriff and Constable, with 
legal processes, were common visitors at almost every man's door. These were indeed " the times 
that tried men's souls." 

""A few," says Mr. Nourse, "who were not equal to the trial, returned to 
their old homes, but such as had the courage and faith to be the worthy founders 
of a great State remained, to more than realize the fruition of their hopes, and 
the reward of their self-denial." 

On Monday, December 6, 1841, the fourth Legislative Assembly met, at 
the new capital, Iowa City, but the capitol building could not be used, and the 
Legislature occupied a temporary frame house, that had been erected for that 
purpose, during the session of 1841-2. At this session, the Superintendent of 
Public Buildings (who, with the Territorial Agent, had superseded the Commis- 
sioners first appointed), estimated the expense of completing the building at 
$33,330, and that rooms for the use of the Legislature could be completed for 
$15,600. 

During 1842, the Superintendent commenced obtaining stone from a new 
quarry, about ten miles northeast of the city. This is now known as the " Old 
Capitol Quarry," and contains, it is thought, an immense quantity of excellent 
building stone. Here all the stone for completing the building was obtained, 
and it was so far completed, that on the 5th day of December, 1842, the Legis- 
lature assembled in the new capitol. At this session, the Superintendent esti- 
mated that it would cost $39,143 to finish the building. This was nearly 
$6,000 higher than the estimate of the previous year, notwithstanding a large 
sum had been expended in the meantime. This rather discouraging discrep- 
ancy was accounted for by the fact that the officers in charge of the work were 
constantly short of funds. Except the congressional appropriation of $20,000 
and the loan of $5,500, obtained from the Miners' Bank, of Dubuque, all the 
funds for the prosecution of the work were derived from the sale of the city 
lots (which did not sell very rapidly), from certificates of indebtedness, and from 
scrip, based upon unsold lots, which was to be received in payment for such lots 
when they were sold. At one time, the Superintendent made a requisition for 
bills of iron and glass, which could not be obtained nearer than St. Louis. To 
meet this, the Agent sold some lots for a draft, payable at Pittsburgh, Pa., for 
which he was compelled to pay twenty-five per cent, exchange. This draft, 
amounting to $507, that officer reported to be more than one-half the cash 
actually handled by him during the entire season, when the disbursements 
amounted to very nearly $24,000. 

With such uncertainty, it could not be expected that estimates could be very 
accurate. With all these disadvantages, however, the work appears to have 
been prudently prosecuted, and as rapidly as circumstances would permit. 



llISTOPvY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 181 

Iowa remained a Territory from 1838 to 1846, during which the ofiBce of 
^Governor was held by Robert Lucas, John Chambers and James Clarke. 



STATE ORGANIZATION. 

By an act of the Territorial Legislature of Iowa, approved February 12, 

1844, the question of the formation of a State Constitution and providing for 
the election of Delegates to a convention to be convened for that purpose was 
submitted to the people, to be voted upon at their township elections in April 
following. The vote was largely in favor of the measure, and the Delegates 
elected assembled in convention at Iowa City, on the 7th of October, 1844. 
On the first day of November following, the convention completed its work and 
adopted the first State Constitution. 

The President of the convention, Hon. Shepherd Leffler, was instructed to 
transmit a certified copy of this Constitution to the Delegate in Congress, to be 
by him submitted to that body at the earliest practicable day. It was also pro- 
vided that it should be submitted, together with any conditions or changes that 
■might be made by Congress, to the people of the Territory, for their approval 
•or rejection, at the township election in April, 1845. 

The boundai'ies of the State, as defined by this Constitution, were as fol- 
lows : 

Beginning in the middle of the channel of the Mississippi River, opposite mouth of the 
Dea Moines River, thence up the said river Des Moines, in the middle of the main channel 
■thereof, to a point where it is intersected by the Old Indian Boundary line, or line run by John 
C. Sullivan, in the year 1816 ; thence westwardly along said line to the " old " northwest corner 
of Missouri ; thence due west to the middle of the main channel of the Missouri River ; thence 
up in the middle of the main channel of the river last mentioned to the mouth of the vSioux or 
Calumet River ; thence in a direct line to the middle of the main channel of the St. Peters River, 
where tlie Watonwan River — according to Nicollet's map — enters the same ; thence down the 
middle of the main channel of said river to the middle of the main channel of the Mississippi 
River ; thence down the middle of the main channel of said river to the place of beginning. 

These boundaries were rejected by Congress, but by act approved March 3, 

1845, a State called Iowa was admitted into the Union, provided the people 
accepted the act, bounded as follows : 

Beginning at the mouth of the Des Moines River, at the middle of the Mississippi, thence 
by the middle of the channel of that river to a parallel of latitude passing through the mouth of 
the Mankato or Blue Earth River; thence west, along said parallel of latitude, to a point where 
it is intersected by a meridian line seventeen degrees and thirty minutes west of the meridian 
■of W.ashington City ; thence due south, to the northern boundary line of the State of Missouri ; 
thence eastwardly, following that boundary to the point at which the same intersects the Des 
Moines River ; thence by the middle of the channel of that river to the place of beginning. 

These boundaries, had they been accepted, would have placed the northern 
boundary of the State about thirty miles north of its present location, and would 
have deprived it of the Missouri slope and the boundary of that river. The 
western boundary would have been near the west line of what is now Kossuth 
County. But it was not so to be. In consequence of this radical and unwel- 
come change in the boundaries, the people refused to accept the act of Congress 
and rejected the Constitution at the election, held August 4, 1845, by a vote of 
7,656 to 7,235. 

A second Constitutional Convention assembled at Iowa City on the 4th day 
of May, 1846, and on the 18th of the same month another Constitution for the 
new State with the present boundaries, was adopted and submitted to the people 
for ratification on the 3d day of August following, when it was accepted ; 9,492 
votes were cast "for the Constitution," and 9,036 "against the Constitution." 



182 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

The Constitution was approved by Congress, and by act of Congress approved' 
December 28, 1846, Iowa Avas admitted as a sovereign State in the American 
Union. 

Prior to tliis action of Congress, however, the people of the new State held 
an election under the new Constitution on the 26th day of October, and elected 
Oresel Briggs, Governor ; Elisha Cutler, Jr., Secretary of State ; Joseph T. 
Fales, Auditor ; Morgan Reno, Treasurer ; and members of the Senate and 
House of Representatives. 

At this time tliere were twenty-seven organized counties in the State, with 
a population of nearly 100,000, and the frontier settlements were rapidly push- 
ing toward the Missouri River. The Mormons had already reached there. 

The first General Assembly of the State of Iowa was composed of nineteen 
Senators and forty Representatives. It assembled at Iowa City, November 30, 
1846, about a month bifore tlie State was admitted into the Union. 

At the first session of tlie State Legislature, the Treasurer of State reported 
that the capitol building was in a very exposed condition, liable to injury from 
storms, and e.xpressed the hope that some provision would be made to complete 
it, at least sufficiently to protect it from the weather. The General Assembly 
responded by appropriating $2,500 for the completion of the public buildings. 
At the first session also arose the question of the re-location of the capital. The 
western boundary of the State, as now determined, left Iowa City too for toward 
the eastern and southern boundary of tlie State ; this was conceded. Congress 
had appropriated five sections of land for the erection of public buildings, and 
toward the close of the session a bill was introduced providing for the re-location 
of the seat of government, involving to some extent the location of the State 
University, which had already been discussed. This bill gave rise to a deal of 
discussion and pnirliamentary maneuvering, almost purely sectional in its character. 
It provided for the appointment of three Commissioners, who were authorized to 
make a location as near the geographical center of the State as a healthy and 
eligible site could be obtained ; to select the five sections of land donated by 
Congress ; to survey and plat into town lots not exceeding one section of the 
land so selected ; to sell lots at public sale, not to exceed two in each block. 
Having done this, they were then required to suspend further operations, and 
make a report of their proceedings to the Governor. The bill passed both 
Houses by decisive votes, received the signature of the Governor, and became a 
law. Soon after, by "An act to locate and establish a State University," 
approved February 25, 1847, the unfinished public buildings at Iowa City, 
together with the ten acres of land on whicli they were situated, were granted 
for the use of the University, reserving their use, however, by the General 
Assembly and the State officers, until other provisions were made by law. 

The Commissioners forthwith entered upon their duties, and selected four 
sections and two half sections in Jasper County. Two of these sections are in 
what is now Des Moines Township, and the others in Fairview Township, in the 
southern part of that county. These lands are situated between Prairie City 
and Monroe, on the Keokuk & Des Moines Railroad, which runs diagonally 
through them. Here a town was platted, called Monroe City, and a sale of 
lots took place. Four hundred and fifteen lots were sold, at prices that were 
not considered remarkably remunerative. The cash payments (one-fourth) 
amounted to |!1,797.43, while tlie expenses of the sale and the claims of the 
Commissioners for services amounted to $2,206.57. The Commissioners made 
a report of tlieir proceedings to the Governor, as required by law, but the loca- 
tion was generally condemned. 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 183 

When tlie report of the Commissioners, showing tliis brilliant financial ope- 
ration, had been read in the House of Representatives, at the next session, and 
while it was under consideration, an indignant member, afterward known as 
the eccentric Judge McFarland, moved to refer tlie report to a select Committee 
of Five, with instructions to report '' how much of said city of Monroe was under 
water and how much was burned." The report was referred, without the 
instructions, however, but Monroe City never became the seat of government. 
By an act approved January 15, 1849, the law by which the location had been 
made was repealed and the new town was vacated, the money paid by purchas- 
ers of lots being refunded to them. Tliis, of course, retained the seat of govern- 
ment at Iowa City, and precluded, for the time, the occupation of the building 
and grounds by the University. 

At the same session, $3,000 more were appropriated for completing the 
State building at Iowa City. In 1852, the further sum of $5,000, and in 1854 
$4,000 more were apppropriated for the same purpose, making the whole cost 
$123,000, paid partly by the General Government and partly by the State, but 
principally from the proceeils of tlie sale of lots in Iowa City. 

But the question of the permanent location of the seat of government was 
not settled, and in 1851 bills were introduced for the removal of the capital to 
Pelhi and to Fort Des Moines. The latter appeared to have the support of the 
majority, but was finally lost in the House on the question of ordering it to its 
third reading. 

At the next session, in 1853, a bill was introduced in the Senate for the 
removal of the seat of government to Fort Des Moines, and, on final vote, 
was just barely defeated. At the next session, however, the eifort was more 
successful, and on the 15th day of January, 1855, a bill re-locating the capital 
within two miles of the Raccoon Fork of the Des Moines, and for the appoint- 
ment of Commissioners, was appi-oved by Gov. Grimes. Tlie site was selected 
in 1856, in accordance with the provisions of this act, the land being donated 
to the State by citizens and property-holders of Des Moines. An association of 
•citizens erected a building for a temporary capitol, and leased it to the State at 
a nominal rent. 

The third Constitutional Convention to revise the Constitution of the State 
assembled at Iowa City, January 19, 1857. The new Constitution framed by 
this convention was submitted to the people at an election held August 3, 1857, 
when it was approved and adopted by a vote of 40,311 "for" to 38,681 
"against," and on the od day of September following was declared by a procla- 
mation of the Governor to be the supreme law of the State of Iowa. 

Advised of the completion of the temporary State House at Des Moines, on 
the 19th of October following, Governor Grimes issued another proclamation, 
declaring the City of Des Moines to be the capital of the State of Iowa. 

The removal of the archives and offices was commenced at once and con- 
tinued throuirli the Fall. It was an undertakinc; of no small magnitude ; there 
was not a mile of railroad to facilitate the work, and the season was unusually 
disagreeable. Rain, snow and other accompaniments increased the difficulties; 
and it was not until December, that the last of the effects — the safe of the State 
Treasurer, loaded on two large " bob-sleds " — drawn by ten yoke of oxen was de- 
posited in the new capital. It is not imprudent now to remark that, during this 
passage over hills and prairies, across rivers, through bottom lands and timber, 
the safes belonging to the several departments contained large sums of money, 
mostly individual funds, however. Thus, Iowa City ceased to be the capital of 
the State, after four Territorial Legislatures, six State Legislatures and three 



184 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

Constitutional Conventions had held their sessions there. By the exchange^ 
the old capitol at Iowa City became the seat of the University, and, except the 
rooms occupied by the United States District Court, passed under the immedi- 
ate and direct control of the Trustees of that institution. 

Des Moines was now the permanent seat of government, made so by the 
fundamental law of the State, and on the 11th day of January, 1858, the 
seventh General Assembly convened at the new capital. The building used 
for governmental purposes was purchased in 186-4. It soon became inadequate- 
for tlie purposes for which it was designed, and it became apparent that a new, 
large and permanent State House must be erected. In 1870, the General; 
Assembly made an appropriation and provided for the appointment of a Board 
of Commissioners to commence tlie work. The board consisted of Gov. Samuel. 
Merrill, ex officio. President; Grenville M. Dodge, Council Bluffs; James F. 
Wilson, Fairfield; James Dawson, Washington; Simon G. Stein, Muscatine ; 
James 0. Crosby, Gainsville ; Charles Dudley, Agency City ; John N. Dewey, 
Des Moines ; William L. Joy, Sioux City ; Alexander R. Fulton, Des Moines, 
Secretary. 

The act of 1870 provided that the building should be constructed of the 
best material and should be fire proof; to be heated and ventilated in the most 
approved manner; should contain suitable legislative halls, rooms for State 
officers, the judiciary, library, committees, archives and the collections of the 
State Agricultural Society, and for all purpoees of State Government, and 
should be erected on grounds held by the State for that purpose. The sum first 
appropriated was $150,000 ; and the law provided that no contract should be 
made, either for constructing or furnishing the building, which should bind the 
State for larger sums than those at the time appropriated. A design was drawn 
and plans and specifications furnished by Cochrane & Piquenard, architects, 
which were accepted by the board, and on the 23d of November, 1871, the cor- 
ner stone was laid with appropriate ceremonies. The estimated cost and present . 
value of the capitol is fixed at $2,000,000. 

From 1858 to 1860, the Sioux became troublesome in the north westerm 
part of the State. These warlike Indians made frequent plundering raids upon 
the settlers, and murdered several families. In 1861, .several companies of 
militia were ordered to that portion of the State to iiunt down and punish the 
murderous thieves. No battles were fought, liowever, for the Indians fled 
when they ascertained that systematic and adequate measures had been adopted, 
to protect the settlers. 

"The year 185G marked a new era in the history of Iowa. In 1854, the-i 
Chicago & Rock Island Railroad had been completed to the east bank of the- 
Mississippi River, opposite Davenport. In 1854, the corner stone of a railroads 
bridge, that was to be the first to span the "Father of Waters," was laid with; 
appropriate ceremonies at this point. St. Louis had resolved that the enter- 
prise was unconstitutional, and by writs of injunction made an unsuccessful'! 
effort to prevent its completion. Twenty years later in her history, St. Louis 
repented her folly, and made atonement for her sin by imitating our example. 
On the 1st day of -January, 1856, this railroad was completed to Iowa City. 
In the meantime, two other railroads had reaiched the east bank of the Missis- 
sippi — one opposite Burlington, and one opposite Dubuque — and these were 
being extended into the interior of the State. Indeed, four lines of failroad 
had been- projected across the State from the Mississippi to the Missouri, hav- 
ing eastern connections. On the 15th of May, 1856, the Congress of the 
United States passed an act granting to the State, to aid in the construction of 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 



185 



railroads, the public lands in alternate sections, six miles on either side of the 
proposed lines. An extra session of the General Assembly was called in July 
of this year, that disposed of the grant to the several companies tliat proposed 
to complete these enterprises. The population of our State at this time had 
increased to 500,000. Public attention had been called to the necessity of a 
railroad across the continent. The position of Iowa, in the very heart and 
center of the Republic, on the route of this great higtiway across the continent, 
began to attract attention Cities and towns sprang up through the State as 
if by magic. Capital began to pour into the State, and had it been employed 
in developing our -vast coal measures and establishing manufactories among us, 
or if it had been expended in improving our lands, and building houses and 
barns, it would have been well. But all were in haste to get rich, and the 
spirit of speculation ruled the hour. 

" In the meantime, every effort was made to help 'the speedy completion of 
the railroads. Nearly every county and city on the Mississippi, and many in 
the interior, voted large corporate subscriptions to the stock of the railroad 
companies, and issued their negotiable bonds for the amount." Thus enormous 
county and city debts were incurred, the payment of which these municipalities 
tried to avoid upon the plea that they had exceeded the constitutional limit- 
ation of their powers. The Supreme Court of the United States held these 
bonds to be valid ; and the courts by mandamus compelled the city and county 
authorities to levy taxes to pay the judgments. These debts are not all paid 
even yet, but the worst is over and ultimately the burden will be entirely 
removed 

The first railroad across the State was completed to Council Bluffs in Jan- 
uary, 1871. The others were completed soon after. In 1854, there was not 
a mile of railroad in the State. In 1874, twenty years after, there were 3,765 
miles in successful operation. 

GROWTH AND PROGRESS. 

When Wisconsin Territory was organized, in 1836, the entire population of 
that portion of the Territory now embraced in the State of Iowa was 10,531. 
The Territory then embraced two counties, Dubuque and Des Moines, erected 
by the Territory of Michigan, in 1834. From 1836 to 1838, the Territorial 
Legislature of Wisconsin increased the number of counties to sixteen, and the 
population had increased to 22,859. Since then, the counties have increased 
to ninety-nine, and the population, in 1875, was 1,366,000. The following 
table will show the population at different periods since the erection of Iowa 
Territory: 

Year. Population. 

1852 230,713 

1854 .•i2fi,013 

1856 519,055 

1859 0,38,775 

1860 074,913 

1863 701,732 

1865 754,699 

1867 902,040 

The most populous county in the State is Dubuque. Not only in popula- 
tion, but in everything contributing to the growth and greatness of a State has 
Iowa made rapid progress. In a little more than thirty years, its wild but 
beautiful prairies have advanced from the home of the savage to a highly civ- 
ilized commonwealth, embracing all the elements of progress which characterize 
the older States. 



Year. 
1838 


Population. 
22 589 


1840 


43 115 


1844 


.s. 75,152 



1846 97,588 

1847 116,651 

1849 152,988 

1850 191,982 

1851 204.774 



Year. Population. 

1869 1,040,819 

1870 1,191.727 

1873 1,251,3.33 

1875 1,366,000 

1876 

1877 



186 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA 

Thriving cities and towns clot its fnir siivface ; an iron net-work of tliou- 
sands of miles of railroads is woven over its broad acres ; ten thousand school 
houses, in Avhich more than five hundred thousand children are being taught 
the rudiments of education, testify to the culture and liberality of the people; 
high schools, colleges and universities are generously endowed by the State ; 
manufactories spring up on all her water courses, and in most of her cities 
and towns. 

Whether measured from the date of her first settlement, her organization as 
a Territory or admission as a State, Iowa has thus far shown a growth unsur- 
passed, in a similar period, by any commonwealth on the face of the earth ; 
and, with her vast extent of fertile soil, with her inexhaustible treasures of 
mineral wealth, with a healthful, invigorating climate; an intelligent, liberty- 
loving people; with equal, just and liberal laws, and her free schools, the 
future of Iowa may be expected to surpass the most hopeful anticipations of her 
present citizens. 

Looking upon Iowa as she is to-day — populous, prosperous and happy — it 
is hard to realize the wonderful changes that have occurred since the first white 
settlements were made within her borders. When the number of States was 
only twenty-six, and their total population about twenty millions, our repub- 
lican form of government was hardly more than an experiment, just fairly put 
upon trial. The development of our agricultural resources and inexhaustible 
mineral wealth had hardly commenced. Westward the " Star of Empire " 
had scarcely started on its way. West of the great Mississippi was a mighty 
empire, but almost unknown, and marked on the maps of the period as " The 
Great American Desert." 

Now, thirty-eight stars glitter on our national escutcheon, and forty-five 
millions of people, who know their rights and dare maintain them, tread 
American soil, and the grand sisterhood of States extends from the Gulf of 
Mexico to the Canadian border, and from the rocky coast of the Atlantic to 
the golden shores of ihe Pacific. 



THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE AND FARM. 

Ames, Story County. 

The Iowa State Agricultural College and Farm were established by au act 
of the General Assembly, approved March 22, 1858. A Board of Trustees was 
appointed, consisting of Governor R. P. Lowe, John D. Wright, William Duane 
Wilson, M. W. Robinson, Timothy Day, Richard Gaines, John Pattee, G. W. 
F. Sherwin, Suel Foster, S. W. Henderson, Clement Coffin and E. G. Day ; 
the Governors of the State and President of the College being ex officio mem- 
bers. Subsequently the number of Trustees was reduced to five. The Board 
met in June, 1859, and received propositions for the location of the College and 
Farm from Hardin, Polk, Story and Boone, Marshall, Jeft'erson and Tama 
Counties. In July, the proposition of Story County and some of its citizens 
and by the citizens of Boone County was accepted, and the farm and the site 
for the buildings were located. In 1860-01, the farm-house and barn were 
erected. In 1S62, Congress granted to the State 240.000 acres of land for the 
endowment of schools of agriculture and the meclianical arts, and 11)5,000 acres 
were located by Peter Melendy, Commissioner, in 1862-3. George W. Bassett 
was appointed Land Agent' for the institution. In 1864, the General Assem- 
bly appropriated §20,000 for the erection of the college building. 



HISTORV OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 187 

In June of that year, the Building Committee, consisting of Suel Foster, 
Peter Melendy and A. J. Bronson, proceeded to let the contract. John Browne, 
of Des Moines, was employed as architect, and furnished the plans of the build- 
ing, but -was superseded in its construction by C. A. Dunham. The f 20,000 
appropriated by the General Assembly were expended in putting in the foun- 
dations and making the brick for the structure. An additional appropriation 
of $91,000 was made in 18G6, and the building was completed in 1868. 

Tuition m this college is made by law forever free to pupils from the State 
over sixteen years of age, who have been resident of the State six months pre- 
vious to their admission. Each county in the State has a prior right of tuition 
for three scholars from each county ; the remainder, equal to the capacity of the 
college, are by the Trustees distributed among the counties in proportion to the 
population, and subject to the above rule. All sale of ardent spirits, wine or 
beer are prohibited by law within a distance of three miles from the college, 
except for sacramental, mechanical or medical purposes. 

The course of instruction in the Agricultural College embraces the following 
branches: Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Botany, Horticulture, Fruit Growing, 
Forestry, Animal and Vegetable Anatomy, Geology, Mineralogy, Meteorology, 
Entomology, Zoology, the Veterinary Art, Plane Mensuration, Leveling, Sur- 
veying, Bookkeeping, and such jMechanical Arts as are directly connected 
with agriculture ; also such, other studies as the Trustees may from time to time 
prescribe, not inconsistent with the purposes of the institution. 

The funds arising from the lease and sale of lands and interest on invest- 
ments are sufficient for the support of the institution. Several College Societies 
are maintained among the students, who publish a monthly paper. There is 
also an " out-law " called the " A TA, Chapter Omega." 

The Board of Trustees in 1877 was composed of C. W. Warden, Ottumwa, 
Chairman ; Hon. Samuel J. Kirkwood, Iowa City ; William B. Treadway, 
Sioux City; Buel Sherman, Fredericksburg, and Laurel Summers, Le Claire. 
E. W. Starten, Secretary ; William D. Lucas, Treasurer. 

Board of Instruction. — A. S. Welch, LL. D., President and Professor of 
Psychology and Philosophy of Science ; Gon. J. L. Geddes, Professor of INiili- 
tary Tactics and Engineering; W. 11. Wynn, A. M., Ph. D., Professor of 
English Literature; C. E. Bessey, M. S., Professor of Botany, Zoology, Ento- 
mology ; A. Thompson, C. E., Mechanical Engineering and Superintendent of 
Workshops; F. E. L. Beal, B. S., Civil Engineering; T. E. Pope, A. M., 
Chemistry; M. Stalker, Agricultural and Veterinary Science; J. L. Budd, 
Horticulture ; J. K. Macomber, Physics ; E. W. Stanton, Mathematics and 
Political Economy ; Mrs. Margaret P. Stanton, Preceptress, Instructor in 
French and Mathematics. 

THE STATE UNIVERSITY. 

Iowa City, Johnson County. 

In the famous Ordinance of 1787, enacted by Congress before the Territory 
of the L^nited States extended beyond the Mississippi River, it was declared 
that in all the territory northwest of the Ohio River, " Schools and the means 
of education shall forever be encouraged." By act of Congress, approved July 
20, 18-10, the Secretary of the Treasury was authorized " to set apart and re- 
serve from sale, out of any of the public lands within the Territory of Iowa, to 
which the Indian title has beenor may be extinguished, and not otherwise ap- 
propriated, a quantity of land, not exceeding the entire townships, for the use 



188 HISTORV OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

and support of a university within said Territorry when it becomes a State, and 
for no other use or purpose whatever ; to be located in tracts of not less than an 
entire section, corresponding with any of the large divisions into which the pub- 
lic land are authorized to be surveyed." 

AVilliam W. Dodge, of Scott County, was appointed by the Secretary of the- 
Treasury to make the selections. He selected Section 5 in Township 78, north 
of Range 3, east of the Fifth Principal Meridian, and then removed from the 
Territory. No more lands were selected until 1846, when, at the request of the 
Assembly, John M. Whitaker of Van Buren County, was appointed, who selected, 
the remainder of the grant except about 122 acres. 

In the first Constitution, under which Iowa was admitted to the Union, the 
people directed the disposition of the proceeds of this munificent grant in ac- 
cordance with its terms, and instructed the General Assembly to provide, as soon 
as may be, effectual means for the improvement and permanent security of the 
funds of the university derived from the lands. 

The first General Assembly, by act approved February 25, 1847, established 
the " State University of Iowa " at Iowa City, then the capital of the State,, 
"with such other branches as public convenience may hereafter require." 
The " public buildings at Iowa City, together with the ten acres of land in which 
they are situated," were granted for the use of said university, pj-ovided, how- 
ever, that tlie sessions of the Legislature and State offices should be held in the 
capitol until otherwise provided by law. The control and management of the 
University were committed to a board of fifteen Trustees, to be appointed by the 
Legislature, five of whom were to be chosen bienially. The Superintendent 
of Public Instruction was made President of this Board. Provisions were made 
for the disposal of the two townships of land, and for the investment of the funds 
arising therefrom. The act further provides that the University shall never be 
under the exclusive control of any religious denomination whatever," and as 
soon as the revenue for the grant and donations amounts to $2,000 a year, the 
University should commence and continue the instruction, free of charge, of fifty 
students annually. The General Assembly retained full supervision over the 
University, its officers and the grants and donations made and to be made to it 
by the State. 

Section 5 of the act appointed James P. Carleton, H. D. Downey, Thomas. 
Snyder, Samuel McCrory, Curtis Bates, Silas Foster, E. C. Lyon, James H. 
Gower, George G. Vincent, Wm. G. Woodward, Theodore S. Parvin, George 
Atchinson, S. G. Matson, H. W. Starr and Ansel Briggs, the first Board of 
Tru.stees. 

The organization of the University at Iowa City was impracticable, how- 
ever, so long as the seat of government was retained there. 

In January, 1849, two branches of the University and three Normal 
Schools were established. The branches were located — one at Fairfield, and 
the other at Dubuque, and were placed upon an equal footing, in respect to 
funds and all other matters, with the University established at Iowa City. 
"This act," says Col. Benton, "created three State Universities, with equal 
rights and powers, instead of a 'University with such branches as public conven- 
ience ma]! hereafter demand,' as provided by the Constitution." 

The Board of Directors of the Fairfield Branch consisted of Barnet Ris- 
tine. Christian W. Slagle, Daniel Rider, Horace Gaylord, Bernhart Henn and 
Samuel S. Bayard. At the first meeting of the Board, Mr. Henn was elected 
President, Mr. Slagle Secretary, and Mr. Gaylord Treasurer. Twenty acres 
of land were purchased, and a building erected thereon, costing $2,500. 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 189' 

This building was nearly destroyed by a hurricane, in 1850, but was rebuilt 
more substantially, all by contributions of the citizens of Fairfield. This 
branch never received any aid from the State or from the University Fund, 
and by act approved January 24, 1853, at the request of the Board, the Gen- 
eral Assembly terminated its relation to the State. 

The branch at Dubuque was placed under the control of the Superintendent 
of Public Instruction, and John King, Caleb H. Booth, James M. Emerson, 
Michael J. Sullivan, Richard Benson and the Governor of the State as 
Trustees. The Trustees never organized, and its existence was only nominal. 

The Normal Schools were located at Andrew, Oskaloosa and Mount 
Pleasant, respectively. Each was to be governed by a board of seven Trustees, to 
be appointed by the Trustees of the University. Each was to receive $500 annu- 
ally Xrom the income of the University Fund, upon condition that they should ed- 
ucate eight common school teachers, free of charge for tuition, and that the citizens 
should contribute an equal sum for the erection of the requisite buildings. 
The eeveral Boards of Trustees were appointed. At Andrew, the school was 
organized Nov. 21, 1849; Samuel Ray, Principal; Miss J. S. Dorr, Assist- 
ant. A building was commenced and over $1,000 expended on it, but it was 
never completed. At Oskaloosa, the Trustees organized in April, 1852.' This 
school was opened in the Court House, September 13, 1852, under the charge 
of Prof. G. M. Drake and wife. A two story brick building was completed in 
1853, costing $2,473. The school at Mount Pleasant was never organized. 
Neither of these schools received any aid from the University Fund, but in 
1857 the Legislature appropriated $1,000 each for those at Oskaloosa and 
Andrew, and repealed the law authorizing the payment of money to them from 
the University Fund. From that time they made no further effort to 
continue in operation. 

At a special meeting of the Board of Trustees, held February 21, 1850, 
the " College of Physicians and Surgeons of the Upper Mississippi," established 
at Davenport, was recognized as the " College of Physicians and Surgeons of 
the State University of Iowa," expressly stipulating, however, that such recog- 
nition should not render the University liable for any pecuniary aid, nor was 
the Board to have any control over the property or management of the Medical 
Association. ■ Soon after, this College was removed to Keokuk, its second ses- 
sion being opened there in November, 1850. In 1851, the General Assembly 
confirmed the action of the Board, and by act approved January 22, 1855, 
placed the Medical College under the supervision of the Board of Trustees of 
the University, and it continued in operation until this arrangement was termi- 
nated by the new Constitution, September 3, 1857. 

From 1847 to 1855, the Board of Trustees was kept full by regular elec- 
tions by the Legislature, and the Trustees held frequent meetings, but there was 
no effectual organization of the University. In March, 1855, it was partially 
opened for a term of sixteen weeks. July 16, 1855, Amos Dean, of Albany, 
N. Y., was elected President, but he never entered fully upon its duties. The 
University was again opened in September, 1855, and continued in operation 
until June, 1856, under Professors Johnson, Wclton, Van Valkenburg and 
Guffin. 

In the Spring of 1856, the capital of the State was located at Des Moines; 
but there were no buildings there, and the capitol at Iowa City was not vacated 
by the State until December, 1857. 

In June, 1856, the faculty was re-organized, with some changes, and the 
University was again opened on the third Wednesday of September, 1856^ 



190 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

There were one hundred and twenty-four students — eighty-three males and 
forty-one females — in attendance during the year 1856-7, and the first regular 
catalogue was published. 

At a special meeting of the Board, September 22, 1857, the honorary de- 
gree of Bachelor of Arts was conferrei on D. Franklin Wells. This was the 
first degree conferred by the Board. 

Article IX, Section 11, of the new State Constitution, which went into force 
September 3, 1857, provided as follows : 

The State University shall be established at one place, without branches at any other place ; 
and the University fund shall be applied to tjiat institution, and no other. 

Article XI, Section 8, provided that 

The seat of Government is hereby permanently established, as now fixed by law, at the city 
of Dea Bloiues, in the county of Polk ; and the State University at Iowa City, in the county of 
Johnson. 

The new Constitution created the Board of Education, consisting of the 
Lieutenant Governor, who was ex officio President, and one member to be elected 
from each judicial district in the State. This Board was endowed with 
"full power and authority to legislate and make all needful rules and regula- 
tions in relation to common schools and other educational institutions," subject 
to alteration, amendment or repeal by the General Assembly, which was vested 
with authority to abolish or re-organize the Board at any time after 18G3. 

In December, 1857, the old capitol building, now known as Central Hall of 
the University, except the rooms occupied by the United States District Court, 
and the property, with that exception, passed under the control of the Trustees, 
and became tlie seat of the University. The old building had had hard usage, 
and its arrangement was illy adapted for University purposes. Extensive repairs 
and changes were necessary, but the Board was without funds for these pur- 
poses. 

Tiie last meeting of the Board, under the old law, was held in January, 
1858. At this meeting, a resolution was introduced, and seriously considered, 
to exclude females from the University ; but it finally failed. 

March 12, 1858, the first Legislature under the new Constitution enacted 
a new law in relation to the University, but it was not materially different from 
the former- March 11, 1858, the Legislature appropriated $3,0(.)0 for the re- 
pair and modification of the old capitol building, and $10,000 for the erection 
of a boarding house, now known as South Hall. 

The Board of Trustees created by the new law met and duly organized 
April 27, 1858, and determined to close the University until the income from its 
fund .should be adequate to meet the current expenses, and the buildings should 
be ready for occupation. Until this term, the building known as the " INIechan- 
ics' Academy" had been used for the school. The Faculty, except the Chan- 
cellor (Dean), was dismissed, and all further instruction suspended, from the close 
of the term then in progress until September, 1859. At this meeting, a reso- 
lution was adopted excluding females from the University after the close of the 
existing term ; but this was aiterward, in August, modified, so as to admit them 
to the Normal Department. 

At the meeting of the Board, August 4, 1858, the degree of Bachelor of 
Science was conferred upon Dexter Edson Smith, being the first degree con- 
^'•rcd upon a student of the University. Diplomas were awarded to the mem- 
bers of the first graduating class of the Normal Department as follows : Levi 
?- Aylworth, Cellina II. Aylworth, Elizabeth L. Humphrey, Annie A. Pinney 
and Sylvia M. Thompson. 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 191 

An " Act for the Government and Regulation of the State University of 
Iowa," approved December 25, 1858, was mainly a re-enactment of the law of 
March 12, 1858, except that changes were made in the Board of Trustees, and 
manner of their appointment. This law provided that both sexes were to be 
admitted on equal terms to all departments of the institution, leaving the Board 
no discretion in the matter. 

The new Board met and organized, February 2, 1859, and decided to con- 
tinue the Normal Department only to the end of the current term, and that it 
was unwise to re-open the University at that time; but at the annual meeting 
of the Board, in June of the same year, it was resolved to continue the Normal 
Department in operation ; and at a special meeting, October 25, 1859, it was 
decided to re-open the University in September, IStJO. Mr. Dean had resigned 
as Chancellor prior to this meeting, and Silas Totten, D. D., LL. D., was elected 
President, at a salary of §2,000, and his term commenced June, 1860. 

At the annual meeting, June 28, 1860, a full Faculty was appointed, and 
the University re-opened, under this new organization, September 19, 1860 
(third Wednesday) ; and at this date the actual existence of the University may 
be said to commence. 

August 19, 1862, Dr. Totten having resigned. Prof. Oliver M. Spencer 
was elected President and the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred 
upon Judge Samuel F. Miller, of Keokuk. 

At the commencement, in June, 1863, was the first class of graduates in 
the Collegiate Department. 

The Board of Education was abolished March 19, 1864, and the office of 
Superintendent of Public Instruction was restored ; the General Assembly 
resumed control of the subject of education, and on March 21, an act was ap- 
proved for the government ,of the University. It was substantially the same as 
the former law, but provided that the Governor should be ex officio President of 
the Board of Trustees. Until 1858, the Superintendent of Public Instruction 
had been ex officio Piesident. During the period of the Board of Education, 
the University Trustees were elected by it, and elected their own President. 

President Spencer was granted leave of absence from April 10, 1866, for 
fifteen months, to visit Europe; and Prof. Nathan R. Leonard was elected 
President pro tern. 

The North Hall was completed late in 1866. 

At the annual meeting in June, 1867, the resignation of President Spencer 
(absent in Europe) was accepted, and Prof. Leonard continued as President pro 
tern., until March 4, 1868, when James Black, D. D., Vice President of Wash- 
ington and Jefferson College, Penn., was elected President. Dr. Black entered 
upon his duties in September, 1868. 

The Law Department was established in June, 1868, and, in September fol- 
lowing, an arrangement was perfected with the Iowa Law School, at Des Moines, 
which had been in successful operation for three years, under the management 
of Messrs. George G. Wright, Chester C. Cole and William G. Hammond, by 
which that institution was transferred to Iowa City and merged in the Law De- 
partment of the L^niversity. The Faculty of this department consisted of the 
President of the University, Hon. Wm. G. Hammond, Resident Professor and 
Principal of the Department, and Professors G. G. Wright and C. C. Cole. 

Nine students entered at the commencement of the first term, and during 
the year ending June, 1877, there were 103 students in this department. 

At a special meeting of the Board, on the 17th of September, 1868, a Com- 
mittee was appointed to consider the expediency of establishing a Medical De- 



192 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

partmcnt. This Committee reported at once in favor of the proposition, the 
Faculty to consist of the President of the University and seven Professors, and 
recommended tliat, if practicable, the new department should be opened at the 
commencement of the University year, in 18o9-70. At this meeting, Hon. 
Ezekiel Clark was elected Treasurer of the University. 

By an act of the General Assembly, approved April 11, 1870, the "Board 
•of Regents " was instituted as the governing power of the University, and since 
that time it has been the fundamental law of the institution. The Board of 
Regents held its first meeting June 28, 1870. Wm. J. Haddock was elected 
Secretary, and Mr. Clark, Treasurer. 

Dr. Black tendered his resignation as President, at a special meeting of the 
Board, held August 18, 1870, to take effect on the 1st of December following. 
His resignation was accepted. 

The South Hall having been fitted up for the purpose, the first term, of the 
Medical Department was opened October '21, 1870, and continued until March, 
1871, at which time there were three graduates and thirtj'-nine students. 

March 1, 1871, Rev. George Thacher was elected President of the Univer- 
sity. Mr. Thacher accepted, entered upon his duties April 1st, and was form- 
ally inaugurated at the annual meeting in June, 1861. 

In June, 1874, the " Chair of Military Instruction" was established, and 
the President of the United States was requested to detail an officer to perform 
its duties. In compliance with this request, Lieut. A. D. Schenck, Second Artil- 
lery, U. S. A., was detailed as " Professor of Military Science and Tactics," 
at Iowa State University, by order of the War Department, August 26, 1874, 
who reported for duty on the 10th of September following. Lieut. Schenck 
•was relieved by Lieut. James Chester, Third Artillery, January 1, 1877. 

Treasurer Clark resigned November 3, 1875, and John N. Coldren elected 
in his stead. 

At the annual meeting, in 1876, a Department of Homoeopathy was 
established. 

In March, 1877, a resolution was adopted affiliating the High Schools of 
the State with the University. 

In June, 1877, Dr. Thacher's connection with the University was termi- 
nated, and C. W. Slagle, a member of the Board of Regents, was elected Pres- 
ident. 

In 1872, the ex officio membership of the Superintendent of Public Instruc- 
tion was abolished ; but it was restored in 1876. Following is a catalogue of 
the officers of this important institution, from 1847 to 1878 : 

TRUSTEES OR REGENTS. 

PRESIDENTS. 

FROM TO 

James Harlan, Superintendent Public Instruction, ex officio 1847 1848 

Thomas H. Benton, Jr,, Superintendent Public Instruction, ex oiBcio 1848 1854 

James D. Eads, Superintendent Public Instruction, ex officio 1864 1857 

Maturin L. Fisher, Superintendent Public Instruction, ex officio 1857 1858 

Amos Dean, Chancellor, ex officio 1858 1859 

Thomas H. Benton, Jr 1859 18f;3 

Francis Springer 1863 1864 

William M. Stone, Governor, ex officio 1864 1868 

Samuel Merrill, Governor, ex officio 1868 1872 

Cyrus C. Carpenter, Governor, ex officio 1872 1876 

Samuel J. Kirkwond, Governor, ex officio 1S76 1877 

Joshua G. Newbold, Governor, ex officio 1877 1878 

John H. Gear 1878 



HISTOKV OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 193 



VICE TRESIDENTS. 



FROM , TO 



fiilas Foster 1847 1851 

Robert Lucas 1851 1853 

Edward Connelly 1854 1855 

Moses J. Morsman 1855 1858 

SECRETARIES. 

Hugh 1). Downey 1847 1851 

Anson Hart 1851 1857 

Elijali Sells 1857 1858 

Anson Hart 1858 1864 

Williani J. Haddock 1864 

TREASURERS. 

Morgan Reno, State Treasurer, ex officio 1847 1850 

Israel Kister, Slate Treasurer, ex officio 1850 1852 

Martin L. Morris, State Treasurer, ex officio 1852 1855 

Henry W. Lathrop 1855 1862 

William Crum 1862 1868 

Ezekiel Clark 1868 1876 

John N. Coldren 1876 

PRESIDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY. 

Amos Dean, LL. D 1855 1858 

Silas Totten, D. D., LL. D 1860 1862 

Oliver M. Spencer, D. D.* 1862 1867 

James Black, D. D 1868 1870 

George Thacher, D. D 1871 1877 

C. W. Slagle 1877 

The present educational corps of the University consists of the President, 
nine Professors in the Collegiate Department, one Professor and six Instructors 
in Military Science ; Chancellor, three Professors and four Lecturers in the 
Law Department ; eight Profes.sor Demonstrators of Anatomy ; Prosector of 
Surgery and two Lecturers in the Medical Department, and two Professors in 
the Homoeopathic Medical Department. 



STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

By act of the General Assembly, approved January 28, 1857, a State His- 
torical Society was provided for in connection with the University. At the 
commencement, an appropriation of $250 was made, to be expended in collecting, 
embodying, and preserving in an authentic form a library of books, pamphlets, 
•charts, maps, manuscripts, papers, paintings, statuary, and other materials illus- 
trative of the history of Iowa; and with the further object to rescue from 
oblivion the memory of the early pioneers ; to obtain and preserve various 
accounts of their exploits, perils and hardy adventures ; to secure facts and 
statements relative to the history and genius, and progress and decay of the 
Indian tribes of Iowa; to exhibit faithfully the antiquities and past and present 
resources of the State ; to aid in the publication of such collections of the Society 
as shall from time to time be deemed of value and interest; to aid in binding 
its books, pamphlets, manuscripts and papers, and in defraying other necessary 
incidental expenses of the Society. 

There was appropriated by law to this institution, till the General Assembly 
shall otherwise direct, the sum of $500 per annum. The Society is under the 
management of a Board of Curators, consisting of eighteen persons, nine of 
whom are appointed by the Governor, and nine elected by the members of the 
Society. The Curators receive no compensation for their services. The annual 



194 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

meeting is provided for by law, to be held at Iowa City on Monday preceding- 
the last Wednesday in June of each year. 

The State Historical Society has published a series of very valuable collec- 
tions, including history, biography, sketches, reminiscences, etc., with quite a 
large number of finely engraved portraits of prominent and early settlers, under 
the title of '• Annals of Iowa." 



THE PENITENTIARY. 

Located at Fort Madison, Lee County. 

The first act of the Territorial Legislature, relating to a Penitentiary in 
Iowa, was approved January 25, 1839, the fifth section of which authorized the 
Governor to draw the sum of $20,000 appropriated by an act of Congress ap- 
proved July 7, 1838, for public buildings in the Territory of Iowa. It provided 
for a Board of Directors of three persons elected by the Legislature, who should 
direct the building of the Penitentiary, which should be located within one mile 
of the public square, in the town of Fort Madison, Lee County, provided Fort 
Madison should deed to the directors a tract of land suitable for a site, and assign 
them, by contract, a spring or stream of water for the use of the Penitentiary. 
To the Directors was also given the power of appointing the Warden ; the latter 
to appoint his own assistants. 

The first Directors appointed were John S. David and John Claypole. They 
made their first report to the Legislative Council November 9, 1839. The citi- 
zens of the town of Fort Madison had executed a deed conveying ten acres of 
land for the building site. Amos Ladd was appointed Superintendent of the 
building June 5, 1839. The buihling was designed of sufficient capacity to con- 
tain one hundred and thirty-eight convicts, and estimated to cost $.55,933.90. 
It was begun on the 9th of July, 1839 ; the main building and Warden's house 
were completed in the Fall of 1841. Other additions were made from time to 
time till the building and arrangements were all complete according to the plan 
of the Directors. It has answered the purpose of the State as a Penitentiary 
for more than thirty years, and during that period many items of practical ex- 
perience in prison management have been gained. 

It has long been a problem how to conduct prisons, and deal with what are 
called the criminal classes generally, so as to secure their best good and best 
subserve the interests of the State. Both objects must be taken into considera- 
tion in any humaritarian view of the subject. This problem is not yet solved, 
but Iowa has adopted the progressive and enlightened policy of humane treat- 
ment of prisoners and the utilization of their labor for their own support. The 
labor of the convicts in the Iowa Penitentiary, as in most others in the United 
States, is let out to contractors, who pay the State a certain stipulated amount 
therefor, the State furnishing the shops, tools and machinery, as well as the 
supervision necessary to preserve order and discipline in the prison. 

While this is an improvement upon the old solitary confinement system, it 
still fiills short of an enlightened reformatory system that in the future will 
treat the criminal for mental disease and endeavor to restore him to usefulness 
in the community. The objections urged against the contract system of dis- 
posing of the labor of prisoners, that it brings the labor of honest citizens into 
competition with convict labor at reduced prices, and is disadvantageous to the 
State, are not without force, and the system will have no place in the prisons of 
the future. 



J 



HISTORY OP THE STATE OF IOWA. 195 

It is right that the convict shouM labor. He should not be allowed to live 
in idleness at public expense. Honest men labor ; why should not they? Hon- 
est men are entitled to the fruits of thetir toil ; why should not the convict as 
well ? The convict is sent to the Penitentiary to secure public safety. The 
State deprives him of his liberty to accomplish this purpose and to punish him 
for violations of law, but, having done this, the State wrongs both itself and the 
criminal by confiscating his earnings; because it deprives his family of what 
justly belongs to them, and an enlightened civilization will ere long demand 
that the prisoner in the penitentiary, after paying a fair price for his board, is 
as justly entitled to his net earnings as the good citizen outside its walls, and 
his family, if he has one, should be entitled to draw his earnings or stated portion 
of them at stated periods. If he has no family, then if his net earnings should 
be set aside to his credit and paid over to him at the expiration of his term of 
imprisonment, he would notbe turned out upon the cold charities of a somewhat 
Pharisaical world, penniless, with the brand of the convict upon his brow, with 
no resource save to sink still deeper in crime. Let Iowa, " The Beautiful Land," 
be first to recognize the rights of its convicts to the fruits of their labor ; keep 
their children from the alms-house, and. place a powerful incentive before them 
to become good citizens when they return to the busy world again. 



ADDITIONAL PENITENTIARY. 

Located at Anamosa, Jones County. 

By an act of the Fourteenth General Assembly, approved April 23, 1872, 
William Ure, Foster L. Downing and Martin Heisey were constituted Commis- 
sioners to locate and provide for the erection and control of an additional 
Penitentiary for the State of Iowa. These Commissioners met on the 4th of 
the following June, at Anamosa, Jones County, and selected a site donated by 
the citizens, within the limits of the city. L. W. Foster & Co., architects, of 
Des Moines, furnished the plan, drawings and specifications, and work was 
commenced on the building on the 28th day of September, 1872. INIay 13, 
1873, twenty convicts were transferred to Anamosa from the Fort Madison 
Penitentiary. The entire enclosure includes fifteen acres, with a frontage of 
663 feet. 

IOWA HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE. 

Mount Pleasant, Henry County. 

By an act of the General Assembly of Iowa, approved January 24, 1855, 
$4,425 were appropriated for the purchase of a site, and $50,000 for building 
an Insane Hospital, and the Governor (Grimes), Edward Johnston, of Lee 
County, and Charles S. Blake, of Henry County, were appointed to locate the 
institution and superintend the erection of the building. These Commission- 
ers located the institution at Mt. Pleasant, Henry County. A plan for a 
building designed to accommodate 300 patients, drawn by Dr. Bell, of Massa- 
chusetts, was accepted, and in October work was commenced under the superin- 
tendence of Mr. Henry Winslow. Up to February 25, 1858, and including an 
appropriation made on that date, the Legislature had appropriated $258,555.67 
to this institution, but the building was not finished ready for occupancy by 
patients until March 1, 1861. The Trustees were Maturin L. Fisher, Presi- 
dent, Farmersburg; Samuel McFarland, Secretary, Mt. Pleasant; D. L. 



195 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

McGu^in, Keokuk; G. W. Kincaid, Muscatine; J. D. Elbert, Keosauqua; 
John B. Lash and Daipin Riggs, Mt. Pleasant. Richard J. Patterson, M. D., 
of Oliio, was elected Superintendent; 'Dwight C. Dewey, M. D., Assistant 
Physician; Henry Winslow, Steward; Mrs. Catharine Winslow, Matron. 
The Hospital was formally opened March 6, 1861, and one hundred patients 
were admitted within three months. About 1865, Dr. Mai-k Ranney became 
Superintendent. April 18, 1876, a portion of the hospital building was 
destroyed by fire. From the opening of the Hospital to the close of October, 
1877, 3,584 patients had been admitted. Of these, 1,141 were discharged 
recovered, 505 discharged improved, 589 discharged unimproved, and 1 died ; 
total discharged, 2,976, leaving 608 inmates. During this period, there were 
1,384 females admitted, whose occupation was registered "domestic duties ;" 
122, no occupation; 25, female teachers; 11, seamstresses; and 25, servants. 
Among the males were 916 farmers, 394 laborers, 205 without occupation, 39 
cabinet makers, 23 brewers, 31 clerks, 26 merchants, 12 preachers, 18 shoe- 
makers, 13 students, 14 tailors, 13 teachers, 14 agents, 17 masons, 7 lawyers, 
7 physicians, 4 saloon keepers, 3 salesmen, 2 artists, and 1 editor. The pro- 
ducts of the farm and garden, in 1876, amounted to §il3,721.26. 

Trustees, 1S77 :—'!:. Whiting, President, Mt. Pleasant; Mrs. E. M. Elliott, 
Secretary, Mt. Pleasant; William C. Evans, West Liberty; L. E. Fellows, 
Lansing ; and Samuel Klein, Keokuk ; Treasurer, M. Edwards, Mt. Pleasant. 

Resident Officers: — Mark Ranney, M. D., Medical Superintendent; H. M. 
Bassett, M. D.. First Assistant Physician; M. Riordan, M. D., Second Assistant 
Physician; Jennie McCowen, M. D., Third Assistant Physician ; J. W. Hender- 
son, Steward ; Mrs. Martha W. Ranney, Matron ; Rev. Milton Sutton, 
Chaplain. 

HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE. 

Independence, Buchanan County. 

In the Winter of 1867-8, a bill providing for an additional Hospital for the 
Insane was passed by the Legislature, and an appropriation of $125,000 was 
made for that purpose. Maturin L. Fisher, of Clayton County ; E. G. Morgan, 
of Webster County, and Albert Clark, of Buchanan County, were appointed 
Commissioners to locate and supervise the erection of the Building. IMr. Clark 
died about a year after his appointment, and Hon. G. W. Bemis, of Indepen- 
dence, was appointed to fill the vacancy. 

The Commissioners met and commenced their labors on the 8th day of 
June, 1868, at Independence. The act under which they were appointed 
required them to select the most eligible and desirable location, of not less than 
320 acres, within two miles of the city of Independence, that might be offered 
by the citizens free of charge to the State. Several such tracts were offered, 
but the Commissioners finally selected the south half of southwest quarter of 
Section 5 ; the north half of northeast quarter of Section 7 ; the north half of 
northwest quarter of Section 8, and the north half of northeast quarter of Sec- 
tion 8, all in Township 88 north. Range 9 west of the Fifth Principal Meridian. 
This location is on the west side of the Wapsipinicon River, and about a mile 
from its banks, and about the same distance from Independence. 

Col. S. V. Shipman, of Madison, Wis., was employed to prepare plans, 
specifications and drawings of the building, which, when completed, were sub- 
mitted to Dr. M. Ranney, Superintendent of the Hospital at Mount Pleasant, 
who suggested several improvements. The contract for erecting the building 



HISTORY OF TOE STATE OF IOWA. " 197 

■was awarJcJ to Mr. David Armstrong, of Dubuque, for $38,114. The con- 
tract was signed November 7, 1SG8, and Mr. Armstrong at once commenced 
work. Mr. George Josselyn was appointed to superintend the work. The 
main buildings Avere constructed of dressed limestone, from the quarries at 
Anamosa anrl Farley. The basements are of the local granite worked from the 
immense boulders found in large quantities in this portion of the State. 

In 1872, the building was so far completed that (he Commissioners called 
the first meeting of the Trustees, on the lUth day of July of that year. These 
Trustees were Maturin L. Fisher, Mrs. P. A. Appleman, T. W. Fawcett, C. 
C. Parker, E. G. Morjian, George W. Bemls and John M. Botrars. This board 
was organized, on the day above mentioned, by the election of Hon. M. L. 
Fisher, President; Rev. J. G. Boggs, Secretary, and George W. Bemis, Treas- 
urer, and, after adopting preliminary measures for organizing the local govern- 
ment of the hospital, adjourned to the first Wednesday of the following Septem- 
ber. A few days before this meeting, Mr. Boggs died of malignant fever, 
and Dr. John G. House was appointed to fill the vacancy. Dr. House was 
elected Secretary. At this meeting, Albert Reynolds, M.' D., was elected 
Superintendent; George Josselyn, Steward, and Mrs. Anna B. Josselyn, 
Matron. September 4, 1873, Dr. Willis Butterfield was elected Assistant 
Physician. The building was ready for occupancy April 21, 1873. 

In the Spring of 1876, a contract was made with Messrs. Mackay & Lundy, 
of Independence, for furnishing materials for building the outside walls of the 
two first sections of the south wing, next to the ctnter building, for $5,250. 
T'he carpenter work on the fourth and fifth stories of the center buihling was 
completed during the same year, and the wards were furnished and occupied by 
patients in the Fall. 

In 1877, the south wing was built, but it will not be completed ready for 
occupancy until next Spring or Summer (1878). 

October 1, 1877, the Superintendent reported 322 patients in this hospital, 
and it is now overcrowded. 

The Board of Trustees at present (1878) are as follows : Maturin L. 
Fisher, President, Farmersburg; John G. House, M. D., Secretary, Indepen- 
dence ; Wm. G. Donnan, Treasurer, Independence ; Erastus G. Morgan, Fort 
Dodge; Mrs. Prudence A. Appleman, Clermont; a;.d Stephen E. Robinson, 
M. b., West Union. 

RESIDENT OFFICERS. 

Albert Reynolds, M. D., Superintendent ; G. II. Hill, M. D., Assistant 
Physician; Noyes Appleman, Steward; Mrs. Lucy M. Gray, Matron. 

> « 

IOWA COLLEGE FOR THE BLIND. 

Vinton, Benton County. 

In August, lSr)2, Prof Samuel Bacon, himself blind, established an Insti- 
tution for the Instruction of the Blind of Iowa, at Keokuk. 

By act of the General Assembly, entitled " An act to establish an Asylum 
for the Blind," approved January 18, 1853, the institution was adopted by the 
State, removed to Iowa City, February 3d, and opened for the reception of pupils 
April 4, 1853, free to all the blind in the State. 

The first Board of Trustees were James D. Eads, President ; George W. 
McClary, Secretary; James II. Gower, Treasurer; Martin L. Morris, Stephen 
Hempstead, Morgan Reno and John McCaddon. The Board appointed Prof. 



198 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

Samuel Bacon, Principal; T. J. McGittigen, Teacher of Music, and Mis. Sarah 
K. Bacon, Matron. Twenty-three pupils were admitted during the first term. 

In his first report, made in 18.'34, Prof. Bacon suggested tliat the name 
should be clianged from " x\sylum for the Blind," to tiiat of " Institution for 
the Instruction of the Blind." This was done in 1855, wlien the General As- 
sembly made an annual appropriation for the College of $55 per quarter for 
each pupil. This was subsequently changed to $3,000 per annum, and a charge 
of $25 as an admission fee for each pupil, which sum, with the amounts realized 
from the sale of articles manufactured by the blind pupils, proved sufficient for 
the expenses of the institution during Mr. Bacon's administration. Although 
Mr. Bacon was blind, he was a fine scholar and an economical manager, and 
had founded the Blind Asylum at Jacksonville, Illinois. As a mathematician 
he had few superiors. 

On the 8th of May, 1858, the Trustees mot at Vinton, and made arrange- 
ments for securing the donation of $5,000 made by the citizens of that town. 

In June of that year, a quarter section of hind was donated for tlie College, 
by John W. 0. Webb and others, and the Trustees adopted a plan for the 
erection of a suitable building. In 1800, the plan was modified, and the con- 
tract for enclosing let to Messrs. Finkbine & Lovelace, for $10,420. 

In August, 1862, the building was so far completed that the goods and fur- 
niture of the institution were removed from Iowa City to Vinton, and early in 
October, the school was opened there with twenty-four pupils. At this time, 
Rev. Orlando Chirk was Principal. 

In August, 18G4, a new Board of Trustees were appointed by the Legisla- 
ture, consisting of James McQuin, President; Reed Wilkinson, Secretary; Jas. 
Cliapin, Treasurer; Robert Gilchrist, Elijah Sells and Joseph Dysart, organized 
and made important changes. Rev. Reed Wilkinson succeeded Mr. Clark as 
Principal. Mrs. L. S. B. Wilkinson and IMiss Amelia Butler were appointed 
Assistant Teachers ; Mrs. N. A. Morton, Matron. 

Mr. Wilkinson resigned in June, 18G7, and Gen. James L. Geddes was 
appointed in his place. In September, 1869, Mr. Geddes retired, and was 
.succeeded by Prof S. A.Knapp. Mrs. S. C. Lawton was appointed Matron, 
and was succeeded by Mrs. ]\I. A. Knapp. Prof. Knapp resigned July 1, 

1875, and Prof. Orlando Clark was elected Principal, who died April 2, 

1876, and was succeeded by John B. Parmalee, who retired in July, 1877, 
when tlie present incumbent. Rev. Robert Carothers, was elected. 

Trustees, 1S77-8. — Jeremiah L. Gay, President ; S. H. Watson, Treasurer; 
H. C. Piatt, Jacob Springer, C. L. Flint and P. F. Sturgis. 

Faculty. — Principal, Rev. Robert Carothers, A. M. ; Matron, Mrs. Emeline 
E. Carothers; Teachers, Thomas F. McCune, A. B., Miss Grace A. Hill, 
Mrs. C. A. Spencer, iNIiss Mary Baker, Miss C. R. Mdler, Miss Lorana Mat- 
tice. Miss A. M. McCutcheon ; Musical I)irector, S. 0. Spencer. 

The Legislative Committee who visited this institution in 1878 expressed 
their astonishment at the vast expenditure of money in proportion to the needs 
of the State. The structure is well built, and the money properly expended ; 
yet it was enormously beyond the nece.ssities of the State, and shows an utter 
disregard of the fitness of things. The Committee could not understand why 
5282,000 should have been expended for a massive building covering about two 
and a half acres for the accommodation of 130 people, costing over eight thou- 
sand dollars a year to heat it, and costing the State about five hundred dollars 
a year/for each pupil. 



i 



mSTURY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 199 

INSTITUTION FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB. " 

Council Bluffs, Pottawattoviie County. 

The Iowa Institution for the Denf and Dumb was establislieJ at Iowa City 
by an act of tlie General Assembly, approved January 24, l(Sr)5. The number 
of deaf miUes then in the State was 301 ; tlie number attending the Institution, 
50. Tlie first Bo^ird of Trustees were: Hon. Samuel J. Kirkwood, Hon. E. 
Sells, W. Penn Clarke, J. P. Wojd, H. D. Downey, William Crum, W. E. 
Ijanis, Princijial. On the resignation of Mr. Ijams, in 1SG2, the Board 
appointed in his ster.d Mr. Benjamin Talbot, fir nine yc;irs a teacher in tiio 
Ohio Institution for tlie Deaf and Dtunb. Mr. 1'albot was ardently dovoted to 
the interests of the institution and a faithful worker for the unfortunate cUiss 
under his charge. 

A strong eifort was made, in 186G, to remove this important institiitlon to 
Des Moines, but it was located permanently at Council Bluffs, and a building 
rented for its use. In 18GS, Commissioners were appointed to locate a site for, 
and to superintend tlie erection of a new building, for which the Legislature 
appropriated $1"25,000 to commence the work of construction. The Commis- 
sioners selected ninety acres of land about two miles south of the city of Coun- 
cil Bluffs. The main building and one wing were completed October 1, 1870, 
and immediately occupied by the Institution. February 25, 1877, the main 
building and ea.st wing were destroyed by fire; and August 6 following, the 
roof of the new west wing was blown off and the walls partially demolished by 
a tornado. At the time of the fire, about one hundred and fifty pupils were in 
attendance. After the fire, half the classes were dismissed and the number of 
scholars reduced to about seventy, and in a week Or two the school was in run- 
ning order. 

The Legislative Committee which visited this Institution in the Winter of 
1857-8 was not well pleased with the condition of affairs, and reported tliat the 
building (west wing) was a disgrace to the State and a monument of unskillful 
workmanship, and intimated rather strongly that some reforms in management 
were very essential. 

Trustees, 1877-S. — Thomas Officer, President ; N. P. Dodge, Treasurer ; 
Paul Lange, William Orr, J. W^ Cattell. 

Superintendent, Benjamin Talbot, M. A. Teachers, Edwin Southwiek, 
Conrad S. Zorbaikgh, John A. Gillespie, John A. Kennedy, Ellen J. Israel, 
Ella J. Brown, Mrs. H. 11. Gillespie; Physician, II. W. Hart, M. D.; Steward, 
N. A. Taylor; Matron, Mary B. SAvan. 

SOLDIERS' ORPHANS' HOMES. 

Davenport, Cedar Falls, Glenwood. 

The movement which culminated in the establishment of this beneficent in- 
stitution was originated by Mi-s. Annie Wittcnmeyer, during the civil war of 
1861-t:!5. This noble and patriotic lady called a convention at Muscatine, on 
the 7th of October 1803, for the purpose of devising measures for the support 
and education of the orphan children of the brave sons of Iowa, who had fallen 
in defense of national honor and integrity. So great was the public interest in 
the movement that there was a large representation from all parts of the State 
on the day named, and an association was organized called the Iowa State Or- 
phan Asylum. 



200 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

The first officers were : President, William M. Stone ; A^ice Presidents, Mrs. 
G. G. Wright, Mrs. R. L. Cadle, Mrs. J. T. Hancock, Jchn R. Needhani, J. W. 
Cattell, Mrs. Mary M. Bagg ; Recording Secretary, Miss Mary Kibben ; Cor- 
responding Secretary, Miss M. E. Shelton ; Treasurer, N. H. Erainerd; Board 
of Trustees, Mrs. Annie Wittenineyer, Mrs. C. B. Darwin, Mrs. D. T. Newcomb. 
Mrs. L. B. Stephens, O. Fayville, E. II. Williams, T. S. Parvin, Mrs. Shields, 
Caleb Baldwin, C. C. Cole, Isaac Pendleton, H. C. Henderson. 

The first meeting of the Trustees was held February 14, 1864, in the Repre- 
sentative Hall, at Des Moines. Committees from both branches of the General 
Assembly were present and were invited to participate in their deliberations. 
Gov. Kirkwood suggested that a home for disabled soldiers should be connected 
with the Asylum. Arrangements were made for raising funds. 

At the next meeting, in Davenport, in March, 1864, the Trustees decided to 
commence operations at once, and a committee, of which Mr. Howell, of Keo- 
kuk, was Chairman, was appointed to lease a suitable building, solicit donations, 
and procure suitable furniture. This committee secured a large brick building 
in Lawrence, Van Buren County, and engaged Mr. Fuller, of Mt. Pleasant, as 
Steward. 

At the annual meeting, in Des Moines, in June, 1864, Mrs. C. B. Baldwin, 
Mrs. G. G. Wright, Mrs. Dr. Horton, Miss Mary E. Shelton and Mr. George 
Sherman were appointed a committee to furnish the building and take all neces- 
sary steps for opening the "Home," and notice was given that at the next 
meeting of the Association, a motion Avould be made to change the name of the 
Institution to Iowa Orphans' Home. 

Tlic work of preparation was conducted so vigorously that on the 13th day 
of July following, the Executive Committee announced that they were ready to 
receive the children. In three weeks twenty-one were admitted, and the num- 
ber constantly increased, so that, in a little mOre than six months from the time 
of opening, there were seventy children admitted, and twenty more applica- 
tions, which the Committee had not acted upon — all orphans of soldiers. 

Miss M. Elliott, of Washington, was appointed Matron. She resigned, 
in February, 1865, and was succeeded by Mrs. E. G. Piatt, of Fremont 
County. 

The " Home " was sustained by the voluntary contributions of the people, 
until 1866, when it was assumed by the State. In that year, the (jeneral 
Assembly provided fir the location of several such "Homes" in the different 
counties, and wliich were established at Davenport, Scott County ; Cedar Falls, 
Black Hawk County, and at Glenwood, Mills County. 

The Board of Trustees elected by the General Assembly had the oversight 
and management of the Soldiers' Orphans' Homes of the State, and consisted 
of one person from each county in which such Home was located, and one for 
the State at large, who held their office two years, or until their successors were 
elected and qualified. An appropriation of $10 per month for each orphan 
actually supported was made by the General Assembly. 

Tiie Home in Cedar Falls was organized in 1865, and an old hotel building 
was fitted up for it. Rufus C, Mary L. and Emma L. Bauer were the first 
chddren received, in October, and by January, 1866, there were ninety-six in- 
mates. 

October 12, 1869, the Home was removed to a large brick building, about 
two miles west of Cedar Falls, and was very prosperous for several years, but 
in 1876, the General Assembly established a State Normal School at Cedar 
Falls and appropriated the buildings and grounds for that purpose. 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 201 

By " An act to provide for the organization and sn])pnrt of an asvlum at 
Glenwood, in Mills County, for feeble minded children," approved March 17. 
187G, the buildings and grounds used by the Soldiers' Orphans' Home at tbat 
place were appropriated for this purpose. By another act, approved Marcli ]■'). 
1876, the soldiers' orphans, then at the Homes at Glenwood and Cedar Falls, 
were to bo removed to the Home at Davenport within ninety days thereafter, 
and the Board of Trustees of the Home were authorized to receive other indigent 
children into that institution, and provide for their education in industrial 
pursuits. 

STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. 

Cedar Falls, Black Hawk County. 

Chapter 129 of the laws of the Sixteenth General Assembly, in 1876, estab- 
lished a State Normal School at Cedar Falls, Black Hawk County, and required 
the Trustees of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home to turn over the property in their 
charge to the Directors of tbe new institution. 

The Board of Directors met at Cedar Falls June 7, 1876, and duly organ- 
ized by the election of H. C. Henienway, President ; J. J. Toleston, Secretary, 
and E. Townsend, Treasurer. The Board of Trustees of the Soldiers' Orphans' 
Home met at the same time for the purpose of turning over to the Directors the 
property of that institution, which was satisfactorily done and properly receipted 
for as rcipiired by law. At this meeting, Prof. J. C. Gilchrist was elected 
Principal of the School. 

On the 12th of July, 1S76, the Board again met, when executive and 
teachers' committees were appointed and their duties assigned. A Steward 
and a Matron were elected, and their respective duties defined. 

The buildings and grounds were repaired and fitted up as well as the appro- 
priation would admit, and the first term of the school opened September 6, 1876, 
commencing with twenty-seven and closing with eighty-seven students. The 
second term closed with eighty-six, and one hundred and six attended during 
the third term. 

The following are the Board of Directors, Board of Officers and Faculty : 

Board of Directors. — H. C. Hemenway, Cedar Falls, President, term 
expires 1882 ; L: D. Lewelling, Salem, Henry County, 1878 ; W. A. Stow, 
Hamburg, Fremont County, 1878 ; S. G. Smith, Newton, Jasper County, 
1880; E. H. Thayer, Clinton, Clinton County, 1880; G. S. Robinson, Storm 
Lake, Buena Vista County, 1882. 

Board of Officers. — J. J- Toleston, Secretary ; E. Townsend, Treasurer ; 
William Pattes, Steward; Mrs. P. A. Schermerhorn, Matron — all of Cedar 
Falls. 

FarnJli/. — J. C. Gilchrist, A. M., Principal, Profes-:er of Mental and 
Moral Philosophy and Didactics ; M. W. Bartlett, A. M., Professor of Lan- 
guages and Natural Science ; D. S. Wright, A. M., Professor of Mathematics ; 
Miss Frances L. Webster, Teacher of Geography and History ; E. W. Burnham. 
Professor of JIusic. 

ASYLUM FOR FEEBLE MINDED CHILDREN. 

Glenwood, Mills County. 

Chapter 152 of the laws of the Sixteenth General Assembly, approved 
March 17, 1876, proviiled for the establishment of an asylum for feeble minded 
children at Glenwood, Mills County, and the buildings and grounds of the 



202 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

Soldiers' Orphans' Home at that place were to be used for that purpose. Tlie 
asylum was placed under the management of three Trustees, one at least of 
whom should be a resident of Mills County. Children between the ages of 7 
and 18 years are admitted. Ten dollars per month for each child actually sup- 
ported by the State was appropriated by the act, and §2,000 for salaries of 
officers and teachers for two years. 

Hon. J. W. Cattell, of Polk County ; A. J. Russell, of Mills County, and 
W. S. Robertson, were appointed Trustees, who held their first meeting at 
Glenwood, April 26, 1876. Mr. Robertson was elected President; Mr. Russell, 
Treasurer, and Mr. Cattell, Secretary. The Trustees found the house and farm 
wliich had been turned over to them in a shamefully dilapidated condition. The 
i'cnces were broken down and tlie lumber destroyed or carried away ; the win- 
dows broken, doors off their hinges, iloors broken and filthy in the extreme, 
cellars reeking with offensive odors from decayed vegetables, and every conceiv- 
able variety of filth and garbage ; drains obstructed, cisterns broken, pump 
demoralized, wind-mill brolcen, roof leaky, and the whole property in the worst 
possible condition. It was the first work of the Trustees to make the house 
tenable. This was done under the direction of Mr. Russell. At the request 
of" the Trustees, Dr. Charles T. ^Vilbur, Superintendent of the Illinois Asjdum, 
visited Glenwood, and made many valuable suggestions, and gave them much 
assistance. 

0. W. Archibald, M. D., of Glenwood, was appointed Superintendent, 
and soon after was appointed Secretary of the Board, vice Cattell, resigned. 
Mrs. S. A. Archibald was appointed Matron, and Miss Maud M. Archibald, 
Teacher. 

The Institution was opened September 1, 1876; the first pupil admitted 
September 4, and the school was organized September 10, with only five pupils, 
wliich number had, in November, 1877, increased to eighty-seven. December 
1, 1876, Miss Jennie Van Dorin, of Fairfield, was employed as a teacher and 
iu the Spring of 1877, Miss Sabina J. Archibald was also employed. 

THE REFORM SCHOOL. 
Eldora, Hardin County. 

By "An act to establish and organize a State Reform School for Juvenile 
Offenders," approved March 31, 1868, the General Assembly established a 
State Reform School at Salem, Lee (Henry) County; provided for a Board of 
Trustees, to consist of one person from each Congressional District. For the 
purpose of immediately opening the school, the Trustees were directed to accept 
the proposition of the Trustees of White's Iowa Manual Labor Institute, at 
Salem, and lease, for not more than ten years, the lands, buildings, etc., of the 
Listitute, and at once proceed to prepare for and open a reform school as a 
temporary establishment. 

The contract for fitting up the buildings was let to Clark & Haddock, Sep- 
tember 21, 1868, and on the 7th of October following, the first inmate was 
received from Jasper County. The law provided for the admission of children 
of both sexes under 18 years of age. In 1876, this was amended, so that they 
are now received at ages over 7 and under 16 years. 

April 19, 1872, the Trustees were directed to make a permanent location 
for the school, and $45,000 was appropriated for the erection of the necessary 
buildings. The Trustees were further directed, as soon as practicable, to 
organize a school for girls in the buildings where the boys were then kept. 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 203 

Tlio Trustees located the scliool at Elilora, Hardin County, and in the Code 
of iSTo, it is permanently located there by law. 

The institution is managed by five Trustees, who are paid mileage, but no 
compensation for their services. 

The object is the reformation of the children of both sexes, under the age 
of 16 years and over 7 years of age, and the law requires that the Trustees 
shall rcijuire tlie boys and girls under their charge to be instructed in piety and 
mi)r;ility, and in sucli branches of useful knowledge as are adapted to their age 
and capacity, and in some regular course of labor, either mechanical, manufac- 
turing or agricultural, as is best suited to their age, strength, disposition and 
c!\pacity, and as may seem best adapted to secure the reformation and future 
benefit of the boys and girls. 

A boy or girl committed to the State Reform School is there kept, disci- 
plined, instructed, employed and governed, under the direction of the Trustees, 
until he or she arrives at the age of majority, or is bound out, reformed or 
legally discharged. The binding out or discharge of a boy or girl as reformed, 
or having arrived at the age of majority, is a complete release from all penalties 
incurred by conviction of the offense for which he or she was committed. 

Tiiis is one step in the right direction. In tlie future, however, still further 
advances wdl be made, and the right of every individual to the fruits of their 
hibiji', even while restrained fur the public good, will be recognized. 

FISH HATCHING ESTABLISHMENT. 

Near Anamosa, Jones County. 

The Fifteenth General Assembly, in 1874, passed " An act to provide for 
the appointment of a Board of Fish Commissioners for the construction of 
Fishways for the protection and propagatioti of Fish," also "An act to provide 
for furnishing the rivers and lakes witli fish and fish spawn." This act appro- 
piiated §:>,0U0 for the purpose. In accordance with the provisions of the first 
act above mentioned, on the 0th of April, 1874, S. B. Evans of Ottumwa, 
Wapello County ; B. F. Shaw of Jones County, and Charles A. Haines, of 
iJhick Hawk County, were appointed to l.)e Fish Commissioners by the Governor. 
These Commissioners met at Des Moines, May 10, 1874, and organized by the 
el ction of Mr. Evans, President ; Mr. Shaw, Secretary and Superintendent, 
and Mr. Haines, Treasurer. 

Tlie State was partitioned into tliree districts or divisions to enable the 
(Commissioners to better superintend tlie construction of fishways as required by 
law. That part of the State lying south of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific 
Railroad was placed under the especial supervision of Mr. Evans ; that part be- 
tween that railroad and the Iowa Division of the Illinois Central Railroad, Mr. 
Shaw, and all north of the Illinois Central Railroad, Mr. Haines. At this 
meeting, the Superintendent was authorized to build a State Hatching House ; 
lo procure the spawn of valuable fish adapted to the waters of Iowa ; hatch and 
prepare the young fish for distribution, and assist in putting them into the waters 
of the State. 

In compliance with these instructions, Mr. Shaw at once commenced work, 
and in the Summer of 1874, erected a " State Hatching House" near Anamosa, 
'20x40 feet, two stories; the second story being designed for a tenement; the 
first story being the '-hatching room." The hatching troughs are supplied 
with water from a magnificent spring four feet deep and about ten feet in diam- 
eter, aftording an abundant and unfailing supply of pure running water. During 



204 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

the first year, from May 10, 1874, to May 10, 1875, the Commissioners distributed 
within the State 100,000 Shad, 300,000 Cahfornia Sahnon, 10,000 Bass, 
80,000 Penobscot (Maine) Sahnon, 5,000 hxnd-locked Sahnon, 20,000 of 
other species. 

By act approved JIarch 10, 1876, tlie hiw was amended so that there should 
be but one instead of tiiree Fish Commissioners, and B. F. Shaw was apjjointed, 
and the Commissioner was autliorized to purchase twenty acres of laud, on 
which the State Hatching House was located near Ananiosa. 

In the Fall of 1876, Commissioner Shaw gathered from the sloughs of the 
Mississippi, where they would have been destroyed, over a million and a half of 
small fisli, which were distributed in the various rivers of the State and turned 
into the Mississippi. 

In 1875-6, 533,000 California Salmon, and in 1877, 303,500 Lake Trout 
were distributed in various rivers and lakes in the State. The experiment of 
stocking the small streams with brook trout is being tried, and 81,000 of the 
speckled beauties were distributed in 1877. In 187G, 100,000 young eels were 
distribited. These came from New York and they are increasing rapidly. 

At the close of 1877, there were at least a dozen private fish farms in suc- 
cessful operation in various parts of the State. Commissioner Shaw is en- 
thusiastically devoted to the duties of his office and has performed an important 
service for the people of the State by his intelligent and successful operations. 

The Sixteenth General Assembly passed an act in 1878, prohibiting the 
catching of any kind of fish except Brook Trout from March until Juno of each 
year. Some varieties are fit for food only during this period. 



THE rUBLIC LANDS. 

The grants of public lands made in the State of Iowa, for various purposes, 
are as follows : 

1. The 500,000 Acre Grant. 

2. Tlie 16tU Section Grant. 

3. Tlie Mortgage Scliool Lands. 

4. TUe University Gram. 

5. The Saline Grant. 

6. The Des Moines lUver Grant. 

7. The lies Moines liiver School Lands. 

8. The Swamp Land Grant. 

9. The Kailroad Grant. 

10. The Agricultural College Grant. 

I. THE FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND ACRE GRANT. 

■yVhen the State was admitted into the LTnion, she became entitled to 
500,000 acres of land by virtue of an act of Congress, approved September 4, 
1841, which granted to each State therein specified 500,000 acres of public land 
for internal improvements ; to each State admitted subsequently to the passage 
of the act, an amount of land which, with the amount that might have been 
granted to her as a Territory, would amount to 500,000 acres. All these lands 
were required to be selected within the limits of the State to which they were 
granted. 

Tlie Constitution cf Iowa declares that the proceeds of this grant, together 
witli all lands then granted or to he granted by Congress for the benefit of 
schools, shall constitute a perpetual fund for the support of schools throughout 
the State. By an act approved January 15, 1849, the Legislature established 



.; HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 205 

a board of School Fund Commissioners, and to that board was confided the 
selection, care and sale of these lands for the benefit of the Scliool Fund. Until 
1855, these Commissioners were subordinate to the Superintendent of Public 
Instruction, but on the 15th of January of that year, they were clothed with 
exclusive authority in the management and sale of school hinds. The office of 
Scliool Fund Commissioner was abolished March 23, 1858, and that officer in 
each county was required to transfer all papers to and make full settlement with 
the County Judge. By this act, County Judges and Township Trustees wei-e 
made the agents of the State to control and sell the sixteenth sections; but no 
further provision was made for the sale of the 500,000 acre grant until April 
3d, 1860, when the entire management of the school lands was committed to 
the Boards of Supervisors of the several counties. 

II. THE SIXTEENTH SECTIONS. 

By the provisions of the act of Congress admitting Iowa to the Union, there 
was granted to the new State the sixteenth section in every towi;sh;p, or wliere 
that section had been sold, other lands of like amount for the use of scliools. 
The Constitution of the State provides tliat the proceeds arising from tlie sale 
of these sections sliall constitute a part of tlie permanent School Fund. The 
control and sale of these lands were vested in tlie School Fund Commissioners 
of the several counties until March 23, 1858, when they were transferred to the 
County Judges and Township Trustees, and were finally placed under the 
supervision of the County Boards of Supervisors in January, 1861. 

HI. THE MORTGAGE SCHOOL LANDS. 

These do not belong to any of the grants of land proper. They are lands 
that have been mortgaged to the school fund, and became school lands when bid 
off by the State by virtue of a law passed in 1.S62. Under the provisions of the 
law regulating the management and investment of the permanent scliool fund, 
persons desiring loans from that fund are required to secure the payment thereof 
witii interest at ten per cent, per annum, by promissory notes endorsed by two 
good su:eties and by mortgage on unincumbered real estate, which must be 
situated in the county where the loan is made, and which must be valued by 
three appraisers. Making these loans and taking the required securities was 
made tlie duty of the County Auditor, wlio was required to report to the Board 
of Supervisors at each meeting thereof, all notes, mortgages and abstracts of 
title connected with the school fund, for examination. 

When defiiult was made of payment of money so secured by mortgage,- and 
no arrangement made for extension of time as the law provides, the Board of 
Supervisors were authorized to bring suit and prosecute it with diligence to 
secure said fund; and in action in favor of the county for the use of the school 
fund, an injunction may issue without bonds, and in any such action, when 
service is made by publication, default and judgment may be entered and 
enforced without bonds. In case of sale of land on execution founded on any 
such mortgage, the attorney of the board, or other person duly authorized, shall, 
on behalf of the State or county for the use of said fund, bid such sum as the 
intere-'ts of said fund may require, and if struck off to the State the land shall 
be held and disposed of as the other lands belonging to the fnnd. Tliese lands 
are known as the Mortgage Scliool Lands, and reports of them, including 
description and amount, are required to be made to the State Land Office. 



206 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

IV. UNIVErjSITY LANDS. 

By act of Congress, July 20, 1840, a quantity of land not exceeding two 
f ntire townships was reserved in the Territory of Iowa for the use and support 
')f a university within said Territory when it shoukl beccfme a State. Tliis land 
was to be located in tracts of not less- than an entire section, and could be used 
for no other purpose than that designated in the grant. In an act supplemental 
to that for the admission of Iowa, March 3, 1845, the grant was renewed, and it 
was provided that the lands should be ui^ed "solely for the purpose of such 
university, in such manner as the Legislature may prescribe." 

Under this grant there were set apart and approved by the Secretary of the 
Treasury, for the use of the State, the following lands : 

ACKES. 

In the Iowa City Land District, Fel.. 26. 1849 20,150.49 

In tlie Fairliel.l Land District, Oct. 17, 1S49 9,085.20 

In tlie Iowa City Land Distnet,.Tan. 28, 1850 2, .071. 81 

In the Fairlield Land District, Sept. 10, 1S50 8,198.20 

In the Dubuque Land District, May 19, 1852 10,-5.52.24 

Total 45,957.94 

These lands were certified to the State November 19, 1859. The University 
lands are placed by law under the control and management of the Board of 
Trustees of the Iowa State University. Prior to 1865, there had been selected 
and located untlor 282 patents, 22,W92 acres in sixteen counties, and 23,036 
acres unpatented, making a total of 45,928 acres. 

V. SALINE LANDS. 

By act of Congress, approved March 3, 1845, the State of Iowa was 
granted the use of the salt springs within her limits, not exceeding twelve. 
By a subsequent act, approved May 27, 1852, Congress granted the springs 
to the State in fee simple, together with six sections of land contiguous to each, 
to be disposed of as the Legislature might direct. In 1861, the proceeds of 
these lands then to be sold were constituted a fund for founding and support- 
ing a lunatic asylum, but no sales were made. In 1856, the proceeds of the 
saline lands were appropriated to the Insane A.sylum, repealed in 1858. In 
1860, the stiline lands and funds were made a part of the permanent fund of 
the State University. Tliese lands were located in Appanoose, Davis, Decatur, 
Lucas, Monroe, Van Buren and Wayne Counties. 

VI. — THE DES MOINES RIVER GRANT. 

By act of Congress, approved August 8, 1846, a grant of land was made 
for the improvement of the navigation of Des Moines River, as follows : 

B'l it enac'ed by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in 
Congress assembled. That there be, and liereby is, granted to said Territory of Iowa, for the 
purpose of aiding said Territory to improve the navigation of the Des Moines River from its 
mouth to the Raccoon Fork (so called) in said Territory, one equal moiety, in alternate seciions, 
of the public lands (remaining unsold and not otherwise disposed of, incumbered or appropri- 
ated), in a strip five miles in width on each side of said river, to be selected within said Terri- 
tory liy an agent or atjents to be appointed by the Governor thereof, subject to the approval of 
the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States. 

Sec. 2. A'ld be it farther enacted, Thvt the Lands hereby granted shall not be conveyed 
or disposed of by said Territory, nor by any State to be formed out of the same, e.xcept as said 
improvement shall progress ; that i*, I lie said Territory or State may sell so much of said lands 
as sh.all produce the sum of thirty thousand dollars, and then the sales shall cease until the Gov- 
ernor of said Territory or State shall certify the fact to the President of the United Slates that 
one-half of said sum has been expended upon said improvements, when the said Territory or 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 207 

State m!iy sell and convey a quantity of the residue of said lauds sufficient to replace the amount 
expended, and tlius the S;ile9 sliall progress as the proceeds thereof shall be expended, and the 
fact of such expenditure shall be certitied as aforesaid. 

Sec. '!. And be it further enacted. That the said River Des Moines shall be and forever 
remain a public highway tor the use of the Government of the United States, free from any toll 
or other cliarge whatever, for any property of the United Slates or persons in their service 
passing through or along the same: Provided altvaya, That it sh.all not be competent for the said 
Territory or future State of Iowa to dispose of said lands, or any of them, at a price lower than, 
for the time being, shall be the minimum price of o'hcr public lands. » 

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, Tiiat whenevertlie Territory of Iowa shall be admitted 
into the Union as a State, the lands hereby granted for the above purpose shall be and become 
the property of s.aid Stale for tlio purpose contempl.ated in this .act, and for no other: Provided 
Ihe Legislature of the State of Iowa shall accept the said grant for the said purpose." Approved 
-•Vug. S, 1845. 

Ey joint resolution of tlie General Assembly of Iowa, approved January 0, 
1847, the grant was acceptetl for the purpose specified. By another act, ap- 
proved February 24, 1847, entited "An act creating the Board of Public 
Works, and providing for the improvement of the Des Moines River," the 
Legislature provided for a Board consisting of a President, Secretary and 
Treasurer, to be elected by the people. This Board was elected August 2, 
1847, and was organized on the 22(1 of September following. The same act 
defined the nature of the improvement to be made, and provided that the work 
should be paid for from the funds to be derived from the sale of lands to be 
sold by the Board. 

Agents appointed by the Governor selected the sections designated by "odd 
numbers" throughout the whole exten*; of the grant, and this selection was ap- 
proved by the Secretary of the Treasury. But there was a conflict of opinion 
as to the extent of the grant. It was held by some that it extended from the 
mouth of the Des Moines only to the Raccoon Forks ; others held, as the 
agents to make selection evidently did, that it extended from the mouth to the 
head waters of the river. Richard M. Young, Commissioner of the General 
Land Office, on the 23d of February, 1848, construed the grant to mean that 
" the State is entitled to the altoraate sections within five miles of the Des 
Moines River, throughout the whole extent of that river within the limits of 
Iowa." Under this construction, the alternate sections above the Rticcoon 
Forks wouli], of course, belong to the State; but on the VJth of June, 1848, 
some of tliese lands were, by proclamation, thrown into market. On the 18th 
of September, the Board of Pul)lic Works filed a remonstrance with the Com- 
missioner of the General Land Office. The Board also sent in a protest to the 
State Land Office, at which the sale was ordered to take place. On the 8th of 
January, 1849, the Senators and Representatives in Congress from Iowa also 
protestetl against the sale, in a communication to Hon. Robert J. Walker, Sec- 
retary of the Treasury,- to which the Secretary replied, concurring in the 
opinion that the grant extended the whole length of the Des Moines River in 
Iowa. 

On the 1st of June, 1849, the Commissioner of the General Land Office 
directed the Register and Receiver of the Land Office at Iowa City '' to with- 
hold from sale all lands situated in the odd numbered sections within five miles 
on each side of the Des Moines River abuve the Raccoon Forks." March 13, 
18.50, the Commissioner of the General Land Office submitted to the Secretary 
of the Interior a list "showing the tracts falling within the limits of the Des 
Moines River grant, above the Raccoon Forks, etc., under the decision of the 
Secretary of the Treasury, of March 2, 1849," and on the 6th of April 
following, Mr. Ewing, then Secretary of tiie Interior, reversed the decision of 
Secretary Walker, but ordered the lands to be withheld from sale until Con- 



208 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF lOU'A. 

gress could have an opportunity to pass an explanatory act. The Iowa author- 
ities appealed from this decision to the President (Taylor), who referred the 
matter to the Attorney General (Mr. Johnson). On the 19th of July, Mr. 
Johnson submitted as his opinion, that by the terms of the grant itself, it ex- 
tended to the very source of the Des Moines, but before his opinion was pub- 
lished President Taylor died. When Mr. Tyler's cabinet was formed, the 
question was submitted to the new Attorney General (Mr. Crittenden), who, on 
the 80th of June, 1851, reported that in his opinion the grant did not extend 
above the Eaccoon Forks. Mr. Stewart, Secretary of the Interior, concurred 
with Mr. Ciittenden at first, but subsequently consented to lay the whole sub- 
ject before the President and Cabinet, who decided in favor of the State. 

October 29, 1851, Mr. Stewart directed the Commissioner of the General 
Land Office to " submit for his approval such lists as had been prepared, and to 
proceed to report for like approval lists of the alternate sections clanned by the 
State of Iowa above the Raccoon Forks, as far as the surveys have progressed, 
or may hereafter be completed and returned." And on the following day, three 
lists of these lands were prepared in the General Land Office. 

The lands approved and certified to the State of Iowa under this grant, and 
all lying above the Raccoon Forks, are as follows : 

By Secrelary Stewart, Oct. 30, 1851 81,707.93 acres. 

JLirch 10, 1852 1-4:5,008.37 " 

By Secretary McLellan, Dec. 17, 1853 33,142.43 " 

Dec. 30, 1853 12,813.51 " 

Total 271, 572.24 acres. 

The Commissioners and Register of the Des Moines River Improvement, in 
their report to the Governor, November .30, 1852, estimates the total amount of 
lands then available for the work, including those in possession of the State and 
those to be surveyed and approved, at nearly a million acres. The indebtedness 
then standing against the fund was about ^108,000, and the Commissioners 
estimated the work to be done would cost about $1,200,000. 

January 19, 1853, the Legislature authorized the Commissioners to sell 
" any or all the lands which have or may hereafter be granted, for not less than 
$1,300,000." 

On the 24th of January, 1858, the General Assembly provided for the elec- 
tion of a Commissioner by the people, and appointed two Assistant Commission- 
ers, with authority to make a contract, selling the lands of the Improvement 
for $1,300,000. "^This new Board made a contract, June 9, 1855, with the Des 
Moines Navigation & Railroad Company, agreeing to sell all the lands donated 
to the State by Act of Congress of August 8, 1846, which the State had not 
sold prior to December 28, 1853, for $1,300,000, to be expended on the im- 
provement of the river, and in paying the indebtedness then due. This con- 
tract was duly reported to the Governor and General Assembly. 

By an act approved January 25, 1855, the Commissioner and Register of 
the Des Moines River Improvement were authorized to negotiate with the Des 
Moines Navigation & Railroad Company for the purchase of lands in Webster 
County which had been sold by the School Fund Commi.ssioner as school lands, 
but which had been certified to the State as Des Moines River lands, and had, 
therefore, become the property of the Company, under the provisions of its 
contract with the State. 

March 21, 1856, the old question of the extent of the gr-i.it was again raised 
and the Commissioner of the General Land Office decided thc^ it was limited to 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 209 

the Raccoon Fork. Appciil was made to tlic Secretary of tlic Interior, and bv 
liim the matter was referred to the Attorney General, who decided that the grant 
extended to the northern boundary of tlie State ; the State relinquished its 
claim to lands lying along the river in Minnesota, and the vexed question was 
supposed to bo finally settled. 

The land whicii had been certified, as well as those extending to the north- 
ern boundary witiiin the limits of the grant, were reserved from pre-emption 
and sale by the General Land Commissioner, to satisfy the grant of August 8, 
1846, and they were treated as having passed to tiie State, which from time to 
time sold portions of them prior to their final transfer to the Des JMoines Navi- 
igation & Railroad Company, applying the proceeds thereof to the improve- 
ment of the river in compliance witli the terms of the grant. Prior to the final 
sale to the Company, June 9, 18.54, the State had sold about 827,000 acres, of 
which amount r)8,8-30 acres were located above the Raccoon Fork. The last 
certificate of the Genei'al Land Office bears date December 30, 185-3. 

"■After June 9th, 1854, the Des Moines Navigation & Railroad Company 
carried on the work under its contract with the State. As the improvement 
progressed, the State, from time to time, by its authorized otficcrs, issued to the 
Company, in payment for said work, certificates for lands. But the General 
Land Office ceased to certify lands under the grant of 1846. The State 
had made no other provision for paying for the improvements, and disagree- 
ments and misunderstanding arose between the State authorities and the 
Company. 

March 22, 1858, a joint resolution was passed by the Legislature submitting 
a proposition for final settlement to the Company, whicli was accepted. The Com- 
pany paid to the State .?20,000 in cash, and i-eleased and conveyed the dredge boat 
and materials named in the resolution ; and the State, on the 3d of Ma}^ 1858, 
executed to the Des Moines Navigation & Railroad Company fourteen deeds 
or patents to the lands, amounting to 256,703.64 acres. These deeds were 
intended to convey all the lands of this grant certified to the State by the Gen- 
eral Government not previously sold; but, as if for the purpose of covering any 
tract or parcel that might have been omitted, the State made another deed of 
conveyance on the 18th day of May, 1858. These fifteen deeds, it is claimed, 
by the Company, convey 266,108 acres, of which about 53,367 are below the 
Raccoon Fork, and the balance, 212,741 acres, are above that point. 

Besides the lands deeded to the Coinj)any, the State had deeded to individual 
j)urchasers 58,830 acres above the Raccoon Fork, making an aggregate of 271,- 
571 acres, deeded above the Fork, all of which had been certified to the State 
by the Federal Government. 

By act approved March 28, 1858, the Legislature donated the remainder of 
the grant to the Keokuk, Fort Des Moines & Minnesota Railroad Company, 
upon condition that said Company assumed all liabilities resulting from the Des 
Moines River improvement operations, reserving 50,000 acres of the land in 
security for the payment thereof, and for the completion of the locks and dams 
at Bentonsport, Croton, Keosauqua and Plymouth. For every three thousand 
dollars' worth of work done on the locks and dams, and for every three thousand 
dollars paid by the Company of the liabilities above mentioned, the Register of 
the State Land Office was instructed to certify to the Company 1,000 acres of 
(he 50,000 acres reserved for these purposes. Up to 1865, there had been pre- 
sented liy the Company, under the provisions of the act of 1858, and allowed, 
claims amounting to $109,579.37, about seventy-five per cent, of which had 
been settled. 



210 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

Aftei' the passage of the Act above noticed, the question of the extent of the 
original grant Avus again mooted, and at the December Term of the Supremo (Jourt 
of the United States, in 1859-60, a decision vas rendered dechiring that the 
grant did not extend above Raccoon Fork, and that all certificates of land abo-"c 
the Fork had been issued without authority of law and were, therefore, void 
(see 23 IIow., 66). 

The State of Iowa had disposed of a large amount of land without authority, 
according to this decision, and appeal was made to Congress for relief, whicli 
was granted on tlie 3d day of March, 1861, in a joint resolution relintjuishing 
to the State all tlie title whicli tlie United States then still retained in tiie tracts 
of land along the Des Moines River above Raccoon Fork, that had been im- 
properly certified to the State by the Department of the Interior, and which is 
now held by bona fide purchasers under the State of Iowa. 

In confirmation of this relinquislimcnt, by act approved July 12, 1862, 
Congress enacted : 

Tliat the grant of lands to tlie then Territory of Iowa for tlie improvement of the Des AIoine3 
Kiver, made by (he act of August 8, 18-tG, is hereby extended so as to include the alternate sec- 
tions (designaled by odd nuraliers) lying within tive miles of said river, between the Raccoon 
Fork and the northern boundary of said State ; such lands are to be held and applied in accord- 
ance with the provisions of the original grant, except that theconseiit of Congress is hereby given 
to the application of a pnrtion thereof to aid in the construction of the Keokuk, Fort Des Moines 
& Minnesota Railroad, in accordance with the provisions of the act of the General Assembly of 
the State of Iowa, approved March 2'J, 1858. And if any of the said lands shall have been sold 
or otherwise disposed of liy the United States before the passage of this act, except those released 
by the United States to the grantees of the Slate of Iowa, under joint resoluiion of March M, 
1801, the Secretary of the Interior is hereby directed to set apart an e^ual amount of lands within 
said Slate to be certified in lieu thereof; I'romdeii, that if the State shall have sold and conveyed 
any portion of tlie lands lying within the limits of the grant the title of wdiich has proved invalid, 
any lands wliich shall be certified to said State in lieu thereof by virtue of tlio provisions of this 
act, shall inure to and be held as a trust fund for the beneht of the person or persons, respect- 
ively, whose titles shall have failed as aforesaid. 

The grant of lands by the above act of Congress was accepted by a jpint 
resolution of the General Assembly, September 11, 1862, in extra session. On 
the same day, the Governor was authorized to appoint one or more Commis- 
sioners to select the lands in accordance with the grant. These Commissioners 
were instructed to report their selections to the Registrar of the State Land 
Office. The lands so selected were to be held for the purposes of the grant, and 
were not to be disposed of until further legislation sliould be had. D. W. Kil- 
bunie, of Lee County, was appointed Commi.ssioner, and, on the 2oth day of 
April, 1864, the General Lanii Officer authorized the selection of 300,000 acres 
from the vacant public lands as a part of the grant of July 12, 1862, and the 
selections were made in the Fort Dodge and Sioux City Land Districts. 

Many difficulties, controversies and conflicts, in relation to claims and titles, 
grew out of this grant, and these difficulties were enhanced by the uncertainty 
of its limits until the act of Congress of July, 1862. But the Greneral Assem- 
bly sought, by wise and appropriate legislation, to protect the integrity of titles 
derived fron- the State. Especially was the determintition to protect the actual 
settlers, who had paid their money and made improvements prior to the final 
settlement of the limits of the grant by Congress. 

VII. — THE DES MOINES RIVER SCHOOL LANDS. 

These lands constituted a part of the 500,000 acre grant made by Congress 
in 1841; including 28,878.46 acres in Webster County, selected by the Agent of 
*:he Sttite under tliat grant, and approved by the Commissioner of the General 
L;ind Office February 20, 1851. They were ordered into the market June 6, 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 211 

1853, by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, who authorized John Tol- 
man, School Fund Commissioner for Webster County, to sell them as scliool 
lands. Subsequently, when the act of 1846 was construed to extend the Des 
Moines River grant above Raccoon Fork, it was held that the odd numbered 
sections of these lands within five miles of the river were appropriated by that 
act, and on the 30th day of December, 1853, 12,813.51 acres were set apart 
and approved to the State by the Secretary of tlie Interior, as a part of the 
Des Moines River grant. January 6, 1854, the Commissioner of the General 
Land Oflice transmitted to the Superintendent of Public Instruction a certified 
copy of the lists of these lands, indorsed by the Secretary of the Interior. 
Prior to this action of the Department, however, Mr. Tolman had sold to indi- 
vidual purchasers 3,194.28 acres as school lands, and their titles were, of course, 
killed. For their relief, an act, approved April 2, 1860, provide<l that, upon 
application and proper showing, these purchasers should be entitled to draw 
from the State Treasury the amount they had paid, with 10 per cent, interest, 
on the contract to purchase made with Mr. Tolman. Under this act, five appli- 
cations were made prior to 1864, and the applicants received, in the aggregate, 
$949.53. 

By an act approved April 7, 1862, the Governor was forbidden to issue to 
the Dubuque & Sioux City Railroad Company any certificate of the completion 
of any part of said road, or any conveyance of lands, until the company should 
execute and file, in the State Land Office, a release of its claim — first, to cer- 
tain swamp lands ; second, to the Des Moines River Lands sold by Tolman ; 
third, to certain other river lands. Tliat act provided tliat "the said company 
shall transfer their interest in those tracts of land in Webster and Hamilton 
Counties heretofore sold by John Tolman, School Fund Commissioner, to the 
Register of the State Land Oifice in trust, to enable said Register to carry out 
and perform said contracts in all cases when he is called upon by the parties 
interested to do so, before the 1st day of January, A. D. 1864. 

The company filed its i-elease to tlie Tolman lands, in the Land Oflice, Feb- 
ruary 27, 1864, at the same time entered its protest that it had no claim upon 
them, never had pretended to have, and had never sought to claim them. The 
Register of the State Land Office, under the advice of the Attorney General, 
decided that patents would be issued to the Tolman purchasers in all cases 
where contracts had been made prior to December 23, 1853, and remaining 
uncanceled under the act of 1860. But before any were issued, on the 27th of 
August, 1864, the Des Moines Navigation & Railroad Company commenced a 
suit in chancery, in the District Court of Polk County, to enjoin the issue of 
such patents. On the 30tli of August, an ex parte injunction was issued. In 
January, 1868, Mr. J. A. Harvey, Register of the Land Office, filed in the 
court an elaborate answer to plaintiff's' petition, denying that the company had 
any right to or title in the lands. Mr. Harvey's successor, Mr. C. C. Carpen- 
ter, filed a still more exhaustive answer February 10, 1868. August 3, 1868, 
the District Court dissolved the injunction. The company appealed to the 
Supreme Court, where the decision of the lower court was affirmed in December, 
1869. 

VIII.— SWAMP LAND GRANT. 

By an act of Congress, approved March 28, 1850, to enable Arkansas and 
other States to reclaim swampy lands within their limits, granted all the swamp 
and overflowed lands remaining unsold within their respective limits to the 
several States. Although the total amount claimed by Iowa under this act 



212 IIISTOUY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

does not exceed 4,000,000 acres, it has, like the Des Moines River and some 
of the land grants, cost tiie State considerable trouble and expense, and required 
a deal of legislation. The State expended large sums of money in making the 
selections, securing proofs, etc., but the General Guvernment appeared to be 
laboring under the impression that Iowa was not acting in good faith ; that she 
had selected a large amount of lands under the swamp land grant, transferred 
her interest to counties, and counties to private speculators, and the General 
Land Office permitted contests as to the character of the lands already selected 
by the Agents of the State as "swamp lands." Congress, by joint resolution 
Dec. 18, 1856, and by act March 3, 1837, saved the State from the fatal result 
of this ruinous policy. Many of these lands were selected in 1854 and 1855, 
immediately after several remarkably wet seasons, and it was but natural that 
some portions of the selections would not appear swampy after a few dry seasons. 
Some time after these first selections were made, persons desired to enter 
parcels of the so-called swamp lands and offering to prove them to be dry. In 
such cases the General Land Office ordered hearing before the local land officers, 
and if they decided the land to be dry, it was permitted to be entered and the 
claim of the State rejected. Speculators took advantage of this. Affidavits 
were bought of irresponsible and reckless men, who, for a few dollars, would 
confidently testify to the character of lands they never saw. These applica- 
tions multiplied until they covered 3,000,000 acres. It was necessary that 
Congress should confirm all those selections to the State, that this gigantic 
scheme of fraud and plunder might be stopped. The act of Congress of- 
March 3, 1857, was designed to accomplish this purpose. But the Commis- 
sioner of the General Land Office held that it w^as only a qualified confirma- 
tion, and under this construction sought to sustain the action of the Department 
in rejecting the claim of the State, and certifying them under act of May 15, 
1856, under which the railroad companies claimed all swamp land in odd num- 
bered sections within the limits of their respective roads. This action led to 
serious complications. When the railroad grant was made, it was not intended 
nor was it understood that it included any of the swamp lands. These were 
already disposed of by previous grant. Nor did the companies expect to 
receive any of them, but under the decisions of the Departn'ient adverse to the 
State the way was opened, and they were not slow to enter their claims. March 
4, 1862, the Attorney General of the State submitted to the General Assembly 
an opinion that the railroad companies Avere not entitled even to contest the 
right of the State to these lands, under the swamp land grant. A letter from 
the Acting Commissioner of the General Land Office expressed the same 
opinion, and the General Assembly by joint resolution, approved Ajiril 7, 1862, 
expressly repudiated the acts of the railroad companies, and disclaimed any 
intention to claim these lands under any other than the act of Congress of 
Sept. 28, 1850. A great deal of legislation has been found necessary in rela- 
tion to these swamp lands. 

IX. — THE RAILROAD GRANT. 

One of the most important grants of public lands to Iowa for purposes of 
internal improvement was that known as the "Railroad Grant," by act of 
Congress approved May 15, 1856. This act granted to the State of Iowa, for 
the purpose of aiding in the construction of i-ailroads from Burlington, on the 
Mississippi River, to a point on the Missouri River, near the mouth of Platte 
River; from the city of Davenport, via Iowa City and Fort Des Moines to 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 213 

'Council Bluffs ; from Lyons City northwesterly to a point of intersection with 
the main line of the Iowa Central Air Line Railroad, near Maquoketa ; thence 
•on said main line, running as near as practicable to the Forty-second Parallel ; 
across the said State of Iowa to the Missouri River; fi-om the city of Dubuque 
to a point on the Missouri River, near Sioux City, with a branch from the 
mouth of the Tete des Morts, to the nearest point on said road, to be com- 
pleted as soon as the main road is completed to that point, every alternate section 
•of land, designated by odd numbers, for six sections in width on each side of 
:8aid roads. It was also provided that if it should appear, Avhen the lines of those 
roads were definitely fixed, that the United States had sold, or right of pre- 
emption had attached to any portion of said land, the State was authorized to 
select a quantity equal thereto, in alternate sections, or parts of sections, within 
fifteen miles of the lines so located. The lands remaining to the United States 
"within six miles on each side of said roads were not to be sold for less than the 
double minimum price of the public lands when sold, nor were any of said lands 
to become subject to private entry until they had been first offered at public 
3ale at tlie increased price. 

Section -4 of the act provided that the lands granted to said State shall be 
■disposed of by said State only in the manner following, that is to say: that a 
quantity of land not exceeding one hundred and twenty sections for each of said 
roads, and included within a continuous length of twenty miles of each of said 
roads, may be sold ; and when the Covernor of said State shall certify to the 
•Secretary of the Interior that any twenty continuous miles of any of said roads 
is completed, then another quantity of land hereby granted, not to exceed one 
hundred and twenty sections for each of said roads having twenty continuous 
miles completed as aforesaid, and included within a continuous length of twenty 
oiiles of each of such roads, may be sold ; and so from time to time until said 
roads are conqjleted, and if any of said roads are not completed within ten 
years, no further sale shall be made, and the lands unsold shall revert to the 
United States." 

At a special session of the General Assembly of Iowa, by act approved July 
14, 1856, the grant was accepted and the lands were granted by the State to 
the several railrcjad companies named, provided that the lines of their respective 
roads should be definitely fixed and located before April 1, 1857 ; and pro- 
vided further, that if either of said companies should fail to have seventy-five 
miles of road completed and equipped by the 1st day of December, 1859, and 
its entire road completed by December 1, 1865, it should be competent for the 
State of Iowa to resume all rights to lands remaining undisposed of by the 
company so failing. 

The railroad companies, with the single exception of the Iowa Central Air 
Line, accepted the several grants in accordance with the provisions of the above 
act, located their respective roads and selected their lands. The grant to the 
Iowa Central was again granted to the Cedar Rapids & IMissouri River Railroad 
Company, which accepted them. 

By act, approved April 7, 1862, the Dubuque & Sioux City Railroad Com- 
pany was required to execute a release to the State of certain swamp and school 
lands, included within the limits of its grant, in compensation for an extension 
of the time fixed for the completion of its road. 

A careful examination of the act of Congress does not reveal any special 
reference to railroad companies. The lands were granted to the State, and the 
act evidently contemplate the sale of them ht/ the State, and the appropriation 
of the proceeds to aid in the construction of certain lines of railroad within its 



214 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

limits. Section 4 of the act clearly defines the authority of the State in dis- 
posing of the lands. 

Lists of all the lands embraced by the grant were made, and certified to the' 
State by the proper authorities. Under an act of Congress approved August 3, 
1854, entitled "!Aw. act to vest in the several States and Territories the title in- 
fee of the lands which have been or may be certified to them" these certified lists, 
the originals of which are filed in the General Land Office, conveyed to the State 
"the fee simple title to all the lands embraced in such lists that are of the char- 
acter contemplated " by the terms of the act making the grant, and "intended 
to be granted thereby ; but where lands embraced in such lists are not of the 
character embraced by such act of Congress, and were not intended to be granted 
thereby, said lists, so far as these lands are concerned, shall be perfectly null 
and void; and no right, title, claim or interest shall be conveyed thereby." 
Those certified lists made under the act of May 15, 1856, were forty-three in 
number, viz.: For the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad, nine ; for the- 
Mississippi & Missouri Railroad, 11 ; for the Iowa Central Air Line, thirteen; 
and for the Dubuque & Sioux City Railroad, ten. The lands thus approved to- 
the State were as follows : 

Burlington & Missouri River R. R 287,035.34 acres. 

Mississippi & Missouri River R. R 774,674.36 " 

Cedar Rapids & Missouri River R. R 775,454.19 " 

Dubuque & ISioux City R. R 1,226,558.32 " 

A portion of these had been selected as swamp lands by the State, under 
the act of September 28, 1850, and these, by the terms of the act of August 3, 
1854, could not be turned over to the railroads unless the claim of the State to 
them as swamp was first rejected. It was not possible to determine from the 
records of the State Land Office the extent of the conflicting claims arising under" 
the two grants, as copies of the swamp land selections in some of the counties 
were not filed of record. The Commissioner of the General Land Office, however, 
prepared lists of the lands claimed by the State as swamp under act of September 
28, 1850, and also claimed by the railroad companies under act of May 15,. 
1856, amounting to 553,293.33 acres, the claim to which as swamp had been 
rejected by the Department. These were consequently certified to the State as 
railroad lands. There was no mode other than the act of July, 1856, prescribed 
for transferring the title to these lands from the State to the companies. The 
courts had decided that, for the purposes of the grant, the lands belonged to the 
State, and to her the companies should look for their titles. It was generally 
accepted that the act of the Legislature of July, 1856, was all that was neces- 
sary to complete the transfer of title. It was assumed that all the rights and 
powers conferred upon the State by the act of Congress of May 14, 1856, were 
by the act of the General Assembly transferred to the companies ; in other 
words, that it was designed to put the companies in the place of the State as the 
grantees from Congress — and, therefore, that which perfected the title thereto- 
to the State perfected the title to the companies by virtue of the act of July, 
1856. One of the companies, however, the Burlington & Missouri River Rail- 
road Company, was not entirely satisfied with this construction. Its managers 
thought that some further and specific action of the State authorities in addition 
to the act of the Legislature was necessary to complete their title. This induced 
Gov. Lowe to attach to the certified lists his official certificate, under the broad 
seal of the State. On the 9th of November, 1859, the Governor thus certified 
to them (commencing at the Missouri River) 187,207.44 acres, and December 
27th, 43,775.70 acres, an aggregate of 231,073.14 acres. These were the only 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 215 

lands under the grant that were certified by the State authorities with any 
•design of perfecting the title uh-eady vested in the company by the act of July, 
1856. The lists which were afterward furnished to the company were simply 
•certified by the Governor as being correct copies of the lists received by the 
State from the United States General Land Office. These subsequent lists 
eml)raced lands that had been claimed by the State under the Swamp Land 
Grant. 

It was urged against the claim of the Companies that the effect of the act 
■of the Legislature was simply to substitute them for the State as parties to the 
grant. 1st. That the lands were granted to the State to be held in trust for the 
accomplishment of a specific purpose, and therefore the State could not part 
with the title until that purpose should have been accomplished. 2d. That it 
was not the intention of the act of July 14, 1856, to deprive the State of the con- 
trol of the lands, but on the contrary that she should retain supervision of them 
and the right to withdraw all rights and powers and resume tlie title condition- 
ally conferred by that act upon the companies in the event of their failure to 
■complete their part of the contract. 3d. That the certified lists from the Gen- 
eral Land Office vested the title in the State only by virtue of the act of Con- 
gress approved August 3, 1854. The State Land Office held that the proper 
construction of the act of July 14, 1856, when accepted by the companies, was 
that it became a conditional contract that might ripen into a positive sale of the 
lands as from time to time the work should progress, and as the State thereby 
became authorized by the express terms of the grant to sell them. 

Tiiis appears to have been the correct construction of the act, but by a sub- 
sequent act of Congress, approved June 2, 1864, amending the act of 1856, the 
terms of the grant were changed, and numerous controversies arose between the 
companies and the State. 

The ostensible purpose of this additional act was to allow the Davenport & 
Council Bluffs Railroad "to modify or change the location of the uncompleted 
portion of its line," to run through the town of Newton, Jasper County, or as 
nearly as practicable to that point. The original grant had been made to the 
State to aid in the construction of railroads within its limits and not to the com- 
panies, but Congress, in 1864, appears to have been utterly ignorant of what 
had been done under the act of 1856, or, if not, to have utterly disregarded it. 
The State had accepted the original grant. The Secretary of the Interior had 
already certified to the State all the lands intended to be included in the grant 
within fifteen miles of the lines of the several railroads. It will be remembered 
that Section 4, of the act of May 15, 1856, specifies tlie manner of sale of 
these lands from time to time as wyrk on the railroads should progress, and also 
provided that " if any of said roads are not completed within ten years, no fur- 
ther sale shall be made, and the lands unsold shall revert to the United States." 
Having vested the title to these lands in trust, in the State of Iowa, it is plain 
that until the expiration of the ten years there could be no reversion, and the 
State, not the United States, must control them until the grant should expire 
by limitation. The United States authorities could not rightfully require the 
Secretary of the Interior to certify directly to the companies any portion of 
the lands already certified to the State. And yet Congress, by its act of June 
2, 1864, provided that whenever the Davenport & Council Bluffs Railroad Com- 
pany should file in the General Land Office at AVashington a map definitely 
showing such new location, the Secretary of tlie Interior should cause to be cer- 
tified and conveyed to said Company, from time to time, as the road progressed, 
■out of anv of the lands belonging to the United States, not sold, reserved, or 



216 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

otherwise disposed of, or to which a pre-emption claim or right of homestead had 
not attached, and on which a bona fide settlement and improvement had not 
been mafle under color of title derived from the United States or from the State 
of Iowa, within six miles of such newly located line, an amount of land per 
mile e([ual to that originally authorized to be granted to aid in the construction 
of said road by the act to which this was an amendment. 

The terra " out of any lands belonging to the United States, not sold, re- 
served or otherwise disposed of, etc.," would seem to indicate that Congress did 
intend to grant lands already granted, but when it declared that the Company 
should have an amount per mile equal to that originally authorized to be granted,. 
it is plain that the framers of the bill were ignorant of the real terms of the- 
original grant, or that they designed that the United States should resume the 
title it had already parted with two years before the lands could revert to the' 
United States under the original act, which was not repealed. 

A similar change was made in relation to the Cedar Rapids & Missouri- 
Railroad, and dictated the conveyance of lands in a similar manner. 

Like provision was made for the Dubui[ue & Sioux City Railroad, and the 
Company was permitted to change the location of its line between Fort Dodge 
and Sioux City, so as to secure the best route between those points ; but this 
change of location was not to impair the right to the land granted in the orig- 
inal act, nor did it change the location of those lands. 

By the same act, the Mississippi & Missouri Railroad Company was author- 
ized to transfer and assign all or any part of the grant to any other company or 
person, " if, in the opinion of said Company, the construction of said railroad 
across the State of Iowa would be thereby sooner and more satisfactorily com- 
pleted ; but such assignee should not in any case be released from the liabilities 
and conditions accompanying this grant, nor acquire perfect title in any other 
manner than the same would have been acquired by the original grantee." 

Still further, the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad was not forgotten,- 
and was, by the same act, empowered to receive an amount of land per mile; 
equal to that mentioned in the original act, and if that could not be found within 
the limits of six miles from the line of said road, then such selection might 
be made along such line within twenty miles thereof out of any public lands- 
belonging to the United States, not sold, reserved or otherwise disposed of, or- 
to which a pre-emption claim or right of homestead had not attached. 

Those acts of Congress, which evidently originated in the "lobby," occa- 
sioned much controversy and trouble. The Department of the Interior, how- 
ever, recognizing the fact that when the Secretary had certified the lands to the 
State, under the act of 1856, that act divested the United States of title, under- 
the vesting act of August, 1854, refused to review its action, and also refused 
to order any and all investigations for establishing adverse claims (except in 
pre-emption cases), on the ground that the United States had parted with the 
title, and, therefore, could exercise no control over the land. 

May 12, 1864, before the passage of the amendatory act above described, 
Congress granted to the State of Iowa, to aid in the construction of a railroad 
from McGregor to Sioux City, and for the benefit of the McGregor Western 
Railroad Company, every alternate section of land, designated by odd numbers, 
for ten sections in width on each side of the proposed road, reserving the right 
to substitute other lands whenever it was found that the grant infringed upon 
pre-empted lands, or on lands that had been reserved or disposed of for any other 
purpose. In such cases, the Secretary of the Interior was instructed to select, in 
lieu, lands belonging to the United States lying nearest to the limits specified. 



HISTORY OK THE STATE OF IOWA. 217 

X. — AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE AND FARM LANDS. 

An Agricultural College and Model Farm was established by act of the 
General Assembly, approved March 22, 1858. By the eleventh section of the 
act, the proceeds of the five-section grant made for the purpose of aiding in the 
erection of public buildings was appropriated, subject to the approval of Con- 
gress, together with all lands that Congress might thereafter grant to the State 
for the purpose, for the benefit of the institution. On the 23d of March, by 
joint resolution, the Legislature asked the consent of Congress to the proposed 
transfer. By act approved July 11, 1862, Congress removed the restrictions 
imposed in the "five-section grant," and authorized the General Assembly to 
make such disposition of the lands as should be deemed best for the interests of 
the State. By these several acts, the five sections of land in Jasper County 
certified to the State to aid in the erection of public buildings under the act of 
March 3, 1845, entitled " An act supplemental to the act for the admission of 
the States of Iowa and Florida into the Union," were fully appropriated for 
the benefit of the Iowa Agricultural College and Farm. The institution is 
located in Story County. Seven hundred and twenty-one acres in that and 
two hundred in Boone County were donated to it by individuals interested in 
the success of the enterprise. 

By act of Congress approved July 2, 1862, an appropriation was made to 
each State and Territory of 30,000 acres for each Senator and Representative 
in Congress, to which, by the apportionment under the census of 1860, thev 
were respectively entitled. This grant was made for the purpose of endowing 
colleges of aorriculture and mechanic arts. 

Iowa accepted this grant by an act passed at an extra session of its Legis- 
lature, approved September 11, 1862, entitled "An act to accept of the grant, 
and carry into execution the trust conferred upon the State of Iowa by an act 
of Congress entitled ' An act granting public lands to the several States and 
Territories which may pi'ovide colleges for the benefit of agricultui'e and the 
mechanic arts,' approved July 2, 1862." This act made it the duty of the 
Governor to appoint an agent to select and locate the lands, and provided 
that none should be selected that were claimed by any county as swamp 
lands. The agent was required to make report of his doings to the Governor, 
who was instructed to submit the list of selections to the Board of Trustees of 
the Agricultural College for their approval. One thousand dollars were appro- 
priated to cairy the law into eft'ect. The State, having two Senators and six 
Representatives in Congress, was entitled to 2-40,000 acres of land under this 
grant, for the purpose of establishing and maintaining an Agricultural College. 
Peter Melendy, Esq., of Black Hawk County, was appointed to make the selec- 
tions, and during August, September and December, 1863, located them in the 
Fort Dodge, Des Moines and Sioux City Land Districts. December 8, 1864, 
these selections were certified by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, 
and were approved to the State by the Secretary of the Interior December 13, 
1864. The title to these lands was vested in the State in fee simple, and con- 
flicted with no other claims under other grants. 

The agricultural lands were approved to the State as 240,000.96 acres ; but 
as 35,691.60 acres were located within railroad limits, which were computed at 
the rate of two acres for one, the actual amount of land approved to the State 
under this grant was only 204,309.30 acres, located as follows: 

In Des Moines LnnJ District 6,804.96 acres. 

In Sioux ('ity Land Dislricl .50,025.37 " 

In Fort Dodge Land District 138,478.97 " 



218 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

By act of tlie General Assembly, approved March 29, 1864, entitled, ''An 
act authorizing the Trustees of the Iowa State Agricultural College and Farm 
to sell all lands acquired, granted, donated or appropriated for the benefit of 
said college, and to make an investment of the proceeds thereof," all these lands 
were granted to the Agricultural College and Farm, and the Trustees were au- 
thorized to take possession, and sell or lease them. They were then, under the 
control of the Trustees, lands as follows : 

Under the .act of July 2, 1852 204,.'503.30 acres. 

Of the five-section grant .-. 3,200.00 " 

Lands donated in Story County 721.00 " 

Lands donated in Boone County 200.00 " 

Total 208,430..30 acres. 

The Trustees opened an oiSce at Fort Dodge, and appointed Hon. G. W- 
Bassett their agent for the sale of these lands. 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

The germ of the free public school system of Iowa, which now ranks sec- 
ond to none in the United States, was planted by the first settlers. They had 
migrated to the " The Beautiful Land" from other and older States, where the 
common school system had been tested by many years' experience, bringing 
with them some knowledge of its advantages, which they determined should be 
enjoyed by the cliildren of the land of tlieir adoption. The system thus planted 
was expanded and improved in the broad fields of the West, until now it is 
justly considered one of tlte most complete, comprehensive and liberal in the 
country. 

I^or is this to be wondered at when it is remembered humble log school 
houses were built almost as soon as the log cabin of the earliest settlers were 
occupied by their brave builders. In the lead mining regions of the State, the 
first to be occupied by the white race, the hardy pioneers provided the means 
for the education of their children even before they had comfortable dwellings 
for their families. School teachers were among the first immigrants to Iowa. 
Wherever a little settlement was made, the school house was the first united 
public act of the settlers; and the rude, primitive structures of the early time 
only disappeared when the communities had increased in population and wealth, 
and were able to replace them with more commodious and comfortable buildings. 
Perhaps in no single instance has the magnificent progress of tlie State of Iowa 
been more marked and rapid than in her common school system and in her school 
houses, which, long since, superseded the log cabins of the first settlers. To- 
day, the school houses which everywhere dot the broad and fertile prairies of 
Iowa are umsurpassed by those of any other State in the great Union. More 
especially is this true in all her cities and villages, whore liberal and lavish 
appropriations have been voted, by a generous people, for the erection of large, 
commodious and elegant buildings, furnished with all the modern improvements, 
and costing from $10,000 to §60,000 each. The people of the State have ex- 
pended more than $10,000,000 for the erection of public school buildings. 

The first house erected in Iowa w:is a log cabin at Dubuque, built by James 
L. Langworthy and a few other miners, in the Autumn of 1833. When it was 
completed, George Ctibbage was employed as teacher during the Winter of 
1833-4, and thirty-five pupils attended his school. Barrett Whittemore taught 
the second term with t^venty-five pupils in attendance. Mrs. Caroline Dexter 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 219 

commenced teaching in Dubuque in Marcli, 1836. She wms the first female 
teacher there, and probably the first in Iowa. In ISS'J, Thomas H. Benton, 
Jr., afterward for ten year.s Superintendent of Public Instruction, opened an 
English and classical school in Dubuque. The first tax for the support of 
schools at Dubuque was levied in 1840. 

Amonir tlie first buildiuffs erected at Burlington was a i-onnuodious log school 
house in 1834, in which Mr. Johnson Piersou taught the first school in the 
Winter of 1834-5. 

The first school in Muscatine County was taught by George Bumgardner, 
in the Sj)ring of 1837, and in 1839, a, log school house was erected in Musca- 
tine, which served for a long time for school house, church and public hall. 
The first school in Davenport was taught in 1838. In Fairfield, Miss Clarissa 
Sawyer, James F. Chambers and Mrs. Reed taught school in 1839. 

When the site of Iowa City was selected as the capital of the Territory of 
Iowa, in May, 1839, it was a perfect wilderness. The first sale of lots took 
place August 18, 1839, and befoi-e January 1, 1840, about twenty famdies had 
settled within the limits of the town; and during the same year, Mr. Jesse 
Berry opened a school in a small frame building he had erected, on what is now 
College .street. 

The first settlement in Monroe County was made in 1843, by Mr. John R. 
Gray, about two miles from the present site of Eddyville; and in the Summer 
of 1844, a log scliool house was built by Gray, William V. Beedle, C. Renfro, 
Joseph McMullen and Willoughljy Randolph, and the first school was opened 
by Miss Urania Adams. The building was occupied for school purposes for 
nearly ten years. About a year after the first cabin was built at Oskaloosa, a 
log school house was built, in which school was opened by Samuel W. Caldwell 
in 1844. 

At Fort Des Moines, now the capital of the State, the first school was 
taught by Lewis Whitten, Clerk of the District Court in the Winter of 1846-7, 
in one of the rooms on " Coon Row," built for barracks. 

The first school in Pottawattomie County was opened by George Green, a 
Mormon, at Council Point, prior to 1849 ; ami until about 1854, nearly, if not 
quite, all the teacliers in tjiat vicinity were Mormons. 

The first school in Decorah was tauglit in 1853, by T. W. Burdiek, then a 
young man of seventeen. In Osceola, the first school was opened by Mr. D. 
W. Scoville. The first school at Fort Dodge was taught in 1855, by Cyrus C. 
Carpenter, since Governor of the State. In Crawfonl County, the first scIiool 
house was built in Mason's Grove, in 1856, and Morris McIIenry first occupied 
it as teacher. 

During the first twenty years of the history of Iowa, the log school house pre- 
vailed, and in 1861, there were 893 of these ])rimitive structures in use for 
school purposes in the State. Since that time they have been gradually dis- 
appearing. In 1865, there were 796; in 1870, 836, and in 1875, 121. 

Iowa Territory was created July 3, 1838. January 1, 1839, the Territorial 
Legislature passerl an act providing that " there shall be established a common 
school, or schools in each of the counties in this Territory, which shall be 
open and free for every class of white citizens between the ages of five and 
twenty-one years." The second section of the act provided that " the County 
Boarcl shall, from time to time, form such districts in their respective counties 
"whenever a petition may be presented for the purpose liy a majority of the 
voters resident within such contemplated district." These districts were gov- 
erned by boards of trustees, usually of three persons ; each district was required 



220 HISTORV OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

to maintain school at least three months in every year ; and later, laws were- 
enacted providing for county school taxes for the payment of teachers, and that 
■whatever additional sum might be required should be assessed upon the parents- 
sending, in proportion to the length of time sent. 

When Iowa Territory became a State, in 1846, witli a population of 100,- 
000, and with 20,000 scholars within its limits, about four hundred school dis- 
tricts had been organized. In 1850, there were 1,200, and in 1857, the 
number had increased to 3,265. 

In March, 1858, upon the recommendation of Hon. M. L. Fisher, then Su- 
perintendent of Public Instruction, the Seventh General Assembly enacted that 
" each civil townsliip is declared a school district," and provided that these shouli 
be divided into sub-districts. This law went into force March 20, 1858, and 
reduced the number of school districts fi-om about 3,500 to less than 900. 

This change of school organization resulted in a very material reduction of 
the expenditures for the compensation of District Secretaries and Treasurers. 
An effort was made for several years, from 1867 to 1872, to abolish the sub- 
district system. Mr. Kisscll, Superintendent, recommended, in his report of 
January 1, 1872, and Governor Merrill forcibly endorsed his views in his annual 
message. But the Legislature of that year provided for the formation of inde- 
pendent districts from the sub-districts of district townships. 

The system of graded schools was inaugurated in 1849 ; and new schools, in 
which more than one teacher is employed, are universally graded. 

The first official mention of Teachers' Institutes in the educational records 
of Iowa occurs in the annual report of Hon. Tliomas H. Benton, Jr., made 
December 2, 1850, who said, "An institution of this character was organized a 
few years ago, composed of tlie teachers of the mineral regions of Illinois, 
Wisconsin and Iowa. An association of teachers has, also, been formed in the 
county of Henry, and an effort was made in October last to organize a regular 
institute in the county of Jones." At that time — although the beneficial 
influence of these institutes was admitted, it was urged that the expenses of 
attending them was greater than teachers with limited compensation were able 
to bear. To obviate this objection, Mr. Benton recommended that " the sum of 
$150 should be appropriated annually for three years, to be drawn in install- 
ments of $50 each by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and expended 
for these institutions." He proposed that three institutes should be held annu- 
ally at points to be designated by the Superintendent. 

No legislation in this direction, however, was had until March, 1858, when 
an act was passed authorizing the holding of teachers' institutes for periods not 
less than six working days, whenever not less than thirty teachers should desire. 
The Superintendent was authorized to expend not exceeding ?fl00 for any one 
institute, to be paid out by the County Superintendent as the institute might 
direct for teachers and lecturers, and one thousand dollars was appropriated to 
defray the expenses of these institutes. 

December 6, 1858, Mr. Fisher reported to the Board of Education that 
institutes had been appointed in twenty counties within the preceding six months, 
and more would have been, but tlie appropriation had been exhausted. 

Tlie Board of Education at its first session, commencing December 6, 1858, 
enacted a code of school laws which retained the existing provisions for teachers' 
institutes. 

In March, 1860, the General Assembly amended the act of the Board by 
appropriating " a sum not exceeding fifty dollars annually for one such institute,, 
held as provided by law in each county." 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 221 

In 1865, Mr. Faville reported that " tlie provision made by the State for the 
benefit of teachers' institutes has never been so fully appreciated, both by the 
people and the teachers, as during the last two years." 

By act approved March 19, 1874, Normal Institutes were established in 
each county, to be held annually by the County Superintendent. This was 
regarded as a very decided step in advance by Mr. Abernethy, and in 1876 the 
Sixteenth General Assembly established the first permanent State Normal 
School at Cedar Falls, Black Hawk County, appropriating the building and 
property of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home at that place for that purpose. This 
school is now " in the full tide of successful experiment." 

The public school system of Iowa is admirably organized, and if the various 
oflBcers ■who are entrusted with the educational interests of the commonwealth 
are faithful and competent, should and will constantly improve. 

" The public schools are supported by funds arising from several sources.- 
The sixteenth section of every Congressional Township was set apart by the 
General Government for school purposes, being one-thirty-sixtli part of all the. 
lands of the State. The minimum price of these lands was fixed at one dollar; 
and twenty-five cents per acre. Congress also made an additional donation to 
the State of five hundred thousand acres, and an appropriation of five per cent.. 
on all the sales of public lands to the school fund. The State gives to this 
fund the proceeds of the sales of all lands which escheat to it ; the proceeds of 
all fines for the violation of the liquor and criminal laws. The money derived 
from these sources constitutes the jjermanent scliool fund of the State, which 
cannot be diverted to any other purpose. The penalties collected by the courtsi 
for fines and forfeitures go to the school fund in the counties wliere collected. 
The proceeds of the sale of lands and tiie five per cent, fund go into the State 
Treasury, and the State distributes these proceeds to the several counties accord- 
ing to their request, and the counties loan the money to individuals for long 
terms at eight per cent, interest, on security of land valued at three times the. 
amount of the loan, exclusive of all buildings and improvements thereon. ^ The 
interest on these loans is paid into the State Treasury, and becomes the avail- 
able school fund of the State. The counties are responsible to the State for all 
money so loaned, and the State is likewise responsible to the school fund for all 
moneys transferred to the counties. The interest on these loans is apportioned 
by the State Auditor semi-annually to the several counties of the State, in pro- 
portion to the number of persons between the ages of five and twenty-one years. 
The counties also levy an annual tax for school purposes, which is apportioned 
to the several district townships in the same way. A district tax is alsO' 
levied for the same purpose. The money arising from these several sources, 
constitutes the support of the public schools, and is sufficient to enable 
every sub-district in the State to afford from six to nine months' school 
each year." 

The taxes levied for the support of schools are self-imposed. Under the 
admirable sc:]^!©! laws of the State, no taxes can be legally assessed or collected 
for the erection of school houses until they have been ordered by the election of 
the district at a school meeting legally called. The school houses of Iowa are 
the pride of the State and an honor to the people. If they have been some- 
times built at a prodigal expense, the tax payers have no one to blame but 
themselves. The teachers' and contingent funds tire determined by the Board of 
Directors under certain legal restrictions. These boards are elected annually, 
except in the independent districts, in which the boanl may be entirely changed 
every three years. The only exception to this mode of levying taxes for support 



223 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

■of schools is the county school tax, which is determined by the County Board 
of Supervisors. The tax is from one to tliree mills on the dollar ; usually, 
however, but one. Mr. Abernethy, who was Superintendent of Public Instruc- 
tion from 1872 to 1877, said in one of his reports : 

There is but little opposition to the levy of taxes for the support of schools, and there 
would be still less if the funds were always properly guantej and judiciously expended. How- 
ever much our people disagree upon other subjects, they are practically united upon this. 
The opposition of wealth has long since ceased to exist, and our wealthy men are usually the 
most lilieral in their views and the most active friends of popular education. They are often 
found upon our school bo.ards, and usually make the best of school officers. It is not uncammon 
for Boards of Directors, especially in the larger towns and cities, to be composed wholly of men 
who represent the enterprise, wealth and business of their cities. 

At the close of 1877, there were 1,086 township districts, 3,138 indepen- 
dent districts and 7,015 sub-districts. There were 9,948 ungraded and 476 
graded schools, with an average annual session of seven months and five days. 
There were 7,348 male teachers employed, whose average compensation was 
$34.88 per month, and 12,518 female teachers, with an average compensation 
of $28.69 per month. 

The number of persons between the ages 5 and 21 years, in 1877, was 
567,859; number enrolled in public schools, 421,163; total average attendance, 
251,372 ; average cost of tuition per month, $1.62. There are 9,279 frame, 
671 brick, 257 stone and 89 log school houses, making a grand total of 10,296, 
valued at $9,044,973. The public school libraries number 17,329 volumes. 
Ninety-nine teachers' institutes were held during 1877. Teachers' salaries 
amounted to $2,953,645. There was expended for school houses, grounds, 
libraries and apparatus, $1,106,788, and for fuel and other contingencies, 
$1,136,995, making the grand total of $5,197,428 expended by the generous 
people of Iowa for the support of their magnificent public schools in a single 
year. The amount of the permanent school fund, at the close of 1877, was 
$3,462,000. Annual interest, $276,960. 

In 1857, there were 3,265 independent districts, 2,708 ungraded schools, 
and 1,572 male and 1,424 female teachers. Teachers' salaries amounted to 
$198,142, and the total expenditures for schools was only $364,515. Six hun- 
dred and twenty-three volumes were the extent of the public scliool libraries 
twenty years ago, and there were only 1,686 school houses, valued at $571,064. 

In twenty years, teachers' salaries have increased from $198,142, in 1857, 
to $2,953,645 in 1877. Total school expenditures, from $364,515 to 
$5,197,428. 

The significance of such facts as these is unmistakable. Such lavish expen- 
ditures can only be accounted for by the liberality and puldic spirit of the 
people, all of whom manifest their love of popular education and their faith in 
the public schools by the annual dedication to their support of more thtm one 
per cent, of their entire taxable property; this, too, uninterruptedly through a 
series of years, commencing in the midst of a war which taxed their energies and 
resources to the extreme, and continuing through years of general depression in 
business — years of moderate yield of produce, of discouragingly low prices, and 
even amid the scanty surroundings and privations of pioneer life. Few human 
enterprises have a grander significance or give evidence of a more noble purpose 
than the generous contributions from the scanty resources of the pioneer for the 
purposes of public education. 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 22B' 

POLITICAL RECORD. 

TERRITORIAL OFFICERS. 

Governors — Robert Lucas, 1838-41 ; John Chambers, 1841-45 ; James 
Clarke, 1845. 

Secretaries — William B. Conway, 1838, died 1839 ; James Clarke, 1839 ; 
0. H. W. StuU, 1841 ; Samuel J. Burr, 1843 ; Jesse Williams, 1845. 

Auditors— Jesse Williams, 1840; Wm. L. Gilbert, 1843- Robert M. 
Secrest, 1845. 

Treasurers — Thornton Bayliss, 1839 ; Morgan Reno, 1840. 

Judges — Charles Mason, Chief Justice, 1838 ; Joseph Williams, 1838 ; 
Thomas' S. Wilson, 1838. 

Presidents of Council — Jesse B. Browne, 1838-9 ; Stephen Hempstead,-. 
1839-40; M. kainridge, 1840-1; Jonathan W. Parker, 1841-2; John D. 
Elbert, 1842-3; Thomas Cox, 1843-4; S. Clinton Hastings, 1845; Stephen 
Hempstead, 1845-6. 

Speakci-s of the House — William H. Wallace, 1838-9 ; Edward Jolmston, 
1839-40 ; Thomas Cox, 1840-1 ; Warner Lewis, 1841-2 ; James M. Morgan, 
1842-3 ; James P. Carleton, 1843-4 ; James M. Morgan, 1845 ; George W. 
McCleary, 1845-6. 

First Constitutional Convention, IS4.4. — Shepherd LeffleV, President ; Geo. 
S. Hampton, Secretary. 

Second Constitutional Convention, 184-6 — Enos Lowe, President ; William 
Thompson, Secretary. 

OFFICERS OF THE STATE GOVERNMENT. 

Governors — Ansel Briggs, 1846 to 1850 ; Stephen Hempstead, 1850 to 
1854; James W. Grimes, 1854 to 1858 ; Ralph P. Lowe, 1858 to 1860; Sam- 
uel J. Kirkwood, 1860 to 1864 ; William M. Stone, 1864 to 1868 ; Samuel 
Morrill, 1868 to 1872 ; Cyrus C. Carpenter, 1872 to 1876 ; Samuel J. Kirk- 
wood, 1876 to 1877; Joshua G. Newbold, Acting, 1877 to 1878; John H. 
Gear, 1878 to . 

Lieutenant Governor — Office created by the new Constitution September 3, 
1857— Oran Faville, 1858-9 ; Nicholas J.' Ru^5ch, 1860-1 ; John R. Needham, 
1862-3: Enoch W. Eastman, 1864-5; Benjamin F. Gue, 1866-7; John 
Scott, 1868-9; M. M. Walden, 1870-1; H. C. Bulis, 1872-3; Joseph Dy- 
sart, 1874-5 ; Joshua G. Newbold, 1876-7 ; Frank T. Campbell, 1878-9. 

Secretaries of State — Elisha Cutler, Jr., Dec. 5, 1846, to Dec. 4, 1848 ; 
Josiah H. Bonnev, Dec. 4, 1848, to Dec. 2, 1850; George W. McCleary, Dec. 
2, 1850, to Dec'l, 1856; Elijah Sells, Dec. 1, 1856, to Jan. 5, 1863; James 
Wright, Jan. 5, 1863, to Jan. 7, 1867 ; Ed. Wright, Jan. 7, 1867, to Jan. 6, 
1873; Josiah T. Young, Jan. 6, 1873, to . 

Auditors of (State— Joseph T. Fales, Dec. 5, 1846, to Dec. 2, 1850 ; Will- 
iam Pattee, Dec. 2, 1850, to Dec. 4, 1854 ; Andrew J. Stevens, Dec. 4, 1854, 
resigned in 1855 ; John Pattee, Sept. 22, 1855, to Jan. 3, 1859 ; Jonathan 
W. Cattell, 1859 to 1865 ; John A. Elliot, 1865 to 1871 ; John Russell, 1871 
to 1875 ; Buren R. Sherman, 1875 to . 

Treasurers of State— llorgan Reno, Dec. 18, 1846, to Dec. 2, 1850 ; 
Israel Kister, Dec. 2, 1850, to Dec. 4, 1852 ; Martin L. Morris, Dec. 4, 1852, 
to Jan. 2, 1859 ; John W. Jones, 1859 to 1863 ; William H. Holmes, 1863 to 



224 HISTORY OF TIIK STATE OP loWA. 

1867 ; Samuel E. Rankin, 1867 to 1873 ; William Christy, 1873 to 1877 ; 
George W. Bemis, 1877 to . 

Superintendents of PuhUe Instruction — Office created in 1847 — James Harlan, 
June 5, 1845 (Supreme Court decided election void) ; Thomas H. Benton, Jr., 
May 23, 1844, to June 7, 1854 ; James D. Eads, 1854-7 ; Joseph C. Stone, 
March to June, 1857 ; Maturin L. Fisher, 1857 to Dec, 1858, when the office 
•was abolished and the duties of the office devolved upon the Secretary of the 
Board of Education. 

Secretaries of Board of Education — Thomas H. Benton, Jr., 1859-1863; 
Oran Faville, Jan. 1, 1864. Board abolished March 23, 1864. 

Superintendents of Public Instruction — Office re-created March 28, 1864 — 
■Oran Faville, March 28, 1864, resigned March 1, 1867; D. Franklin Wells, 
March 4, 1867, to Jan., 1870 ; A. S. Kissell, 1870 to 1872 ; Alonzo Abernethy, 
1872 to 1877 ; Carl W. You Coelln, 1877 to . 

State Binders — Office created February 21, 1855 — William M. Coles, May 
1, 1855, to May 1, 1859; Frank M. Mills, 1859 to 1867; James S. Carter, 
1867 to 1870; J. J. Smart, 1870 to 1874; H. A. Perkins, 1874 to 1875; 
James J. Smart, 1875 to 1876 ; H. A. Perkins, 1876 to . 

Registers of the State Land Office — Anson Hart, May 5, 1855, to May 
13, 1857 ; Theodore S. Parvin, May 13, 1857, to Jan. 3, 1859 ; Amos B. 
Miller, Jan. 3, 1859, to October, 1862 ; Edwin Mitchell, Oct. 31, 1862, to 
Jan 5, 1863 ; Josiah A. Harvey, Jan. 5, 1863, to Jan. 7, 1867 ; Cyrus C. 
Carpenter, Jan. 7, 1867, to January, 1871 ; Aaron Brown, January, 1871, to 
to January, 1875 ; David Secor, January, 1875, to . 

State Printers — Office created Jan. 3, 1840 — Garrett D. Palmer and 
George Paul, 1849; William H. Merritt, 1851 to 1853; William A. Hornish, 
1853 (resigned May 16, 1853); Mahoney & Dorr, 1853 to 1855; Peter 
Moriarty, 1855 to 1857; John Teesdale, 1857 to 1861; Francis W. Palmer, 
1861 to 1869 ; Frank M. Mills, 1869 to 1870 ; G. W. Edwards, 1870 to 
1872 ; R. P. Clarkson, 1872 to . 

Adjutants General — Daniel S. Lee, 1851-5 ; Geo. W. McCleary, 1855-7 ; 
Elijah Sells, 1857 ; Jesse Bowen, 1857-61 ; Nathaniel Baker, 1861 to 1877 ; 
John H. Looby, 1877 to . 

Attorneys General — David C. Cloud, 1853-56 ; Samuel A. Rice, 1856-60; 
Charles C. Nourse, 1861-4; Isaac L. Allen, 1865 (resigned January, 1866); 
Frederick E. Bissell, 1866 (died June 12, 1867); Henry O'Connor, 1867-72; 
Marsena E. Cutts, 1872-6 ; John F. McJunkin, 1877. 

Presidents of the Senate — Thomas Baker, 1846-7 ; Thomas Hughes, 
1848; John J. "Selman, 1848-9; Enos Lowe, 1850-1; William E. Leffing- 
well, 1852-3; Maturin L. Fisher, 1854-5; William W. Hamilton, 1856-7. 
Under the new Constitution, the Lieutenant Governor is President of the 
Senate. 

Speakers of the House — Jesse B. Brown, 1847-8 ; Smiley H. Bonhan, 
1849-50; George Temple, 1851-2; James Grant, 1853-4 ; Reuben Noble, 
1855-6 ; Samuel McFarland, 1856-7 ; Stephen B. Sheledy, 1858-9 ; John 
Edwards, 1860-1 ; Rush Clark, 1862-3 ; Jacob Butler, 1864-5 ; Ed. Wright, 
1866-7 ; John Russell, 1868-9 ; Aylett R. Cotton, 1870-1 ; James Wilson, 
1872-3; John H. Gear, 1874-7; John Y. Stone, 1878. ^ 

New Constitutional Convention, 1859 — Francis Springer, President ; Thos. 
J. Saunders, Secretary. 



HISTORY' OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 225 

STATE OFFICERS, 1878. 

John H. Gear, Governor ; Frank T. Campbell, Lieutenant Governor ; Josiah 
T. Young, Secretary of State; Buren R. Sherman, Auditor of State; George 
W. Bemis, Treasurer of State; David Secor, Register of State Land Office; 
John H. Looby, Adjutant General; John F. McJunken, Attorney General; 
Mrs. Ada North, State Librarian; Edward J. Holmes, Clerk Supreme Court; 
John S. Runnells, Reporter Supreme Court; Carl W. Von Coelln, Superintend- 
ent Public Instruction; Richard P. Clarkson, State Printer; Henry A. Pei-kins, 
State Binder; Prof. Nathan R. Leonard, Superintendent of Weights and 
Measures; William H. Fleming, Governor's Private Secretary; Fletcher W. 
Young, Deputy Secretary of State; John C. Parish, Deputy Auditor of State; 
Erastus G. Morgan, Deputy Treasurer of State; John M. Davis, Deputy Reg- 
ister Land Office; Ira C. Kling, Deputy Superintendent Public Instruction. 

THE JUDICIARY. 

SUPBEME COURT OF IOWA. 

Chief Justices. — Charles Mason, resigned in June, 1847 ; Joseph Williams, 
Jan., 1847, to Jan., 1848; S. Clinton Hastings, Jan., 1848, to Jan., 1849; Joseph 
Williams, Jan., 1849, to Jan. 11, 1855; Geo. G. Wright, Jan. 11, 1855, to Jan., 
1860 ; Ralph P. Lowe, Jan., 1860, to Jan. 1, 1862 ; Caleb Baldwin, Jan., 1862, to 
Jan., 1864 ; Geo. G. Wright, Jan., 1864, to Jan., 1866; Ralph P. Lowe, Jan. ,1866, 
to Jan., 1868 ; John F. Dillon, Jan., 1868, to Jan., 1870 ; Chester C. Cole, Jan. 
1, 1870, to Jan. 1, 1871; James G. Day, Jan. 1, 1871, to Jan. 1, 1872; Joseph 
M. Beck, Jan. 1, 1872, to Jan. 1, 1874; W. E. Miller, Jan. 1, 1874, to Jan. 1, 
1876; Chester C. Cole, Jan. 1, 1876, to Jan. 1, 1877; James G. Day, Jan. 1, 
1877, to Jan. 1, 1878; James H. Rothrock, Jan. 1, 1878. 

Associate Judges. — Joseph Williams; Thomas S. Wilson, resigned Oct., 
1847; John F. Kinney, June 12, 1847, resigned Feb. 15, 1854; George 
Greene, Nov. 1, 1847, to Jan. 9, 1855; Jonathan C. Hall, Feb. 15, 1854, to 
succeed Kinney, resigned, to Jan., 1855; William G. Woodward, Jan. 9, 1855; 
Norman W. Isbell, Jan. 16, 1855, resigned 1856; Lacen D. Stockton, June 3, 
1856, to succeed Isbell, resigned, died June 9, 1860; Caleb Baldwin, Jan. 11, 
1860, to 1864; Ralph P. Lowe, Jan. 12, 1860; George G. Wright, June 26, 
1860, to succeed Stockton, deceased; elected U. S. Senator, 1870; John F. Dil- 
lon, Jan. 1, 1864, to succeed Baldwin, resigned, 1870; Chester C. Cole, March 
1, 1864, to 1877; Joseph M. Beck, Jan. 1, 1868; W. E. Miller, October 11, 
1864, to succeed Dillon, resigned; James G. Day, Jan. 1, 1871, to succeed 
Wright. 

SUPREME COURT, 1878. 

James H. Rothrock, Cedar County, Chief Justice; Joseph M. Beck, Lee 
County, Associate Justice ; Austin Adams, Dubuque County, Associate Justice ; 
W^illiam H. Seevers, Oskaloosa County, Associate Justice; James G. Day, Fre- 
mont County, Associate Justice. 

CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATION. 

UNITED STATES SENATORS. 

(The first General Assembly failed to elect Senators.) 

George W. Jones, Dubuque, Dec. 7, 1848-1858 ; Augustus C. Dodge, Bur- 
lington, Dec. 7, 1848-1855; James Harlan, Mt. Pleasant, Jan. 6, 1855-1865; 
James W. Grimes, Burlington, Jan. 26, 1858-died 1870 ; Samuel J. Kirkwood, 
Iowa City, elected Jan. 13, 1866, to fill vacancy caused by resignation of James 



226 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

Harlan ; James Harlan, Mt. Pleasant, March 4, 1866-1872 ; James B. Howell^ 
Keokuk, elected Jan. 20, 1870, to fill vacancy caused by the death of J. W. 
Grimes — term expired March 3d ; George G. Wright, Des Moines, Mai-ch 4,. 
1871-1877; William B. Allison, Dubuque, March 4, 1872; Samuel J. Kirk- 
wood, March 4, 1877. 

MEMBERS OF HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

T'wenty-nmth Congress — 184-6 to 184-7. — S. Clinton Hastings ; Shepherd 
Leffler. 

Thirtieth Coniiress—1847 to 1849.— First District, William Thompson; 
Second District, Shepherd Leffler. 

Thirtij-first Congress — 1849 to 1851. — First District, First Session, Wm. 
Thompson ; unseated by the House of Repi-esentatives on a contest, and election 
remanded to the people. First District, Second Session, Daniel F. Miller. 
Second District, Shepherd Leffler. 

TJiirtij-second Congress — 1851 to 1853. — First District, Bcrnhart Henn. 
Second District, Lincoln Clark. 

Thirty-third Congress — 1853 to 1855. — First District, Bernhart Henn. 
Second District, John P. Cook. 

Thirty-fourth Congress — 1855 to 1857. — First District, Augustus Hall. 
Second District, James Thorington. 

Thirty-fifth Congress — 1857 to 1859. — First District, Samuel R. Curtis. 
Second District, Timothy Davis. 

Thirty-siith Congress — 1859 to 1861. — First District, Samuel R. Curtis. 
Second District, William Vandever. 

Thirty-seventh Congress — 1861 to 1863. — First District, First Session^ 
Samuel R. Cui-tis.* First District, Second and Third Sessions, James F. Wil- 
son. Second District, William Vandever. 

Thirty-eighth Congress — 1863 to 1865. — First District, James F. Wilson. 
Second District, Hiram Price. Third District, William B. Allison. Fourth 
District, Josiah B. Grinnell. Fifth District, John A. Kasson. Sixth District, 
Asahel W. Hubbard. 

Thirty-ninth Congress — 1865 to 1867. — First District, James F. Wilson ; 
Second District, Hiram Price; Third District, William B. Allison; Fourth 
District, Josiah B. Grinnell ; Fifth District, John A. Kasson ; Sixth District, 
Asahel W. Hubbard. 

Fortieth Congress — 1867 to 1869. — First District, James F. Wilson ; Sec- 
ond District, Hiram Price ; Third District, William B. Allison, Fourth District, 
William Lougliridge; Fifth District, Grenville M. Dodge; Sixth District, 
Asahel W. Hubbard. 

Forty-first Congress — 1869 to 1871. — First District, George W. McCrary ; 
Second District, William Smyth; Third District, William B. Allison; Fourth. 
District, William Loughridge ; Fifth District, Frank W. Palmer ; Sixth Dis- 
trict, Charles Pomeroy. 

Forty-second Congress— 1871 to 1873. — First District, George W. Mc- 
Crary ; Second District, Aylett R. Cotton ; Third District, W. G. Donnan ;, 
Fourth District, Madison M. Waldon ; Fifth District, Frank W. Palmer ; Sixth 
District, Jackson Orr. 

Forty-third Congress — 1873 to 1875. — First District, George W. McCrary; 
Second District, Aylett R. Cotton ; Third District, William Y. Donnan ; Fourth 
District, Henry 0. Pratt ; Fifth District, James Wilson ; Sixth District, 

* Vacated seat by acceptance of commisalon as Brigadier General, and J. F. Wilson chosen his flUcceBflor. 



fif^ 




^^.SU^T" 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 229 

William Loughridgc; Seventh District, John A, Kussoii ; Eighth Dlstricc, 
Jame3 \V. McDill ; Ninth District, Jackson Orr. 

Forty-fourth Congress — 1875 to 1S77. — First District, George W. Mo 
Crary ; Second District, John Q. Tufts ; Third District, L. L. Ainsworth ; 
Fourth District, Henry 0. Pratt; Fifth District, James Wilson ; Sixth District, 
Ezckiel S. Sampson ; Seventh District, John A. Kasson ; Eighth District, 
James W. McDill ; Fifth District, Addison Oliver. 

Forty-fifth Congress — 1877 to 1S79. — First District, .J. C. Stone; Second 
District, Ilirara Price ; Third District, T. W. Burdick ; Fourth District, H. C. 
Deering ; Fifth District, Rush Clark ; Sixth District, E. S. Sampson ; 
Seventh District, H. J. B. Curamings ; Eighth District, W. F. Sapp ; Ninth 
District, Addison Oliver. 

Vv AR RECORD. 

The State of Iowa may ivell be proud of her record during the War of the 
Rebellion, from 1861 to ISOf). The following brief but comprehensive sketch of 
the history she made during that trying period is largely from the pen of Col. A. 
P. Wood, of Dubuque, the author of " The History of Iowa and the War," one 
of the best works of the kind yet written. 

" Whether in the promptitude of her responses to the calls made on her by 
the General Government, in the courage and constancy of her soldiery in the 
field, or in the wisdom and efficiency with wliich her civil administration was 
condiicted during the trying period covered by the War of the Rebellion, Iowa 
proved herself the peer of any loyal State. The proclamation of her Governor, 
responsive to that of the President, calling for volunteers to compose her First 
Regiment, was issued on the fourth day after the fall of Sumter. At the end 
of only a single week, men enough were reported to be in quarters (mostly in 
the vicinity of their own homes) to fill the regiment. These, however, were 
harilly more than a tithe of tli.e number who had been offered by company com- 
manders for acceptance under the President's call. So urgent were these oSers 
that the Governor requested (on the 24th of April) permission to organize an 
additional regiment. While awaiting an answer to this request, ho conditionally 
accepted a sufficient number of companies to compose two additional regiments. 
In a short time, he was notified that both of these would be accepted. Soon 
after the comjdction of the Second and Third Regiments (which was near the 
close of May), the Adjutant General of the State reported that upward of one 
hundred and seventy companies had been tendered to tlie Governor to serve 
against the enemies of the Union. 

" Much difficulty and considerable delay occured in fitting these regiments 
for the field. For the First Infantry a complete outfit (not uniform) of clothing 
was extemporized — principally by the volunteered labor of loyal women in the 
diHerent towns — from material of various colors and qualities, obtained within 
the limits of the State. The same was done in part ior the Second Infantry. 
Meantime, an extra session of the General Assemblv had been called by the 
Governor, to convene on the 15th of May. W^ith but little delay, that body 
authorized a loan of $800,000, to meet the extraordinary expenses incurred, and 
to be incurred, by the Executive Department, in consequence of the new emer- 
gency. A wealthy merchant of the State (Ex-Governor Merrill, then a resident 
of McGregor) immediately took from the Governor a contract to supply a com- 
plete outfit of clothing for the three regiments organized, agreeing to receive, 
should the Governor so elect, his pay therefor in State bonds at par. 'This con- 

N 



230 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

tract ho executed to tlie letter, and a portion of the clothing (which was manu- 
factured in Boston, to liis order) was delivered at Keokuk, the place at which 
the troops had rendezvoused, in exactly one month from the day on which the 
contract had been entered into. The remainder arrived only a few days later. 
This clotliing was delivered to the regiment, but was subsequently condemned 
by the Government, for the reason that its color was gray, and blue had been 
adopted as the color to be worn by the national troops." 

Other States also clothed their troops, sent forward under the first call of 
President Lincoln, with gray uniforms, but it was soon found that the con- 
federate forces were also clothed in gray, and that color was at once abandoned 
by the Union troops. If both armies were clotiied alike, anno^'ing if not fatal 
mistakes were liable to be made. 

But while engaged in these efforts to discharge her whole duty in common with 
all the other Union-loving States in the great emergency, Iowa was compelled 
to make immediate and ample provision for the protection of her own borders, 
from threatened invasion on the south by the Secessionists of Missouri, and 
from danger of incursions from the west and northwest by bands of hostile 
Indians, who were freed from the usual restraint imposed upon them by the 
presence of regular troops stationed at the frontier posts. These troops were 
withdrawn to meet the greater and more pressing danger threatening the life of 
the nation at its very heart. 

To provide for the ade(iuate defense of her borders from the ravages of both 
rebels in arms against the Government and of the more irresistible foes from 
the Western plains, the Governor of the State was authorized to raise and equip 
two regiments of infantry, a squadron of cavalry (not less than five companies) 
and a battalion of artillei'y (not less than three companies.) Only cavalry were 
enlisted for home defense, however, "but," says Col. Wood, "in times of special 
danger, or when calls were made by the Unionists of Northern Missouri for 
assistance against their disloyal enemies, large nundjers of militia on foot often 
turned out, and remained in the field until the necessity for their services had 
passed. 

" The first order for the Iowa volunteers to move to the field was received 
on the 13th of June. It was issued by Gen. Lyon, then commanding the 
United States forces in Missouri. The First and Second Infantry immediately 
embarked in steamboats, and moved to Hannibal. Some two weeks later, tlie 
Third Infantry was ordered to the same point. These three, together with 
many other of the earlier organized Iowa regiments, rendered their first field 
service in Missouri. The First Infantry formed a [)art of the little army with 
wliich Gen. Lyon moved on Springfield, and fought the bloody battle of Wilson's 
Creek. It received unqualified praise for its gallant bearing on the field. In 
the following month (September), the Third Iowa, with hut very slight support, 
fought with honor the sanguinary engagement of Blue Mills Landing; and in 
November, the Seventh Iowa, as a part of a force commanded by Gen. Grant, 
greatly distinguished itself in the battle of Belmont, where it poured out its 
blood like water — losing more than half of the men it took into action. 

" The initial operations in which the battles referred to took place were fol- 
lowed by the more important movements led by Gen. Grant, Gen. Curtis, of 
this State, and other commanders, which resulted in defeating the armies 
defending the chief strategic lines held by the Confederates in Kentucky, Tenn- 
nesseel^Missouri and Arkansas, and compelling their withdrawal from mucli of 
the territory previously controlled by them in those States. In these and other 
movements, down to the grand culminating campaign by which Vicksburg was 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 231 

captured and tlie Confederacy permanently severed on the line of the Mississippi 
River, Iowa troops took part in steadily increasing numbers. In the investment 
and siege of Vicksburg, the State Avas lepresented by thirty regiments and two 
batteries, in addition to which, eight regiments and one battery were employed 
on the outposts of the besieging ;irmy. The brilliancy of their exploits on the 
many fields where they served won for them tlie highest meed of praise, butli 
in military and civil circles. Multiplied were the terms in which expression 
was given to this sentiment, but these words of one of the journals of a neigh- 
lioring State, 'The Iowa troops have been heroes among heroes,' embody the 
spirit of all. 

" In the veteran re-enlistments that distinguished the closing months of ISOS 
nbove all other periods in tlie history of re-enlistments for the national armies', 
tlie Iowa three years' men (who were relatively more numerous than tiiosc of any 
other State) were prompt to set the example of volunteering for another term of 
equal length, thereby adding many thousands to the great army of those wlio 
gave tliis renewed and piactical assurance that the cause of the Union should 
not be left without defenders. 

", In all the important movements of 1S04-65, by which the Confedenicy 
was penetrated in every quarter, and its military power finally overthrown, the 
Iowa troops took part. Their drum-beat was heard on the banks of every great 
river of the South, from the Potomac to the Rio Grande, and everywhere they 
rendered the same f lithful and devoted service, maintaining on all occasions their 
wonted reputation for valor in the field and endurance on the mai'ch. 

" Two Iowa tiiree-year cavalry regiments were employed during their whole 
term of service in the operations that were in progress from 180-3 to 18GG 
against the hostile Indians of the western plains. A portion of these men were 
among the last of the volunteer troops to be mustered out of service. The State 
al.-o supplied a considerable number of men to the navy, who took part in most 
of the naval operations prosecuted against the Confederate power on the Atlantic 
and (julf coasts, and the rivers of the West. 

" The people of Iowa were eai'ly and constant workers in tlie sanitary field, 
and by their liberal gifts and personal efforts for the benefit of the soldiery, 
placed their State in the front rank of those who became distinguished for their 
cxiiibitions of patriotic benevolence during the period covered by the war. 
Agents appointed by the Governor were stationed at points convenient for ren- 
dering assistance to the sick and needy soldiers of the State, while others were 
employed in visiting, from time to time, hospitals, camps and armies in tlie field, 
aii(l doing whatever the circumstances rendered possible for the health and 
comfort of such of the Iowa soldiery as might be found there. 

•• Some of the benevolent people of the State early conceived the idea of 
ostahlishing a Home for such of the children of deceased soldiers as might be 
left in destitute circumstances. This idea first took form in 1863, and in the 
fulli)wing vear a Home was opened at Farmington, Van Buren County, in a 
building leased for that purpose, and which soon became filled to its utmost 
capacity. The institution received liberal donations from the general public, 
and also from the soldiers in the field. In ISGo, it became necessary to pro- 
vide increased accommodations for the large number of children who were 
seeking the benefits of its care. This was done by establishing a branch 
at Cellar Falls, in Black Hawk County, and by securing, during the same 
year, for the use of the parent Home, Camp Kinsman near the City of 
Davenport. This property was soon afterward donated to the institution, by 
act of Congress. 



232 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

" In 18(36, in pursuance of a law enacted for tliat purpose, the Soldiers' 
Orphans' Home (which then contained about four hundred and fifty inmates) 
became a State institution, and thereafter the sums necessary for its support were 
appropriated from the State treasury. A second branch was established at 
Glenwood, Mills County. Convenient tracts were secured, and valuable improve- 
ments made at all the different points. Schools were also established, and em- 
ployments provided for such of the children as were of suitable age. In all 
ways the provision nnide for tliese wards of the State has been such as to chal- 
lenge the approval of every benevolent mind. The numiier of children who 
have been inmates of the Home from its foundation to tlie present time is 
considerably more than two thousand. 

" At the beginning of the war, the population of Iowa included about one 
hundred and fifty tliousand men presumably lialjle to render military service. 
Tlie State raised, for general service, thirty-nine regiments of infantry, nine 
regiments of cavalry, and four companies of artillery, composed of tliree years' 
men ; one regiment of infantry, composed of three months' men : andfiur regi- 
ments and one battalion of infantry, composed of one hundred days' men. The 
origin;il enlistments in these various organizations, including seventeen hundred 
and twenty-seven men raised by draft, numbered a little more than si.\ty-nine 
thousand. The re-enlistments, including upward of seven thousand veterans, 
numbered very nearly eiglit thousand. The enlistments in tlie regular army 
and navy, and organizations of other States, will, if added, raise the total to 
upward of eighty thousand. The number of men who, under special enlistments, 
and as militia, took part at diflerent times in the operations on the e.xposed 
borders of the State, was probaldy as many as five thousand. 

'■ Iowa paid no bounty on account of the men she placed in the field. In 
some instances, toward the close of the war, bounty to a comparatively small 
amount was paid by cities and towns. On only one occasion — that of the call 
of July 18, 1864 — was a draft made in Iowa. This did not occur on account of 
her proper liability, as established by previous rulings of the War Department, 
to supply men under that call, but grew out of the great necessity that there 
existed for raising men. Tlie Government insisted on tcmiiorarily setting aside, 
in part, the former rule of settlements, and enforcing a draft in all cases where 
subdistricts in any of the States should be found deficient in their supply of 
men. In no instance was Iowa, as a whole, found to be indebted to the General 
Government for men, on a settlement of her quola accounts." 

It is to be said to the honor and credit of loAva that while many of the loyal 
States, older and larger in population and wealth, incurred heavy State debts 
for the purpose of fulfilling their obligations to the General Government, Iowa, 
while she was foremost in duty, while she promptly discharged all lier obligations 
to her sister States and the Union, found herself at the close of the war without 
any material addition to her pecuniary liabilities incurred before the war com- 
menced. Upon final settlement after the restoration of peace, her claims upon 
the Federal Government werefiund to be fully equal to the amount of her bottds 
issued and sold during the war to provide the means for raising and equipping 
her troops sent into the field, and to meet the inevitable demands upon her 
treasury in consequence of the war. 



HlSTOflY OF THE SiATE OF IOWA, 233 

INFANTRY. 

THE FIRST INFANTRY 

was organized under the President's first proclamation for volunteers for three 
nioiitlis, with John Francis Bates, of Dubuque, as Colonel ; William II. Mer- 
ritt, of Cedar Rapids, as Lieutenant Colonel, and A. B. Porter, of Mt. Pleas- 
ant, af, Major. Companies A and C were from Muscatine County; Company 
B, from Johnson County; Companies D and E, from Des Moines County, 
Company F, from Henry County; Company G, from Davenport; Companies 
H and I, from Dubuque, and Company K, from Linn County, and were mus- 
tereii into United Stat-es service May 14, 1861, at Keokuk. The above com- 
panies were independent military organizations before the war, and tendered 
their services before breaking-out of hostilities. The First was engaged at the 
battle of Wilson's Creek, under Gen. Lyon, where it lost ten killed and fifty 
wounded. Was mustered out at St. Louis Aug. 25, 1861. 

THE SECOND INFANTRY 

was organized, with Samuel R. Curtis, of Keokuk, as Colonel ; Jas. M. Tuttlc, 
of Keosauqua, as Lieutenant Colonel, and M. M. Crocker, of Des Moines, as 
M;ijo)', and was mustered into the United States service at Keokuk in May, 
1861. Company A was from Keokuk; Company B, from Scott County; Com- 
pany C, from Scott County ; Company D, from Des Moines; Company E, from 
Fairfield, Jefferson Co. ; Company F, from Van Buren County ; Company G, 
from Davis County ; Company II, from Washington County ; Company I, from 
Clinton County ; and Company K, from Wapello County. It participated in the 
following engagements: Fort Donelson, Shiloh, advance on Corinth, Corinth, 
Little Bear Creek, Ala.; Tunnel Creek, Ahi.; Kesaca, Ga.; Rome Cross Roads, 
Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, Nick-a-Jack Creek, in front of Atlanta, January 22, 
1864 ; siege of Atlanta, Jonesboro, Eden Station, Little Ogeechee, Savannah, 
Columbia. S. C. ; Lj^nch's Creek, and Bentonsville. Was on Sherman's march 
to the sea, and through the Carolinas home. The Second Reariment of Iowa 
Infantry Veteran Volunteers was formed by the consolidation of the battalions 
of tlio Second and Third Veteran Infantry, and was mustered out at Louisville, 
Ky., July 12, 1865. 

THE THIRD INFANTRY 

was organized with N. G. Williams, of Dubuque County, as Colonel ; John 
Scott, of Story County, Lieutenant Colonel ; Wm. N. Stone, of Marion County, 
Major, and was mustered into the United States service in May, 1861, at 
Keokuk. Company A was from Dubuque County ; Company B, from Marion 
County ; Company C, from Clayton County ; Company D, from Winneshiek 
(/ounty ; Company E, from Boone, Story, Marshall and Jasper Counties ; Com- 
pany F, from Fayette County ; Company G, from Warren County ; Company H, 
from Mahaska County ; Company I, from Floyd, Butler Black Hawk and 
^Ltchell Counties, and Company K from Cedar Falls. It was engaged atBlu* 
Mills, Mo. ; Shiloh, Tenn. ; Hatchie River, Matamoras, Vicksburg, Johnson, 
Miss., Meridian expedition, and Atlanta, Atlanta campaign and Sherman's 
march to Savannah, and through the Carolinas to Richmond and Washington. 
The veterans of the Third Iowa Infantry were consolidated with the Second, 
and mustered out at Louisville, Ky., July 12, 1864. 



234 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

THE FOURTH IXFANTRY 

■wns organized with G. M. Dodge, of Council Bluffs, as Colonel ; Jolin 
Galligan, of Davenport, as Lieutenant Colonel ; Wm. R. English, Glenwood, 
as Major. Company A, fiom Mills County, was mustered in at Jefferson Bar- 
racks, Missouri, August 15, 1861 ; Company B, Pottawattamie County, was 
mustered in at Council Bluffs, August 8, 1861 ; Company C, Guthrie County, 
mustered in at Jefferson Barracks, Mo., May 3, 1861 ; Company D, Decatur 
' County, at St. Louis, August IGth ; Company E, Polk County, at Council 
Bluff's, August 8th; Company F, Madison County, Jefferson Barracks, August 
15th ; Company G, Ringgold County, at Jefferson BaiTacks, August loth ; 
Company H, Adams County, Jefferson Barracks, August 15th; Company I. 
Wayne County, at St. Louis, August 31st; Company K, Taylor and Page 
Counties, at St. Louis, August 31st. Was engaged at Pea Ridge, Chickasaw 
Bayou, Arkansas Post, Vicksburg, Jackson, Lookout Mountain, Missionary 
Ridge, Ringgold, Resaca, Taylor's Ridge; came home on veteran furlougli 
February 26, 1864. Returned in April, and was in the campaign against 
Atlanta, and Sherman's march to the sea, and thence through the Carolinas 
to Washington and home. Was mustered out at Louisville, Kentucky, July 
24, 1865. 

THE FIFTH INFANTRY 

was organizeil with Wm. H. Wortliington, of Keokuk, as Colonel ; C Z. Mat- 
thias, of Burlington, as Lieutenant Colonel; W. S. Robertson, of Columbus City, 
as Major, and was mustered into the United States service, at Burlington, July 
15, 1861. Company A was from Cedar County; Company B, fiom Jasper 
County ; Company C, from Louisa County ; Company D, from Marshall County ; 
Company E, from Buchanan County; Company F, from Keokuk County; Com- 
pany G, from Benton County ; Company H, from Van Buren County ; Company 
I, from Jackson County ; Company K, from Allamakee County ; was engaged at 
New Madrid, siege of Corinth, luka, Corinth, Champion Hills, siege of Vicks- 
burg, Chickamauga: went home on veteran furlongh, April, 1864. The non- 
veterans went home July, 1864, leaving 180 veterans who were transferred to 
the Fifth Iowa Cavalry. The Fifth Cavalry was mustered out at Nashville, 
Tennessee, Aug. 11, 1865. 

THE SIXTH INFANTRY. 

was mustered into the service July 6, 1861, at Burlington, with John A. 
McDowell, of Keokuk, as Colonel ; Markoe Cummins, of Muscatine, Lieuten- 
ant Colonel ; John M. Corse, of Burlington, Major. Company A was from 
Linn County ; Company B, from Lucas and Clarke Counties; Company C, 
from Hardin County; Company D, from Appanoose County; Company E, 
from Monroe County ; Company F, from Clarke County ; Company G, from 
Johnson County ; Company H, from Lee County ; Company I, from Des 
Moines County ; Company K, from Henry County. It was engaged at Shiloh, 
Mission Ridge, Resaca, Dallas, Big Shanty, Kenesaw Mountain, Jackson, Black 
River Bridge, Jones' Ford, etc., etc. The Sixth lost 7 officers killed in action, 18 
wounded ; of enlisted men 102 were' killed in action, 30 died of wounds, 124 of 
disease, 211 were discharged for disability and 301 were wounded in action, 
which was the largest list of casualties, of both officers and men, of any reg- 
iment from Iowa. Was mustered out at Louisville, Kentucky, July 21, 1865. 



HISTORY Oe THE STATE OF IOWA. 235 



THE SEVENTH IXFAXTRY 



was mustered into the United States service at Biulington, July 24, 1861, 
with J. G. Launian, of Burlington, as Colonel ; Augustus Wentz, of Daven- 
port, as Lieutenant Colonel, and E. W. Rice, of Oskaloosa, as Major. Com- 
pany A was from Muscatine County ; Company B, from Chickasaw and Floyd 
Counties ; Company C, from Mahaska County ; Companies D and E, from Lee 
County ; Company F, from Wapello County ; Company G, from Iowa County ; 
Company. H, from Wa.shington County; Company I, from Wapello County; 
Company K, from Keokuk. Was engaged at the battles of Belmont (in which 
it lost in killed, wounded and missing 287 men), Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, 
Shiloh, siege of Corinth, Corinth, Rome Cross Roads, Dallas, New Hope 
Church, Big Shanty, Kenesaw Mountain, Nick-a-Jack Creek, siege of Atlanta, 
battle on 22d of July in front of Atlanta, Sherman's campaign to the ocean, 
through the Carolinas to Richmond, and thence to Louisville. Was mustered 
out at Louisville, Kentucky, July 12, 1865. 

THE EIGHTH INFANTRY 

was nnistered into the United States service Sept. 12, 18G1, at Davenport, 
Iowa, with Frederick Steele, of the regular array, as Colonel : James L. Ged<les. 
of Vinton, as Lieutenant Colonel, and J. C. Ferguson, of Knoxville, as Major. 
Company A was from Clinton County ; Company B, from Scott County ; 
Company C, from Washington County ; Company D, from Benton and Linn 
Counties : Company E, from Marion County ; Company F, from Keokuk 
County; Company G, from Iowa and Johnson Counties; Company H. from 
Mahaska County ; Company I, from Monroe County ; Company K, from Lou- 
isa County. Was engaged at the following battles : Shiloh (where most of the 
regiment were taken prisoners of war), Corinth, Vicksburg, Jackson and Span- 
ish Fort. Was mustered out of the United States service at Selma, Alabama, 
April 20, 1806. 

THE NINTH INFANTRY 

was mustered into the L'nited States service September 24, 1861, at Dubuque, 
with Wm. Vandever, of Dubutjue, Colonel ; Frank G. Herron, of Dubuque, 
Lieutenant Colonel; Wm. H. Coyle, of Decorah. Major. Company A was 
from Jackson County ; Company B, from -Tones County ; Company C, fr)m Bu- 
chanan County; Company D, from Jones County; Company E, from Clayton 
County; Company F, from Fayette County; Company G, from Black Hawk 
Coutity ; Company II, from Winneshiek County; Company I, from Howard 
County and Company K, from Linn County. Was in the following engage- 
ments : Pea Ridge, Chickasaw Bayou, Arkansas Post, siege of Vicksburg, 
Ringgold, Dallas, Lookout Mountain, Atlanta campaign, Sherman's march to 
the sea, and through North and South Carolina to Richmond. Was mustered 
out at Louisville, July 18, 1805. 

THE TENTH INFANTRY 

was mustered into the LniteJ States service at Iowa City September 6, 1861, 
with Nicholas Perczel, of Davenport, as Colonel ; W. E. Small, of Iowa City, 
as Lieutenant Colonel ; and John C. Bennett, of Polk County, as Major. Com- 
pany A was from Polk County; Company B, from Warren County ; Company 
C, from Tama County; Company D, from Bnone County; Company E, from 
Washington County ; Company F, from Poweshiek County ; Company G, from 



236 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

Warren County ; Company H, from Gieene County ; Company I, from Jasper 
County ; Company K, from Polk and Madison Counties. Participa'ed in llic 
following engagements : Siege of Corinth, luka. Corinth, Port Gibson, Ray- 
mond, Jackson, Champion Hills, Vicksburg and Mission Ridge. In Septem- 
ber, 1864, the non-veterans being mustered out, the veterans were transferred 
to the Fifth Iowa Cavalry, where will be found their future operations. 

THE ELEVENTH INFANTRY 

was mustered into the United States service at Davenport, Iowa, in Septembes 
and October, 1861, with A. M. Hare, of Muscatine, as Colonel ; Jno. C. Abei- 
crombie, as Lieutenant Colonel ; Wm. Hall, of Davenport, as Major. Com- 
pany A was from Muscatine ; Company B, from ^larshall and Hardin Counties ; 
Company C, from Louisa County ; Company D, from Muscatine County ; Com- 
pany E, from Cedar County ; Company ¥, from AVashington County ; Company 
G, from Henry County ; Company II, from Muscatine County ; Company I 
from Muscatine County ; Company K, from Linn County. Was engaged in the 
battle of Shiloh, siege of Corinth, battles of Corinth, Vicksburg, Atlanta cam- 
naign, battle of Atlanta, July 22, 1864. Was mustered out at Louisville, Ky., 
July 15, 1865. 

THE TWELFTH INFANTRY 

was mustered into the United States service November 25, 1861, at Dubuque, 
with J. J. Wood, of Maqnoketa, as Colonel ; John P. Coulter, of Cedar Rapids, 
Lieuter;aut Colonel; Samuel D. Brodtbeck, of Duliuque, as Major. Company 
A was from Hardin County ; Company B, from Allamakee County ; Company C. 
from Fayette County; Company D, from Linn County ; Company E, from Black 
Hawk County ; Company F, from Delaware County ; Company G, from Winne- 
shiek County ; Company H, from Dubuque and Delaware Counties ; Company 
I, from Dubuque and Jackson Counties ; Company K, from Delaware County. 
It was engaged at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, where most of the regiment was 
captured, and those not captured were organized in what was called the Union 
Brigade, and were in the battle of Corinth ; the prisoners were exchanged 
November 10, 1862, and the regiment re-organized, and then participating in 
the siege of Vicksburg, battle of Tupelo, ]\Iiss.; White River, Nashville and 
Spanish Fort. The regiment was mustered out at Memphis, January 20, 1866. 

THE THIRTEENTH INFANTRY 

was mustered in November 1, 1861, at Davenport, with M. M. Crocker, of Des 
Moines, as Colonel ; M. M. Price, of Davenport, Lieutenant Colonel ; John 
Shane, Vinton, Major. Company A was from Mt. Vernon ; Company B, from 
Jasper County ; Company C, from Lucas County ; Company D, from Keokuk 
County; Company E, from Scott County ; Company F, from Scott and Linn 
Counties ; Company G, from Benton County ; Company II, from Marahall County ; 
Company I, from Washington County ; Company K, from Washington County. 
It participated in the following engagements : Shiloh, siege of Corinth, Corinth, 
Kenesaw Mountain, siege of Vicksburg, Campaign against Atlanta. Was on 
Sherman's march to the sea, and through North and South Carolina. Was 
mustered out at Louisville July 21, 1865. 

THE FOURTEENTH INFANTRY 

was mustered in the United States service October, 1861, at Davenport, with 
Wm. T. Shaw, of Anamosa, as Colonel; Edward W. Lucas, of Iowa City, as 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 237 

Lieutenant Colonel; Hiram Leonard, of Des Moines County, as Major. Com- 
))any A was from Scott County ; Company B, from Bremer County ; Company 
I), from Henry and Van Buren Counties; Company E, from Jasper County; 
Company F, from Van Buren and Henry Counties ; Company G, from Tama and 
Scott Counties; Company II, from Linn County; Company I, from Henry 
County ; Company K, from Des Moines County. Participated in the follow- 
ing engagements : Ft. Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth (where most of the regiment 
were taken prisoners of war), Pleasant Hill, Meridian, Ft. De Kussey, Tupelo, 
Town Creek, Tallahatchie, Pilot Knob, Old Town, Yellow Bayou, etc., etc., 
anil was mustered out, e.xcept veterans and recruits, at Davenport, Iowa, No- 
vember IG, 1864. 

THE FIFTEENTH INFANTRY 

was mustered into the LTnited States service March 19, 1802, at Keokuk, with 
Hugh T. Reid, of Keokuk, as Colonel ; Wm. Dewey, of Fremont County, as 
Lieutenmt Colonel ; W. W. Belknap, of Keokuk, as Major. Company A was 
from Linn County; Company B, from Polk County; Company C, from Mahaska 
County ; Company D, from Wapello County ; Company E, from Van Buren 
County; Company F, from Fremont and Mills Counties ; Company G, from 
Marion and Warren Counties ; Company II, from Pottawattamie and Harrison 
Counties; Company I, from Lee, Van Buren and Clark Counties; Company K, 
from Wapello, Van Buren and Warren Counties. Participated in the battle of 
Shiloh, siege of Corinth, battles of Corinth, Vicksburg, campaign against At- 
lanta, battle in front of Atlanta, July 22, 1864, and was under fire during 
the siege of Atlanta eighty-one days; was on Sherman's march to the sea, and 
through the Carolinas to Richmond, Washington and Louisville, where it was 
mustered out, August 1, 1864. 

THE SIXTEENTH INFANTRY 

was mustered into the United States service at Davenport, Iowa, December 10, 

1861, with Ale.xander Chambers, of the regular army, as Colonel; A. H. 
Sanders, of Davenport, Lieutenant Colonel ; W^m. Purcell, of Muscatine, 
Major. Company A was from Clinton County ; Company B. from Scott 
County; Company C, from Muscatine County ; Company D,from Boone County; 
Company E, from Muscatine (]!ounty ; Company F, from Muscatine, Clinton and 
Scott Counties; Company G, from Dubutiue County; Company H, from Du- 
buque and Clayton Counties; Company I, from Black Hawk and Linn Counties; 
Company K, from Lee ai d Muscatine Counties. Was in the battles of Shiloh, 
siege of Corinth, luka, Corinth, Kenesaw Mountain, Nick-a-Jack Creek, battles 
around Atlanta; was in Sherman's campaigns, and the Carolina campaigns. 
Was mustered out at Louisville, Ky., July I'J, 1865. 

THE SEVENTEENTH INFANTRY 

was mustered into the United States service at Keokuk, in March and April, 

1862, with Jno. W. Rankin, of Keokuk, Colonel ; D. B. Hillis, of Keokuk, 
as Lientenant Colonel; Samuel M. Wise, of Mt. Pleasant, Major. Company 
A was from Decatur County; Company B, from Lee County; Company C, 
from Van Buren, Wapello and Lee Counties; Company D, from Des Moines, 
Van Buren and Jefferson Counties; Company E, from Wapello County; Com- 
pany F, from Appanoose County; Company G, from Marion County; Com- 
pany H, from Marion and Pottawattamie Counties; Company I, from Jefferson 
and Lee Counties; Company K, from Lee and Polk Counties. They were in 



238 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

the following engagements: Siege of Corinth, luka, Corinth, Jackson, Cham- 
pion Hills, Fort Hill, siege of Vicksburg, Mission Ridge, and at Tilton, Ga., 
Oct. 13, 1864, most of the regiment were taken prisoners of war. Was mus- 
tered out at Louisville, Ky., July 25, 1865. 

THE EIGHTEENTH INFANTRY 

was mustered into the United States service August 5, 6 and 7, 1862, at Clin- 
ton, with John Edwards, of Chariton, Colonel ; T. Z. Cook, of Cedar Rapids, 
Lieutenant Colonel ; Hugh J. Campbell, of Muscatine, as Major. Company 
A, was from Linn and various other counties ; Company B, from Clark County : 
Company C, from Lucas County; Company D, from Keokuk and Wapello 
Counties; Company E, from Muscatine County; Company F, from Appanoose 
County; Company G, from Marion and Warren Counties; Company H, from 
Fayette and Benton Counties; Comj)any I, from Washington County; Com- 
pany K, from Wapello, Muscatine and Henry Counties, and was engaged in 
the battles of Springfield, INIoscow, Poison Spring, Ark., r.nd was mustei'cd out 
at Little Rock, Ark., July 20, 1865. 

THE NINETEENTH INFANTRY 

was mustered into the United States service August 17, 1862, at Keokuk, with 
Benjamin Crabb, of Washington, as Colonel ; Samuel McFarland, of Mt. Pleas- 
ant, Lieutenant Colonel, and Daniel Kent, of Ohio, Major. Company A was 
from Lee and Van Buren Counties; Company B, from Jefferson County; Com- 
pany C, from Washington County; Company D, from Jefferson County; Com- 
pany E, from Lee County; Company F, from Louisa County; Company G, 
from Louisa County; Company H, from Van Buren County; Company I, from 
Van Buren County; Company K, from Henry County. Was engaged a Prairie 
Grove, Vicksburg, Yazoo River expedition. Sterling Farm, September 29, 1863, 
at Avhich place they surrendered ; three officers and eight enlisted men were 
killed, sixteen enlisted men were woun-^ed, and eleven officers and two hundred 
and three enlisted men taken prisoners out of five hundred engaged; they 
were exchanged July 22d, and joined their regiment August 7th, at New Or- 
leans. Was engaged at Spanish Fort. Was mustered out at Mobile, Ala., July 
10, 1865. 

THE TWENTIETH INFANTRY 

was mustered into the United States service August 25, 1862, at Clinton, with 
Wm. McE. Dye, of Marion, Linn Co., as Colonel ; J. B. Leek, of Davenport, as 
Lieutenant Colonel, and Wm. G. Thompson, of Marion, Linn Co., as Major. 
Companies A, B, F, II and I were from Linn County ; Companies C, D, E, G 
and K, from Scott County, and was engaged in the following battles: Prairie 
Grove, and assault on Fort Blakely. Was mustered out at Mobile, Ala., July 
8, 1865. 

THE TWENTY-FIRST INFANTRY 

was mustered into the service at Clinton in June and August, 1862, with 
Samuel Merrill (late Governor of Iowa) as Colonel ; Charles W. Dunlap, of 
Mitchell, as Lieutenant Colonel ; S. G. VanAnda, of Delhi, as Major. Com- 
pany A was from Mitchell and Black Hawk Counties ; Company B, from 
Clayton County ; Company C, from Dubuque County ; Company D, from 
Clayton County ; Company E, from Dubuque County ; Company F, from Du- 
buque County ; Company G, from Clayton County ; Company II, from Dela- 



IlISTOllY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 239 

ware County ; Company I, from Dubuque County ; Company K, from Delaware 
County, and was in the following engagements : Ilartsville, Mo. ; Black River 
Bridge, Fort Beauregard, was at the .siege of Vicksburg, Mobile, Fort Blakcly, 
and was mustered out at Baton Rouge, La., July 15, 1865. 

THE TWENTY-SECOND INFANTRY 

was mustered into the United States service Sept. 10, 18G2, at Iowa City, with 
Wm. M. Stone, of KnoxviUe (since Governor of Iowa), as Colonel ; Jno. A. 
Garrett, of Newton, Lieutenant Colonel ; and Harvey Graham, of Iowa City, 
as Major. Company A was from Johnson County ; Company B, Johnson 
County ; Company C, Jasper County; Company D, Monroe County ; Company 
E, Wapello County ; Company F, Johnson Countv ; Company G, Johnson 
County ; Company H, Johnson County ; Company I, Johnson County ; Com- 
pany K, Johnson County. Was engaged at Vicksburg, Thompson's Hill, Cham- 
pifin Hills, Shermans campaign to Jackson, at Winchestsr, in Shenandoah Val- 
ley, losing lO'J men, Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek. Mustered out at Savannah, 
Ga., July 25, 1865. 

THE TWENTY-THIRD INFANTRY 

was mustered into United States service at Des Moines, Sept. 19, 1862, with 
William Dewey, of Sidney, as Colonel ; W. H. Kinsman, of Council Bluffs, as 
Lieutenant Colonel, and S. L. Glasgow, of Corydon, as Major. Companies 
A, B and C, were from Polk County; Company D, from Wayne County; Com- 
pany E, from Pottawattamie County; Company F, from Montgomery County; 
Company G, from Jasper County; Company H, from Madison County; Com- 
pany I, from Cass County, and Company K, from Marshall County. Was in 
Vicksburg, and engaged at Port Gibson, Black River, Champion Hills, Vicks- 
burg, Jackson, Milliken's Bend, Fort Blakely, and was mustered out at Harris- 
burg, Texas, July 26, 1865 

THE TWENTY-FOURTH 

was mustered into United States service at Muscatine, September 18, 1862, 
with Eber C. Byam, of Mount Vernon, as Colonel; John Q. Wilds, of Mount 
Vernon, as Lieutenant Colonel, and Ed. Wright, of Springdale, as Major. 
Company A was from Jackson and Clinton Counties; Companies B and C, 
from Cedar County; Company D, from Washington, Johnson and Cedar 
Counties; Company E, from Tama County; Companies F, G and 11, from 
Linn County; Company I, from Jackson County, and Company K, from Jones 
County. \Vas engaged at Port Gibson, Champion Hills, Gen. Banks' Red 
River expedition, Winchester and Cedar Creek. Was mustered out at Savan- 
nah, Ga., July 17, 1865. 

THE TWENTY-FIFTH INFANTRY 

was organized with George A. Stone, of Mount Pleasant, as Colonel ; Fabian 
Brydolf as Lieutenant Colonel, and Calom Taylor, of Bloomfield, as Major, 
and was mustered into United States service at Mount Pleasant, September 27, 
1862. Companies A and I were from Washington County; Companies B and 
IT, from Henry County ; Company C, from Henry and Lee Counties ; Com- 
panies D, E and G, 'from Des Moines County ; Company F, from Louisa 
County, and Company K, from Des Moines and Lee Counties. Was engnged 
at Arkansas Post, Vicksburg, Walnut Bluff, Chattanooga, Campain, Ring- 



240 HISTORY OF THE STATE OP IOWA. 

gold, Ga., Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, battles around Atlanta, Love- 
joy Station, Jonesboro, Ship's Gap, Bentonville, and on Sherman's march 
through Georgia and the Carolinas, to Richmond and Washington. Was 
mustered out at Washington, D. C., June 6, 1865. 

THE TWENTY- SIXTH 

was organized and muster.d in at Clinton, in August, 1802, with Milo Smith, 
of Clinton, as Colonel ; S. G. Magill^ of Lyons, as Lieutenant Colonel, and 
Samuel Clark, of De Witt, as Major. Company A was from Clinton and 
Jackson Counties; Company B, from Jackson County; Companies C, D, E, 
F, G, H, I and K, from Clinton County. Was engaged at Arkansas Post, 
Vicksburg, Snake Creek Gap, Ga., Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, De- 
catur, siege of Atlanta, Ezra Church, Jonesboro, Lovejoy Station, Ship's Gap, 
Sherman's campaign to Savannah, went through the Carolinas, and was mus- 
tered out of service at Washington, D. C, June 6, 18G5. 

THE TWENTY-SEVENTH 

was mustered into United States service at Dubuque, Oct. 3, 1862, with James 
I. Gilbert, of Lansing, as Colonel ; Jed Lake, of Independence, as Lieutenant 
Colonel ; and G. W. Howard, of Bradford, as Major. Companies A, B and I 
were from Allamakee County; Companies C and H, from Buchanan County; 
Companies D and E, from Clayton County; Company F, from Delaware 
County ; Company G, from Floyd and Chickasaw Counties, and Company K, 
from Mitchell County. Engaged at Little Rock, Ark., was on Red River ex- 
pedition. Fort De Russey, Pleasant Hill, Yellow Bayou, Tupelo, Old Town 
Creek and Fort Blakely. Was mustered out at Clinton, lov/a, Aug. 8, 18G5. 

THE TWENTY-EIGHTH 

was organized at Iowa City, and mustered in Nov. 10, 1862, with William E. 
Miller, of Iowa City, as Colonel ; John Connell, of Toledo, as Lieutenant Colonel, 
and H. B. Lynch, of Millersburg, as Major. Companies A and D were 
from Benton County ; Companies B and G, from Iowa County ; Companies 
C, H and I, from Poweshiek County; Company E, from Johnson County; 
Company F, from Tama County, and Company K, from Jasper County. Was 
engaged at Port Gibson, Jackson and siege of Vicksburg; was on Banks' Red 
River expedition, and engaged at Sabine Cross Roads; was engaged in Slien- 
andoah Valley, Va., and engaged at Winchester, Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek. 
Was mustered out of service at Savannah, Ga., July 31, 186.5. 

THE TWENTY-NINTH 

was organized at Council Bluffs, and mustered into the United States service 
December 1, 1862, with Tliomas II. Benton, Jr., of Council Bluffs, as Colonel; 
R. F. Patterson, of Keokuk, as Lieutenant Colonel; and Charles B. Siioe- 
maker, of Clarinda, as Major. Company A was from Pottawattamie County; 
Company B, from Pottawattamie and JNIills Counties; Comnany C, from Harrison 
County; Company D, from Adair and Adams Counties, Company E, from 
Fremont County; Company F, from Taylor County; Company G, i'rom Ring- 
gold County. Was engaged at Helena, Arkansas and Spanish Fort. Was 
mustered out at New Orleans August 15, 1865. 



HISTORY OF THE STAXi; OF IOWA. 241 



.THE THIRTIETH INFANTRY 



was organized at Keokuk, and mustered into tlie United States service September 
23, 1862, with Cliarlfs B. Abbott, of Louisa County, a.s Colonel ; Wra. INI. G. Tor- 
rance, of Keokuk, as Lieutenant Colonel ; and Lauren Dewey, of Mt. Pleasant, as 
Major. Companies A and I were from Lee County; Company B, from Davis 
County; Company C, from Des Moines County ; Company D, from A"an Buren 
County ; Companies E and K from Washington County ; Company F, from 
Davis County ; and Companies G and II, from Jefferson County. Was 
engaged at Arkansas Post, Yazoo City, Vicksburg, Cherokee, Ala., Kinggold, 
Rcsaca, Konesaw Mountain, Atlanta, Lovejoy Station, Jonesboro, Taylor's 
Riilge; was in Sherman's campaigns to Savannah and through the Carolinas to 
Richmond ; was in the grand review at Washington, D. C, where it was mus- 
tered out June 5, 186-5. 

THE THIRTY-FIRST INFANTRY 

was mustered into the service at Davenport October 13, 1862, with William 
Smyth, of Marion, as Colonel ; J. W. Jenkins, of Maquoketa, as Lieutenant 
Colonel ; and Ezekiel Cutler, of Anamosa, as Major. Company A was from 
Linn County; Companies B, C and D, from Black Hawk County; Companies 
E, G and H, from Jones County; Companies F, 1 and K, from Jackson County. 
Was engaged at Chickasaw Bayou, Arkansas Post, Raymond, Jackson, Black 
River, Vicksburg, Cherokee, Lookout Mountain, Mission Ridge, Ringgold, 
Taylor's Hills, Snake Creek Gap, Resaca, Dallas, New Hope Cluuch, Big 
Shanty, Kencsaw Mountain, Atlanta, Jonesboro; was in Sherman's campaign 
through Georgia and the Carolinas, and was mustered out at Louisville, Ken- 
tucky, June 27, 1865 

THE THIRTY-.SECOND INFANTRY 

was organized at Dubuque, with John Scott, of Nevada, as Colonel ; E. H. 
Mi.x, of Shell Rock, as Lieutenant Colonel, and G. A. Eberhart, of Waterloo, 
as Major. Company A was from Hamilton, Hardin and Wright Counties; 
Compsmy B, from Cerro Gordo County ; Company C, from Black Hawk 
County ; Company D, from Boone County; Company E, from Butler County: 
Company F, from Hardin County; Company G, from Butler and Floyd Coun- 
ties ; Company H, from Franklin County; Company I, from Webster County, 
and Company K, from Marshall and Polk Counties, and was mustered into 
the United States service October .5, 1862. Was engaged at Fort De Russey, 
Pleasant Hill, Tupelo, Old Town Creek, Nashville, etc., and was mustered out 
of the United States service at Clinton, Iowa, Aug. 24, 1865. 

THE THIRTY-THIRD INFANTRY 

was organized at Oskaloosa, with Samuel A. Rice, of O.skaloosa, as Colonel ; 
Cyrus H. Maskey, of Sigourney, as Lieutenant Colonel, and Hiram D. Gibson, 
of Kno.xville, as Major. Companies A and I were from ^Marion County; Com- 
panies B, F and H, from Keokuk County; Companies C, D, E and K, from 
Makaska County, and Company G, from JLirion. Makaska and Polk Counties, 
and mustered in October 1, LS62. "=■ Was engaged at Little Rock, Helena, Sa- 
line River, Spanish Fort and Yazoo Pass. VVas mustered out at New Orleans, 
Jidy 17, 1865. 



242 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 



THE THIRTY-FOURTH INFANTRY 



was organized with George W. Clark, of ImTianola, as Colonel ; W. S. Dungan, 
of Cliarjtoii, as Lieutenant Colonel, and R. D. Kellogg, of Decatur County, as 
Major, and mustered in at Burlington, October 15, 18(J2. Companies A and I 
were from Decatur County ; Companies B, C and D, from Warren County ; Com- 
pany E, from Lucas County; Company F, from Wayne County; Company G, 
from Lucas and Clark Counties; Company H, from Madison and Warren 
Counties, and Company K, from Lucas County. Was engaged at Arkansas 
Post, Ft. Ga-ines, etc., etc. Was consolidated with the Thirty-eighth Infantry, 
January 1, 1865, and mustered out at Houston, Texas, August 15, 1865. 



THE THIRTY-FIFTH INFANTRY 

was organized at Muscatine, and mustered in the United States service Sep- 
tember 18; 1862, with S. G. Hill, of Muscatine, as Colonel ; James H. Roth- 
rock, as Lieutenant Colonel, and Henry O'Conner, of Muscatine, as Major. 
Companies A, B, C, D and E, were from Muscatine County; Company F, 
from Muscatine and Louisa Counties; Companies G, H and I, from Muscatine 
and Cedar Counties, and Company K, from Cedar County. Participated in 
the battles of Jackson, siege of Vicksburg, Bayou Rapids, Bayou de Glaze, 
Pleasant Hill, Old River Lake, Tupelo, Nashville, etc. Was mustered out at 
Davenport, August 10, 1865. 



THE THIRTY-SIXTH INFANTRY 

was organized at Keokuk, witli Cliarles W. Kittredge, of Ottumwa, as Colonel ; 
F. M. Drake, of Unionville, Appanoose County, as Lieutenant Colonel, and T. 

C. Woodward, of Ottumwa, as Major, and mustered in October 4, 1862 ; Com- 
pany A was from Monroe County ; Companies B, D, E, H and K, from 
Wapello County, and Companies C, F, G and I, from Appanoose County. 
Was engaged in the following battles : Mark's Mills, Ark. ; Elkins' Ford, 
Camden, Helena, Jenkins' Ferry, etc. At Mark's Mills, April 25, 1864, out 
of 500 engaged, lost 200 killed and wounded, the balance being taken prisoners 
of war ; was exchanged October 6, 1864. Was mustered out at Duvall's Bluff, 
Ark., August 24, 1865. 

THE THIRV-SEVENTH INFANTRY (OR GRAY BEAKD?y 

was organized with Geo. W. Kincaid, of Muscatine, as Colonel ; Geo. R. West, 
of Dubuque, as Lieutenant Colonel, and Lyman Allen, of Iowa City, as Major, 
and was mustered into LTnited States service at Muscatine December 15, 1862. 
Company A was from Black Hawk and Linn Counties ; Company B, from 
Muscatine County ; Company C, from Van Buren and Lee Counties ; Company 

D, from Johnson and Iowa Counties ; Company E, from Wapello and Mahaska 
Counties ; Company F, from Dubuipie County ; Company G, from Appanoose, 
Des Moines, Henry and Washington Counties ; Company H, from Henry and 
Jeff'erson Counties; Company I, from Jasper, Linn and other counties, and 
Company K, from Scott and Fayette Counties. The object of the Thirty- 
seventh was to do garrison duty and let the young men go to the front. It was 
mustered out at Davenport on expiration of three years' service. 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 243 



THE THIRTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY 

was organized at Dubuque, and mustered in November 4, 1862, with D. 11. 
Hughes, of Decorah, as Colonel; J. 0. Hudnutt, of Waverly, as Lieutenan, 
Colonel, and Charles Chadwick, of West Union, as Major. Companies A, Ft 
Gr and [I were from Fayette County ; Company B, from Bremer County ; Com- 
pany C, from Chickasaw County ; Companies D, E and K, from Winneshiek 
County, and Company I, from Howard County. Participated in the siege of 
Vicksburg, Banks' Red River expedition, and on December 12, 1864, was 
consolidated with the Thirty-fourth Infantry. Mustered out at Houston, Texas, 
August 15, 1865. 

THE THIRTY-NINTH INFANTRY 

was organized with H. J. B. Cummings, of Winterset, as Colonel; James Red- 
field, of Redfield, Dallas County, as Lieutenunt Colonel ; and J. M. Griffiths, 
of Des Moines, as Major. Companies A and F were from Madison County ; 
Companies B and I, from Polk Couuty ; Companies C and H, from Dallas 
County; Company D, from Clark County; Company E, from Greene County; 
Company G, from Des Moines and Henry Counties; and Company K, from 
Clark and Decatur Counties. Was engaged at Parker's Cross Roads, Tenn.; 
Corinth, AUatoona, Ga.; Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain, Atlanta, Sherman's march 
to Savannah and through the Carolinas to Richmond, and was mustered out at 
Washington June 5, 1865. 

THE FORTIETH INFANTRY 

was organized at Iowa City November 15, 1862, with John A. Garrett, of 
Newton, as Colonel; S. F. Cooper, of Grinnell, as Lieutenant Colonel; and 
S. G. Smith, of Newton, as Major. Companies A and H were from Marion 
County; Company B, from Poweshiek County; Company C, from Mahaska 
County ; Companies D and E, from Jasper County ; Company F, from Ma- 
haska and Marion Counties ; Company G, from Marion County ; Company I, 
from Keokuk County; and Company K, from Benton and other counties. Par- 
ticipated in the siege of Vicksburg, Steele's expedition, Banks' Red River 
expedition, Jenkins' Ferry, etc. Was mustered out at Port Gibson August 2, 
1866. 

THE FORTY-FIRST INFANTRY", 

formerly Companies A, B and C of the Fourteenth Infantry, became Compa- 
nies K, L and M of the Seventh Cavalry, under authority of the War Depart- 
ment. Its infantry organization was under command of John Pattee, of Iowa 
City. Company A was from Black Hawk, Johnson and other counties; Com- 
pany B, from Johnson County ; and Company C, from Des Moines and various 
counties. 

THE FORTY-FOURTH INFANTRY (100 DAYS) 

was organized at Davenport, and mustered in June 1, 1864. Company A was 
from Dubuque County; Company B, Muscatine County; Company C, Jones, 
Linn and Dubuque Counties ; Company D, Johnson and Linn Counties ; Com- 
pany E, Bremer and Butler Counties ; Company F, Clinton and Jackson 
Counties ; Company G, Marshall and Hardin Counties ; Company II, Boone 
and Polk Counties; Companies I and K, Scott County. The Forty-fourth 
did garrison duty at Memphis and La Grange, Tenn. Mustered out at Daven- 
port, September 15, 1864. 



?4l: HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

■ *!> 

THE FORTY-FIFTH INFANTRY (100 DAYS) 

was mustered in at Keokuk, May 2;j, 1804, with A. IT. Bereinan, of ]\Iount 
Pleasant, as Colonel ; S. A. Mooic, of Bloomfield, as Lieutenant Colonel, and 
J. B. Hope, of Washington, as Major. The companies were from the following 
counties : A, Henry ; B, Washington ; C, Lee ; D, Davis ; E, Henry and 
Lee ; F, Des Moines ; G, Des Moines and Henry ; H, Henry ; I, Jefferson, 
and K, Van Buren. Was mustered out at Keokuk, September 16, 1864. 

THE FORTY-SIXTH INFANTRY (100 DAY'S). 

was organized with D. B. Henderson, of Clermont, as Colonel; L. D. Durbin, 
of Tipton, as Lieutenant Colonel, and G. L. Tarljet, as Major, and was mus- 
tered in at Dubuque, June 10, 1864. Company A was from Dubuque; Com- 
pany B, from Poweshiek ; C, from Dallas and Guthrie ; D, from Taylor and 
Fayette; E, from Ringgold and Linn ; F, from Winneshiek and Delaware ; G, 
froai Appanoose and Delaware ; H, from Wayne ; I, from Cedar, and K, from 
Lucas. Was mustered out at Davenport, September 23, 1864. 

THE FORTY-SEVENTH INFANTRY (100 DAYS) 

was mustered into United States service at Davenport, June 4, 1864, with 
James P. Sanford,. of Oskaloosa, as Colonel; John Williams, of Iowa City, as 
Lieutenant Colonel, and G. J. Wright, of Des Moines, as Major. Company 
A was from Marion and Clayton Counties; Company B, from Appanoose 
County; Company C, from Wapello and Benton Counties; Company B, from 
Buchanan and Linn Counties; Company E, from Madison County; Company 
F, from Polk County; Company G, from Johnson County; Company H, from 
Keokuk County; Company I, from Mahaska County, and Company K, from 
Wapello. 

THE FORTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY BATTALION (100 DAY'S) 

was organized at Davenport, and mustered in July 13, 1864, with 0. H. P. 
Scott, of Farmington, as Lieutenant Colonel. Company A was from Warren 
County; Company B, from Jasper County ; Company C, from Decatur County, 
and Company D, from Des Moines and Lee Counties, and was mustered out at 
Hock Island Barracks Oct. 21, 1864. 



CAVALRY. 

THE FIRST CAVALRY 

was organized at Burlington, and mustered into the United States service May 
3, 1861, with Fitz Henry Warren, of Burlington, as Colonel; Chas. E. Moss, 
of Keokuk, as Lieutenant Colonel ; and E. W. Chamberlain, of Burlington, 
James 0. Gower, of Iowa City, and W. M. G. Torrence, of Keokuk, as Majors. 
Company A was from Lee, Van Buren and Wapello Counties; Company B, 
from Clinton County ; Company C, from Des Moines and Lee Counties ; Com-^ 
pany D, from Madison and \Varren Counties ; Company E, fmm Henry^ 
County ; Company F, from Johnson and Linn Counties ; Company G, from 
Dubuque and Black Hawk Counties; Company H, from Lucas and Morrison 
Counties ; Company I, from Wapello and Des Moines Counties ; Company K, 
from Allamakee and Clayton Counties ; Company L, from Dubuque and other 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. . „ - 245 

counties; Company M, from Clinton County. It was engaged at -Pleasant 
Hill, Mo.; Rolla, New Lexington, Elkins' Ford, Little Rock, Bayou Metoe. 
Warrensburg, Big Creek Bluffs, Antwineville, Clear Creek, etc. Was mustered 
out at AusUu, Texas, February 15, 1866. 

THE SECOND CAVALRY 

•was organized with W. L. Elliott, of the regular army, as Colonel ; Edward 
Hatch, of Muscatine, as Lieutenant Colonel; and N. P. Hepburn, of Marshall- 
town, D. E. Coon, of Mason City, and H. W. Love, of Iowa City, as Majors, 
and was mustered into the United States service at Davenport September 1. 
1861. Company A was from Muscatine County ; Company B, from Marshall 
County ; Company C, from Scott County ; Company D, from Polk County ; 
Company E, from Scott County; Company F, from Hamilton and Franklin 
Counties; Company G, from Muscatine County; Company H, from Johnson 
County ; Company I, from Cerro Gordo, Delaware and other counties ;■ Com- 
pany K, from Des Moines County ; Company L, from Jackson County, and 
Company M, from Jackson County. „ The Second Cavalry participated in the 
following military movements : Siege of Corinth, battles of Farmington, Boone- 
viUe, Piienzi, luka, Corinth, Coffeeville, Palo Alto, Birmingham, Jackson. 
Grenada, CoJlierville, Moscow, Pontotoc, Tupelo, Old Town, Oxford, and en- 
gagements against Hood's march on Nashville, battle of Nashville, etc. ft Was 
mustered out at Selma, Ala., September 19, 1865. 

THE THIRD CAVALRY 

was organized and mustered into the United States service at Keokuk, in Au- 
gust and September, 1861, with Cyrus Bussey, of Bloomfield, as Colonel; H. 
H. Bussey, of Bloomfield, as Lieutenant Colonel, and C. H. Perry, H. C. Cald- 
well and W. C. Drake, of Cory<lon, as Majors. Companies A and E were from 
Davis County; Company B, from Van Buren and Lee Counties; Company C. 
from Lee and Keokuk Counties; Company D, from Davis and Van Buren 
Counties ; Company F, from Jefferson County ; Company G, from Van Buren 
County; Company H, from Van Buren and Jefferson Counties; Company I, 
from Appanoose County; Company K, from Wapello and Marion Counties; 
Company L, from Decatur County, and Company M, from Appanoose and De- 
catur Counties. It was engaged in the following battles and skirmishes : 
Pea Ridge, La Grange, Sycamore, near Little Rock, Columbus, Pope's Farm, 
Big Blue, Ripley, Coldwater, Osage, Tallahatchie, Moore's Mill, near Monte- 
viillo, near Independence, Pine Bluff, Botts' Farm, Gun Town, White's Station, 
Tupelo, Village Creek. AVas mustered out of United States service at Atlanta, 
Ga., August y, 1865. 

THE FOURTH CAVALRY 

was organized with Asbury B. Porter, of Mount Pleasant, as Colonel ; Thomas 
Drummond, of Vinton, as Lieutenant Colonel ; S. D. Swan, of Mount Pleas- 
ant, J. E. Jewett, of Des Moines, and G. A. Stone, of Moo>nt Pleasant, as 
Majors, and mustered into United States service at Mount Pleasant November 
21, 1861. Company A was from Delaware County; Company C, from Jef- 
ferson and Henry Counties ; Company D, from Henry County ; Company E, 



246 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 

from Jasper and Poweshiek Counties ; Company F, from Wcapello Connty ; 
Company G, from Lee and Henry Counties ; Company H, from Chickasaw 
County ; Company I, from Matlison County ; Company K, from Henry 
County ; Company L, from Des Moines and other counties ; and Company M, 
from Jeiferson County. The Fourth Cavalry lost men in the following engage- 
ments : Guntown, Miss.; Helena, Ark.; near Bear Creek, Miss.; near Mem- 
phis, Tenn.; Town Creek, Miss.; Columbus, Ga.; Mechaniesburg, Miss.; Little 
Blue Biver, Ark.; Brownsville, Miss.; Ripley, Miss.; Black River Bridge, 
Miss.; Grenada, Miss.; Little Red River, Ark.; Tupelo, Miss.; Yazoo River, 
Miss.; White River, Ark.; Osage, Kan.; Lick Creek, Ark.; Oknlona, Miss.; 
St. Francis River, Ark. VVas mustered out at Atlanta, Ga., August 10, 18G5. 

THE FIFTH CAVALRY 

was organized at Omaha with Wm. W. Lowe, of the regular anijy, as Colo- 
nel ; M. T. Patrick, of Omaha, as Lieutenant Colonel ; and C. S. Bernstein, 
of Dubuque, as Major, and mustered in September 21, 1801. Companies A, 
B, C and D were mostly from Nebraska; Company E, from Dubuque County ; 
Company F, from Des Moines, Dubuque and Lee Counties; Company G, from 
Minnesota; Company H, from Jackson and other counties ; Companies I and 
K were from Minnesota; Company L, from Minnesota and Missouri; Com- 
pany M, from Missouri ; Companies G, I and K were transferred to Minnesota 
Volunteers Feb. 25, 1864. The new Company G was organized from veterans 
and recruits and Companies C, E, F and 1 of Fifth Iowa Infantry, and trans- 
ferred to Fifth Cavalry August 8, 1864. The second Company 1 was organ- 
ized from veterans and recruits and Companies A, B, D, G, H and K of the 
Fifth Iowa Infimtry, and transferred to Fifth Iowa Cavalry August 18, 1864. 
Was engaged at second battle of Fort Donelson, Wartrace, Duck River Bridge, 
Sugar Creek, Xewnan, Camp Creek, Cumberland Works, Tenn.; Jonesb'uo, 
Ebenezer Church, Lockbridge's Mills, Pulaski, Cheraw, and mustered out at 
Nashville, Tenn., August 11, 1865. 

THE SIXTH CAV.4.LRY. 

was organized with D. S. Wilson, of Dubuque, as Colonel; S. M. Pollock, of 
Dubuque, as Lieutenant Colonel ; T. H. Shephard, of Iowa City, E. P. Tcn- 
Broeck, of Clinton, and A. E. House, of Delhi, as Majors, and was mustered 
in at Davenport, January 31, 1863. Company A was from Scott and other 
counties; Company B, from Dubuque and other counties; Company C, from 
Fayette County; Company D, from Winneshiek County; Company E, from 
Southwest counties of the State ; Company F, from Allamakee and other 
counties; Company G, from Delawfire and Buchanan Counties; Company H. 
from Linn County; Company I, from Johnson and other counties; Company 
K, from Linn County; Company Tj, from Clayton County; Company M, from 
Johnson and Dubuque Counties. The Sixth Cavalry operated on the frontier 
against the Indians. Was mustered out at Sioux City, October 17, 1865, 

THE SEVENTH CAVALRY 

was organized at Davenport, and mustered into the United States service Apcil 
27, 18(53, with S. W. Summers, of Ottumwa, as Colonel ; John Pattee, of Iowa 
City, as Lieutenant Colonel; H. H. Heath and G. M. O'Brien, of Dubuque, 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 247 

and John S. Wood, of Ottumwa, as M:ijors. Companies A, B, C and D, Avere 
from Wapello and other counties in innnediate vieinity; Companies E, F, G 
and H, were from all parts of the State ; Company I, from Sioux City and 
known as Sioux City Cavalry; Company K was originally Company A of the 
Fourteenth Infantry and afterward Company A of the Forty-first Infantry, was 
from Johnson and other .ounties; Company L was originally Company B, of 

the Forty-first Infantry and afterward Company B, of the Forty , and 

was from Jolinson County; Company M was originally Company C, of the 
Fourteenth Infantry, and afterward Company C, of the Forty-first and from Des 
Moines and otlier counties. The Seventh Cavalry operated against the Indi- 
ans. E.xcepting the Lieutenant Colonel ami Companies K, L and M, the regi- 
ment was mustered out at Leavenworth, Kansas, May 17, 1866. Companies 
K, L, anil M were mustered out at Sioux City, June -2, 1866. 



THE EIGilTU CAVALRY 

was organized with J. B. Dorr, of Dubuque, as Colonel ; H. G. Earner, of 
Sidney, as Lieutenant Colonel : .John J. Bowen, of Hopkinton, J. D. Thompson, 
of Eldora, and A. J. Price, of Guttenburg, as Majors, and were mustered in at 
Davenport September 30, 1863. Tne companies were mostly from the follow- 
ing counties: Company A, Page; B. Wapello; C, Van Buren; D, Ring- 
gold; E, Henry; F, Appanoose; G, Clayton ; II, Appanoose; I, Marshall; 
K, Muscatine; L, Wapello; M, Polk. The Eighth did a large amount of duty 
guarding Sherman's comuuinications, in which it had many small engagements. 
It was in the battles of Lost Mountain, Lovejoy's Station, Newnan, Nashville, 
etc. Was on Stoneman's cavalry raid around Atlanta, and Wilson's raid 
through Alabama. Was mustered out at Macon, Ga., August 13, 1865. 



THE NIITTH CAVALRY 

was mustered in at Davenport, November 30, 1863, with M. M. Trumbull, of 
Cedar Falls, as Colonel ; J. P. Knight, of Mitchell, as Lieutenant Colonel ; E. 
T. Ensign, of Des Moines, Willis Drummond, of McGregor, and William Had- 
dock, of Waterloo, as Majors. Company A was from Muscatine County; 
Company B,.Linn County; Company C, Wapello and Decatur Counties ; Com- 
pany D, Washington County ; Company E, Fayette County ; Company F, 
Clayton County ; Companies G and II, Viirious counties ; Company I, Wapello 
and Jefferson Counties; Company K, Keokuk County; Company L, Jasper 
and Marion Counties ; Company M, Wapello and Lee Counties. Was mustered 
out at Little Rock, Ark., February 28, 1866. 



ARTILLERY. 

THE FIRST BATTERY OF LIGHT ARTILLERY 

was enrolled in the counties of Wapello, Des Moines, Dubuque, Jefferson, 
Black Hawk, etc., and was mustered in at Burlington, Aug. 17, 1861, with C. H. 
Fletcher, of Burlington, as Captain. Was engaged at Pea Ridge, Port Gibson, 
in Atlanta campaign, Chickasaw Bayou, Lookout Mountain, etc. Was mus- 
tered out at Davenport July 5, 1865. 



248 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 



THE SECOND BATTERY OF LIGHT ARTILLERY 

was enrolled in the counties of Dallas, Polk, Harrison, Fremont and Pottawat- 
tamie, and mustered into United States service at Council Bluffs and St. Louis, 
Mo , Aug. 8 and 31, 1861, with Nelson T. Spear, of Council Bluffs, as 
Captain. Was engaged at Farmington, Corinth, etc. Was mustered out at 
Davenport, Aug. 7, 1865. 

THE THIRD BATTERY OF LIGHT ARTILLERY 

was enrolled in the counties of Dubuque, Black Hawk, Butler and Floyd, and 
mustered into United States service at Dubuque, September, 1861, with M. 
M. Hayden, of Dubuque, as Captain. Was at battle of Pea Ridge, etc., etc. 
Was mustered out at Davenport, Oct. 23, 1865. 

THE FOURTH BATTERY OF LIGHT ARTILLERY 

was enrolled in Mahaska, Henry, Mills and Fremont Counties, and was mus- 
tered in at Davenport, Nov. 23, 1863, with P. H. Goode, of Glenwood, Cap- 
tain. Was mustered out at Davenport, July 14, 1865. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 

THE FOURTH BATTALION 

Company A, from Fremont County, W. Hoyt, Captain; Company B, from 
Taylor County, John Flick, Captain ; Company C, from Page County, J. 
Whitcomb, Captain. 

THE NORTHERK BORDER BRIGADE 

was organized by the State of Iowa to protect the Northwestern frontier, 
James A. Sawyer, of Sioux City, was elected Colonel. It had Companies A, 
B, C, D and E, all enlisted from the Northwestern counties. 

THE SOUTHERN BORDER BRIGADE 

was organized by the State for the purpose of protecting the Southern border 
of the State, and was organized in counties on the border of Missouri. Com- 
pany A, First Battalion, was from Lee County, Wm. Sole, Captain ; Company B, 
First Battalion, Joseph Dickey, Captain, from Van Buren County; Company 
A, Second Battalion, from Davis County, Capt. H. B. Horn; Company B, Sec- 
ond Battalion, from Appanoose County, E. B. Skinner, Captain; Company A, 
Third Battalion, from Decatur County, J. II. Simmons, Captain; Company B, 
Third Battalion, from Wayne County, E. F. Estel, Captain; Company C, 
Third Battalion, from Ringgold County, N. Miller, Captain. 

THE FIRST INFANTRY — AFRICAN DESCENT — (SIXTIETH U. S.) 

was organized with John G. Hudson, Captain Company B, Thirty-third Mis- 
souri, as Colonel; M. F. Collins, of Keokuk, as Lieutenant Colonel, and J. L. 
Murphy, of Keokuk, as Major. Had ten companies, and were mustered in at 
various places in tlio Fall of 1863. The men were from all parts of the State 
and some from Missouri. 



HISTORY OF THK STATE OF IOWA. 249 

During the war, the following promotions were made by the United States 
Government from Iowa regiments:* 

MAJOR GENERALS 

Samuel R. Curtis, Brigadier General, from March 21, 1862. 
Frederick Steele, Brigadier (General, from November 2!), 1863. 
Frank J. Herron, Brigadier General, from November 29, 1862. 
Grenville M. Dodge, Brigadier General, from June 7, 1864. 

BRIGADIER GENERALS. 

Samuel R. Curtis, Colonel 3d Infantry, from May 17, 1861. 

Frederick Steele, Colonel 8tli Infantry, from February 6, 1862. 

Jacob G. Lauman, Colonel 7th Infantry, from March 21, 1863. 

Grenville '^L Dodge, Colonel 4th Infantry, from March 31, 1862. 

James M. Tuttle, Colonel 2d Infantry, from June 9, 1863. 

Wiishington L. Elliott, Colonel 2d Cavalry, from June 11, 1862. 

Fitz Henry Warren, Colonel 1st Cavalry , from July 6, 1863. 

Frank J. Herron, Lieutenant Colonel t)th Infantry, from July 30, 1863. 

Charles L. Matthies, Colonel 5th Infantry, from November 29, 1863. 

William Vandever, Colonel 9th Infantry, from November 29, 1863. 

Marcellus ^I. Crocker, Colonel 13th Infantry, from Nov. 29, 1863. (Since died.) 

Hugh T. Reid, Colonel 15th Infantry from March 13, 1863. 

Samuel A. Rice, Colonel 33d Infantry, from August 4, 1863. 

John M. Corse, Colonel 6th Infantry, from August 11, 1863. 

Cyrus Bussey, Colonel 3d Cavalry, from January 5, 1864. 

Edward Hatch, Colonel 3d Cavalry, from April 37, 1864. 

Elliott W. Rice, Colonel 7th Infantry, from June 30, 1864. 

Wm. W. Belknap, Colonel 15th Infantry, from July 30, 1864. 

John Edwards, Colonel 18th Infantry, from September 26, 1864. 

James A. AVilliamson, Colonel 4th Infantry, from January 13, 1864. 

James I. Gilbert, Colonel 27th Infantry, from February 9, 1865. 

BREVET MAJOR GENERALS. 

John M. Corse, Brigadier General from October 5, 1864. 
Edward Hatch, Brigadier General, from December 15, 1864. 
Wm. W. Belknap, Brigadier General, from March 13, 1865. 
W. L. Elliott, Brigadier General, from March 13, 1865. 
Wm, Vandever, Brigadier General, from June 7, 1865. 

BREVET BRIGADIER GENERALS. 

Wm. T. Clark, A. A. G., late of 13th Infantry, from July 22, 1864. 

Edward F. Wiuslow, Colonel 4th Cavalry, from December 13, 1864. 

S. G. Hill, Colonel 35th Infantry, from December 15, 1864. (Since died.) 

Thos. II. Benton, Colonel 39th Infantry, from December 15, 1864. 

Samuel L. Glasgow, Colonel 23d Infantiy, from December 19, 1864. 

Clark R. Wever, Colonel 17th Infantry, from February 9, 186.5. 

Francis M. Drake, Lieutenant Colonel 36th Infantry, from February 23, 1865. 

George A. Stone, Colonel 35th Infantry, from IMarch 13, 1865. 

Datus E. Coon, Colonel 2d Cavalry, from March 8, 1865. 

George W. Clark, Colonel 34th Infantry, from March 13, 1865. 

Herman 11. Heath, Colonel 7th Cavalry, from March 13, 1865. 

J. M. Iledrick, Colonel 15th Infantry, from March 13, 1865. 

W. W. Lowe, Colonel 5th Cavalry, from March 13, 1865. 

♦Thomas .T. McKean waa appointed Paymaster in U. S. A. from Iowa, and subsequently promoted Brigadier General 
W date from Kov. 21, ItjGl. 



250 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 



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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 



253 






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254 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 



NUMBER OF TROOPS FURNISHED BY THE STATE OF IOWA 

DURING THE WAR OF THE REBELLION, 

TO JANUARY 1, 18G5. 



No. Recrimcnt. 



1st Iowa 

2d " 

3d " 

4th " 

5lh " 

6th " 

7th " 

8th " 

9th " 

10th " 

nth " 

12th " 

13th " 

14th " 

15th " 

16th " 

17th " 

18th " 

19th " 

20th " 

21st " 

22d " 

23d " 

24ih " 

25th " 

26th " 

27th " 

28th •' 

29th " 

30th " 

Slat " 

32d " 

33d " 

34th " 

35th " 

36th " 

37th " 

38th " 



Infantry. 



No. of 
men. 



959 

1,247 

1,074 

1.184 

1,03 

1,01 

1,138 

1,027 

1,090 

1,027 

1,022 

981 

989 

840 

1,196 

919 

956 

875 

985 

925 

980 

1,008 

961 

979 

996 

919 

940 

956 

1,005 

978 

977 

925 

985 

953 

984 

986 

914 

910 



No. Regiment. 



o9th Iowa Infantry 

40th ■' " 

41st Battalion low.a Infantry 

44th Infantry (lOO-days men) 

45th '■ " " 

46th " " " 

47lh •' " " 

48fh Battalion " " 

1st Inwa Cavalry 

2a '• " 

3d " " 

4th " " 

5th " " 

6th " " 

7th " " 

8ih " " 

9th " " 

Sioux City Cavalry* 

Co. A, 11th Penn. Cavalry 

1st Battery Artillery 

2d ■' " 

3d " " 

4th " " 

1st Iowa African Infantry, 60th U. Sf.. 

Dodge's Brigade Band 

Band of 2d Iowa Infantry 

Enlistments as far as reported to Jan. 1, 

1864, for the older Iowa regiments 

Enlistments of Iowa men in regiments 
of other States, over 



Tot.al , 

Re-enlisted Veterans for ilitferent Regi- 
ments 

Additional enlistments 



Grand total as far as reported up to Jan, 
1, 1865 .■; , 



No. of 
men. 



933 

91 '0 

294 

867 

912 

892 

884 

346 

1,478 

1.394 

1,360 

1,227 

1,245 

1,125 

562 

1,234 

1,178 

93 

87 

149 

123 

142 

152 

903 

14 

10 

2,765 

2,500 



61,653 

7,202 
6,664 



75,519 



This does not include those Iowa men who veteranized in the regiments of other States, nor 
the names of men who enlisted during 1864, in regiments of other Slates. 
* Afterward consolidated with Seventh Cavalry, 
•j- Only a portion of this regiment was credited to the State. 



HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 



or, 



ho 



POPULATION OF IOWA, 

By Counties. 



COUNTIES. 






AGGnCG.VTE. 








1875. 


1870. 


1860. 


1S30.- 


1840. 


Voters. 




7045 

7832 
19158 
17405 

2370 
28807 
22913 
17251 
13220 
17315 

3561 


3982 

4614 
17868 
16456 

1212 
22454 
21706 
14584 
12528 
17034 

1585 


984 
1533 






1616 


Adanis 






1727 




12237 

11931 

454 

8496 

8244 

4232 

4915 

7906 

57 


777 
3131 




3653 


Appaiiooye 

AiuUiboii 




3679 




527 


Benton 


672 
135 




4778 


Black Hawk 




4877 


Booiie 


735 




3515 




2C56 


Buolianaii 


517 




3890 


Buena \'ista 




817 










Butler 


11734 

3185 

5760 

10552 

17879 

6685 

424'' 

11400 

10118 

3.559 

27184 

34295 

6039 

14386 

15757 

13249 

16893 

35415 

1748 

43845 

1436 

20515 

13100 

6558 

13719 

7028 

8134 

9638 

7701 

1482 

15029 

11818 

21594 

7875 

3455 

794 

17456 

2.3061 

24128 

17127 

24654 

19168 


9951 

1602 

2451 

6464 

19731 

4722 

1967 

10180 

873-5 

1523 

27771 

35357 

25.30 

12019 

1.5.565 

12018 

17432 

27256 

1389 

38969 

1392 

16973 

10768 

4738 

11173 

4627 

6399 

7061 

6055 

999 

13684 

8931 

21463 

6282 

2596 

226 

16644 

22619 

22116 

17839 

24898 

19731 


3724 
147 

281 

1612 

12949 

940 

58 

4330 

5427 

62 

20728 

18938 

383 






2598 








681 








1197 


Cass 






2422 




3941 


1253 


3934 


Cerro Gordo 


15''6 


Cherokee 






1001 








2392 


Clarke 


79 




2213 


Clay 




868 




3873 
2822 


1101 
821 


5272 




5569 




1244 




5244 

13764 

8677 

11024 

19611 

180 

31164 

105 

12073 

3744 

1309 

5074 

1374 

793 


854 
7264 

965 

1759 

12988 




3170 




3448 






2882 


Delaware 


168 
6577 


3662 




6654 




394 




10841 


3059 


8759 




299 




825 




4637 


Floyd 




2884 






1374 




1244 




2998 






1622 








1525 




3058 
1699 






2339 








1455 




179 

5440 

3621 

18701 

3168 

332 

43 

8029 

18493 

9883 

15038 

17573 

13306 






303 








3215 








2658 




8707 


3772 


4641 




1712 








695 


Ida 






172 




822 
7210 
1280 
9904 
4472 
3007 




3576 




1411 



4901 




5239 




2773 

1491 

471 


8721 




5225 




4180 



* In 1862, nume chaaged to Lyon. 



266 



IlISTO:iY OF THE STATE OP IOWA. 

POPULATION OF IOWA— Concludep. 



COUNTIES. 


ACOr.EG-VTE. 




1S75. 


1870. 


IS60. 


1850. 


1840. 


Voters. 


Keokuk 


20488 

3765 

33913 

31815 

12499 

11725 

1139 

16030 

23718 

24094 

19629 

10555 

11523 

22G7 

12811 

10389 

21 023 

2349 

1778 

14274 

2728 

5282 

2249 

31558 

21665 

16482 

7546 

2873 

39703 

6664 

3120 

13111 

1877! 

10418 

8827 

16980 

23865 

18541 

19269 

13978 

13114 

2986 

24233 

8568 

4908 

3244 


19434 

3351 

38210 

28852 

12877 

10388 

221 

13884 

22508 

24400 

17576 

8718 

9582 

3054 

12724 

5934 

21688 

715 


1327) 
416 
29232 
18947 
10370 
6700 


1 
4822' 


4202 




773 




18861 

5444 

4909 

471 


6093 
1370 
1927 


7274 




7509 




2899 




2464 






287 




7339 

14810 

10810 

6015 

4481 

3409 

832 

8612 

1250 

10444 

8 


1179 




3602 




5989 

6482 

338 




5287 
4988 


Mariou 




M;irshall 




4445 


Mills 






2305 


Mildicll 






2338 








1292 
2743 




2884 








2485 


Musc.itine 


5731 


1942 


6588 


0'i5rien 


595 








498 




9975 

1300 

2199 

1440 

27857 

10893 

15581 

5091 

1411 

38599 

2540 

576 

11651 

16131 

6989 

6986 

17672 

22046 

17980 

18952 

11287 

10484 

1562 

23570 

6172 

2892 

2392 


4419 

132 

148 

103 

11625 

4968 

5668 

2923 

246 

25959 

818 

10 

4051 

5285 

3590 

2012 

17081 

14518 

10281 

14235 

6409 

2504 

168 

13942 

1119 

756 

653 


551 




3222 


Villa Alto 




556 








1136 








404 


Polk 


4513 

7828 

615 




6842 




4392 






3634 






1496 


Sac 







657 


Scott 


5986 


2140 


7109 


Shelby 


1084 








637 








2574 




8 
204 




3911 


Taylor 




2282 






1924 




12270 
8471 

961 
4957 

340 


6146 


3893 




6346 






4168 




1594 


4168 


Wayne 


2947 


Webster 




2747 








406 




546 




4117 






1776 


Worth 






763 


Wright 






694 








Total 


1353118 


1191792 


674913 


192214 


43112 


284557 



* Formerly Buncombe. 



THE -XORTHWESTERN STATES. 257 



I !> L I N O I S . 

Length, 380 miles, mean width about 156 miles. Area, 55,410 sciuara 
miles, or 35,462,400 acres. Illinois, as regards its surface, constitutes a 
table-land at a varying elevation ranging between 850 and 800 feet above 
the sea level ; composed of extensive and highly fertile prairies and plains. 
Much of the south division of the State, especially the river-bottoms, are 
thickly wooded. The prairies, too, have oasis-like clumps of trees 
scattered here and there at intervals. The chief rivers irrigating the 
State are the Mississippi — dividing it from Iowa and Missouri — the Oliio 
(forming its south barrier), the Illinois, Wabash, Kaskaslvia, and San- 
gamon, with their numerous affluents. The total extent of navigable 
streams is calculated at 4,000 miles. Small lakes are scattered over vari- 
ous parts of the State. Illinois is extremely prolific in minerals, chiefly 
coal, iron, copper, and zinc ores, suljiliur and limestone. The coal-field 
alone is estimated to absorb a full third of the entire coal-deposit of North 
America. Climate tolerably equable and healthy ; the mean temperature 
standing at about 51' P'ahrenheit As an agricultural region, Illinois takes 
a competitive rank with neighboring States, the cereals, fruits, and root- 
crops yielding plentiful returns ; in fact, as a grain-growing State, Illinois 
may be deemed, in proportion to her size, to possess a greater area of 
lands suitable for its production than any other State in the Union. Stock- 
raising is also largely carried on, while her manufacturing interests in 
regard of woolen fabrics, etc., are on a very extensive and yearly expand- 
hig scale. The lines of railroad in the State are among the most exten- 
sive of the Union. Inland water-carriage is facilitated by a canal 
connecting the Illinois River with Lake Michigan, and thence with the 
St. Lawrence and Atlantic. Illinois is divided into 102 counties ; the 
chief towns being Chicago, Springfield (capital), Alton, Quincy, Peoria, 
Galena, Bloomington, Rock Island, Vandalia, etc. By the new Consti- 
tution, established in 1870, the State Legislature consists of 61 Senators, 
elected for four years, and 153 Representatives, for two years ; which 
numbers were to be decennially increased thereafter to the number of 
six per every additional half-million of inhabitants. Religious and 
educational institutions are largely diffused throughout, and are in a very 
floTirishing condition. Illinois has a State Lunatic and a Deaf and Dumb 
Asylum at .lacksonville ; a State Penitentiary at Joliet ; and a Home for 



THE NORTHWESTERN STATES. 

Soldiers' Orphans at Normal. On November 30, 1870, the public debt of 
the State was returned at $4,870,937, with a balance of |il,808,833 
unprovided for. At the same period the value of assessed and equalized 
property presented the following totals: assessed, #840,031,703 ; equal- 
ized #480,664,058. The name of Illinois, through nearly th. whole of 
the eighteenth century, embraced most of the known regions north and 
west of Ohio. French colonists established themselves in 1673, at 
Cahokia and Kaskaskia, and the territory of which these settlements 
formed the nucleus was, in 1763, ceded to Great Britain in conjunction 
with Canada, and ultimately resigned to the United States in 1787. 
Illinois entered the Union as a State, December 3, 1818 ; and now sends 
19 Representatives to Congress. Population, 2,539,891, in 1870. 




THE NORTHWESTERN STATES. 259 



INDIANA. 



Tlie profile of Indiana forms a nearly exact parallelogram, occupy- 
ing one of the most fertile portions of the great Mississippi Valley. The 
greater extent of the surface embraced within its limits consists of gentle 
undulations rising into hilly tracts toward the Ohio bottom. The chief 
rivers of the State are the Ohio and Wabasii, with their numerous 
affluents. The soil is highly productive of the cereals and grasses — most 
particularly so in the valleys of the Ohio, Wabash, Whitewater, and 
White Rivers. The northeast and central portions are well timbered 
with virgin forests, and the west section is notably rich in coal, constitut- 
ing an offshoot of the great Illinois carboniferous field. Iron, copper, 
marble, slate, gypsum, and various clays are also abundant. From an 
agricultural point of view, the staple products are maize and wheat, with 
the other cereals in lesser yields •, and besides these, flax, hemp, sorghum, 
liops, etc., are extensively raised. Indiana is divided into 92 counties, 
and counts among her principal cities and towns, those of Indianapolis 
(the capital). Fort Wayne, Evansville, Terre Haute, Madison, Jefferson- 
ville, Columbus, Vincennes, South Bend, etc. The public institutions of 
tiie State are many and various, and on a scale of magnitude and 
efficiency commensurate with her important political and industrial status. 
Upward of two thousand miles of railroads permeate the State in all 
directions, and greatly conduce to the development of her expanding 
manufacturing interests. Statistics for the fiscal year terminating 
October 31, 1870, exhibited a total of receipts, $3,890,541 as against dis- 
bursements, $3,532,406, leaving a balance, $364,135 in favor of the State 
Treasury. The entire public debt, January 5, 1871, $3,971,000. This 
State was first settled by Canadian voyageurs in 1702, who erected a fort 
at Vincennes ; in 17G3 it passed into the hands of the English, and was 
by the latter ceded to the United States in 1783. From 1788 till 1791, 
an Indian warefare prevailed. In 1800, all the region west and north of 
Ohio (then formed into a distinct territory) became merged iu Indiana. 
In 1809, the present limits of the State were defined, Michigan and 
Illinois having previously been withdrawn. In 1811, Indiana was the 
theater of the Indian War of Tecumseh, ending with the decisive battle 
of Tippecanoe. In 1816 (December 11), Indiana became enrolled among 
the States of the American Union. In 1834, the State passed through a 
monetary crisis owing to its having become mixed up with railroad, 
canal, and other speculations on a gigantic scale, which ended, for the 
tmie being, in a general collapse of public credit, and consequent Ijank- 
ruptcy.*" Since that time, however, the greater number of the public 



260 THE NORTHWESTERN STATES. 

works which had brought ubout that imbroglio — especially the great 
Wabash and Erie Canal — have been completed, to the great benefit of 
the State, whose subsequent progress has year bj' year been marked by 
rapid strides in the paths of wealth, commerce, and general social and 
political prosperity. The constitution now in force was adopted iu 1851. 
Population, 1,680,637. 



IOWA. 

In shape, Iowa presents an almost perfect parallelogram ; has a 
length, north to south, of about 300 miles, by a pretty even width of 208 
miles, and embraces an area of 55,045 square miles, or 35,228,800 acres. 
The surface of the State is generally undulating, rising toward the 
middle into an elevated plateau which forms the " divide " of the 
Missouri and Mississippi basins. Rolling prairies, especially in the south 
section, constitute a regnant feature, and the river bottoms, belted with 
woodlands, present a soil of the richest alluvion. Iowa is well watered ; 
the principal rivers being the Mississippi and Missoui'i, which form 
respectively its east and west limits, and the Cedar, Iowa, and Des 
Moines, affluents of the first named. Mineralogically, Iowa is important 
as occupying a section of the great Northwest coal field, to the extent of 
an area estimated at 25,000 square miles. Lead, cojiper, zinc, and iron, 
are also mined in considerable quantities. The soil is well adapted to 
the production of wheat, maize, and the other cereals ; fruits, vegetables, 
and esculent roots; maize, wheat, and oats forming the chief staples. 
Wine, tobacco, hops, and wax, are other noticeable items of the agricul- 
tural yield. Cattle-raising, too, is a branch of rural industry largely 
engaged in. The climate is healthy, although liable to extremes of heat 
and cold. The annual gross product of the various manufactures carried 
on in this State approximate, in round numbers, a sum of $20,000,000. 
Iowa has an immense railroad system, besides over 500 miles of water- 
communication by means of its navigable rivers. The State is politically 
divided into 99 counties, with the following centers of population : Des 
Moines (capital), Iowa City (former capital), Dubuque, Davenport, Bur- 
lington, Council Bluffs, Keokuk, Muscatine, and Cedar Rapids. Thei 
State institutions of Iowa — religious, scholastic, and philanthropic — arej 
on a par, as regards number and perfection of organization and operation, 
with those of her Northwest sister States, and education is especially] 
well cared for, and largely diffused. Iowa formed a portion of the] 
American territorial acquisitions from France, by the so-called Louisiana] 
purchase in 1803, and was politically identified with Louisiana till 1812,] 




'i lis? 



'1V V 



^ 



H ^^ 




'^.z e^/\ u^ -J) y-^ffZ 



THE NORTHWESTERN STATES. 263 

when it merged into the Missouri Territory; in 1834 it came under the 
Michigan organization, and, in 1836, under that of Wisconsin. Finall}', 
after being constituted an independent Territory, it became a State of 
the Union, December 28, 1846. Population in 1860, 674,913 ; in 1870, 
1,191,792, and in 1875, 1,353,118. 



MICHIGAN. 

United area, 56,243 square miles, or 35,995,520 acres. Extent of the 
Upper and smaller Peninsula — length, 316 miles; breadth, fluctuating 

] between 86 and 120 miles. The south division is 416 miles long, by from 

1 50 to 300 miles wide. Aggregate lake-shore line, 1,400 miles. The 
Upper, or North, Peninsula consists chiefly of an elevated plateau, 
expanding into the Porcupine mountain-system, attaining a maximum 
height of some 2,000 feet. Its shores along Lake Superior are eminently 

' bold and picturesque, and its area is rich in minerals, its product of 
copper constituting an important source of industry. Both divisions are 
heavily wooded, and the South one, in addition, boasts of a deep, rich, 
loamy soil, throwing up excellent crops of cereals and other agricultural 
produce. The climate is generally mild and humid, though the Winter 

I colds are severe. The chief staples of farm husbandry include the cereals, 
grasses, maple sugar, sorghum, tobacco, fruits, and dairy-stuffs. In 1870, 
the acres of land in farms were : improved, 5,096,939 ; unimproved 
woodland, 4,080,146 ; other unimproved land, 842,057. The cash value 
of land was $398,240,578 ; of farming implements and machinery, 
$13,711,979. In 1869, there were shipped from the Lake Superior ports, 

u 874,582 tons of iron ore, and 45,762 of smelted pig, along with 14,188 
tons of copper (ore and ingot). Coal is another article largely mined. 
Jnland communication is provided for by an admirably organized railroad 
sjstem, and by the St. Mary's Ship Canal, connecting Lakes Huron and 
Superior. Michigan is politically divided into 78 counties ; its chief 

> urban centers are Detroit, Lansing (capital), Ann Arbor, Marquette, 
Bay City, Niles, Ypsilanti, Grand Haven, etc. The Governor of the 
State is elected biennially. On November 30, 1870, the aggregate bonded 
debt of Michigan amounted to $2,385,028, and the assessed valuation of 
land to 1266,929,278, representing an estimated cash value of $800,000,000. 
Education is largely diffused and most excellently conducted and pro- 
vided for. The State University at Ann Arbor, the colleges of Detroit 
and Kalamazoo, the Albion Female College, the State Normal School at 

I Ypsilanti, and the State Agricultural College at Lansing, are chief among 
the academic institutions. Michigan (a term of Chippeway origin, and 



264 THE NORTHWESTERN STATES. 

signifying " Great Lake), was discovered and first settled by French 
Canadians, who, in 1G70, founded Detroit, the pioneer of a series of trad- 
ing-posts on the Indian frontier. During the " Conspiracy of Pontiac," 
following the French loss of Canada, Michigan became the scene of a 
sanguinary struggle between the whites and aborigines. In 1796, it 
became annexed to tiie United States, which incorporated this region 
with the Northwest Territory, and tlien with Indiana Territory, till 1803, 
when it became territorially independent. Michigan was the theater of 
warlike operations during the war of 1812 with Great Britain, and in 
1819 Avas authorized to be represented by one delegate in Congress ; in 
1837 she was admitted into the Union as a State, and in 1869 ratified the 
15th Amendment to the Federal Constitution. Population, 1,184,059. 



WISCONSIN. 

It has a mean length of 260 miles, and a maximum breadth of 215. 
Land area, 53,924 square miles, or 34,511,360 acres. Wisconsin lies at a 
considerable altitude above sea-level, and consists for the most part of an 
upland plateau, the surface of which is undulating and verj^ generally 
diversified. Numerous local eminences called mounds are interspersed 
over the State, and the Lake Michigan coast-line is in many parts char- 
acterized by lofty escarped cliffs, even as on the west side the banks of 
the Mississippi form a series of high and picturesque bluffs. A group of 
islands known as The Apostles lie off the extreme north j^oint of the 
State in Lake Superior, and the great estuary of Green Bay, running far 
inland, gives formation to a long, narrow peninsula between its waters 
and those of Lake Michigan. The river-system of Wisconsin has three 
outlets — those of Lake Superior, Green Bay, and the Mississippi, whichi 
latter stream forms the entire southwest frontier, widening at one point] 
into the large watery expanse called Lake Pepin. Lake Superior receives! 
the St. Louis, Burnt Wood, and Montreal Rivers ; Green Bay, thej 
Menomouee, Peshtigo, Oconto, and Fox ; while into the Mississippi 
empty the St. Croix, Chippewa, Blacli, Wisconsin, and Rock Rivers. 
The chief interior lakes are those of Winnebago, Horicon, and Court 
Oreilles, and smaller sheets of water stud a great part of the surface. 
The climate is healthful, with cold Winters and brief but very warm 
Summers. Mean annual rainfall 31 inches. The geological system 
represented by the State, embraces those rocks included between the 
primary and the Devonian series, the former containing extensive 
deposits of copper and iron ore. Besides these minerals, lead and zinc 
are found in great quantities, together with kaolin, plumbago, gypsum, 



THE NOKTHWESTEHN STATES. 265 

and various clays. Mining, consequently, forms a prominent industry, 
and one of yearly increasing dimensions. The soil of Wisconsin is of 
varying quality, but fertile on the whole, and in the north parts of the 
State heavily timbered. The agricultural yield comprises the cereals, 
together with flax, hemp, tobacco, pulse, sorgum, and all kinds of vege- 
tables, and of the hardier fruits. In 1870, the State had a total number 
of 102,904 farms, occup3'ing 11,715,321 acres, of which 5,899,343 con- 
sisted of improved land, and 3,437,442 were timbered. Cash value of 
farms, $300,414,064 ; of farm implements and machinery, $14,239,364. 
Total estimated value of all farm products, including betterments and 
additions to stock, $78,027,032 ; of orchard and dairy stuffs, $1,045,933 ; 
of lumber, $1,327,618 ; of home manufactures, $338,423 ; of all live-stock, 
$45,310,882. Number of manufacturing establishments, 7,136, employ- 
ing 39,055 hands, and turning out productions valued at $85,624,966. 
The political divisions of the State form 61 counties, and the chief places 
of wealth, trade, and population, are Madison (the capital), Milwaukee, 
Fond du Lac, Oshkosh, Prairie du Chien, Janesville, Portage City, 
Racine, Kenosha, and La Crosse. In 1870, the total assessed valuation 
reached $333,209,838, as against a true valuation of both real and personal 
€state aggregating $602,207,329. Treasury receipts during 1870, $886,- 
696 ; disbursements, $906,329. Value of church property, $4,749,983. 
Education is amply provided for. Independently of the State University 
at Madison, and those of Galesville and of Lawrence at Appleton, and 
the colleges of Beloit, Racine, and Milton, there are Normal Schools at 
Platteville and Whitewater. The State is divided into 4,802 common 
school districts, maintained at a cost, in 1870, of $2,094,160. The chari- 
table institutions of Wisconsin include a Deaf and Dumb Asylum, an 
Institute for the Education of the Blind, and a Soldiers' Orphans' School. 
In January, 1870, the railroad sj^stem ramified throughout the State 
totalized 2,779 miles of track, including several lines far advanced toward, 
completion. Immigration is successfully encouraged by the State author- 
ities, the larger number of yearly new-comers being of Scandinavian and 
German origin. The territory now occupied within the limits of the 
State of Wisconsin was explored by French missionaries and ti-aders in 
1639, and it remained under French jurisdiction until 1703, when it 
became annexed to the British North American possessions. In 1796, it 
reverted to the United States, the government of which latter admitted 
it within the limits of the Northwest Territory, and in 1809, attached it 
to that of Illinois, and to Michigan in 1818. Wisconsin became independ- 
ently territorially organized in 1836, and became a State of the Union, 
March 3, 1847. Population in 1870, 1,064,985, of which 2,113 were of 
the colored race, and 11,521 Indians, 1,206 of the latter being out of 
tribal relations. 



266 THE NORTHWESTERN STATES. 



MINNESOTA. 



Its length, north to south, embraces an extent of 380 miles; its; 
oreadtli one of 250 miles at a maximum. Area, 84,000 square miles, or 
54,700,000 acres. The surface of Minnesota, generally speaking, con- 
sists of a succession of gently undulating plains and prairies, drained by^ 
an admirable water-system, and with here and there heavily- timbered 
bottoms and belts of virgin forest. Tlie soil, corresponding with such a 
superfices, is exceptionally rich, consisting for the most part of a dark, 
calcareous sandy drift intermixed with loam. A distinguishing pliysical 
feature of this State is its riverine ramifications, expanding in nearly 
every part of it into almost innumerable lakes — the whole presenting an 
aggregate of water-power having hardly a rival in the Union. Besides, 
the Mississippi — which here has its rise, and drains a basin of 800 miles 
of country — the principal streams are the Minnesota (334 miles long), 
the Red River of the North, the St. Croix, St. Louis, and many others of 
lesser importance ; the chief lakes are those called Red, Cass, Leech, 
Mille Lacs, Vermillion, and Winibigosh. Quite a concatenation of sheets 
of water fringe the frontier line where Minnesota joins British America, 
culminating in the Lake of the Woods. It has been estimated, that of 
an area of 1,200,000 acres of surface between the St. Croix and Mis- 
sissippi Rivers, not less than 73,000 aex'es are of lacustrine formation. In 
point of minerals, the resources of Minnesota have as yet been very 
imperfectly developed; iron, copper, coal, lead — all these are known to 
exist in considerable deposits ; together with salt, limestone, and potter's, 
clay. The agricultural outlook of the State is in a high degree satis- 
factory ; wheat constitutes the leading cereal in cultivation, with Indian 
corn and oats in next order. Fruits and vegetables are gi'own in great 
plenty and of excellent quality. The lumber resources of Minnesota are 
important ; the pine forests in the north region alone occui^ying an area 
of some 21,000 square miles, which in 1870 produced a return of scaled 
logs amounting to 313,116,416 feet. The natural industrial advantages 
possessed by Minnesota are largely improved upon by a railroad system. 
The political divisions of this State number 78 counties; of which the 
chief cities and towns are : St. Paul (the capital), Stillwater, Red Wing, 
St. Anthony, Fort Snelling, Minneapolis, and Mankato. Minnesota has- 
already assumed an attitude of high importance as a manufacturing State ; 
this is mainly due to the wonderful command of water-power she pos- 
sesses, as before spoken of. Besides her timber-trade, the milling of 
flour, the distillation of whisky, and the tanning of leather, are prominent 
interests, which in 1869, gave returns to the amount of 114,831,043.- 



TUE NOETIIWESTERX STATES. 267 

Education is notably provided for on a broad and catholic scale, the 
fcocne amount expended scliolastically during the year 1870 being $857,- 
816 ; while on November 30 of the preceding year the permanent school 
fund stood at $2,476,222. Besides a University and Agricultural College, 
Normal and Reform Schools flourish, and with these may be mentioned 
.sucli various philanthropic and religious institutions as befit the needs of 
an intelligent and prosperous community. The finances of the State for 
the fiscal year terminating December 1, 1870, exhibited a balance on the 
xight side to the amount of $136,164, being a gain of $44,000 over the 
previous j'ear's figures. The earliest exploration of Minnesota by the 
whites was made in 1680 by a French Franciscan, Father Hennepin, who 
gave the name of St. Antony to the Great Falls on the Upper Missisippi. 
In 1763, the Treaty of Versailles ceded this region to England. 
Twenty years later, Minnesota formed part of tlie Northwest Territory 
transferred to the United States, and became herself territorialized inde- 
pendently in 1849. Indian cessions in 1851 enlarged her boundaries, and, 
May 11, 1857, Minnesota became a unit of the great American federation 
of States. Population, 439,706. 



NEBRASKA. 

Maximum length, 412 miles ; extreme breadth, 208 miles. Area, 
75,905 square miles, or 48,636,800 acres. The surface of this State is 
almost entirely undulating prairie, and forms part of the west slope of 
the great central basin of the North American Continent. In its west 
division, near the base of the Rocky Mountains, is a sandy belt of 
country, irregularly defined. In this part, too, are the " dunes," resem- 
bling a wavy sea of sandy billows, as well as the Mauvaises Terres, a tract 
of singular formation, produced by eccentric disintegrations and denuda- 
tions of the land. The cliief rivers are the Missouri, constituting its en- 
tire east line of demarcation ; the Nebraska or Platte, the Niobrara, the 
Republican Fork of the Kansas, the Elkhorn, and the Loup Fork of the 
Platte. The soil is very various, but consisting chiefly of rich, bottomy 
loam, admirably adapted to the raising of heavy crops of cereals. All 
the vegetables and fruits of the temperate zone are produced in great 
size and plenty. For grazing purposes Nebraska is a State exceptionally 
well-fitted, a region of not less tlian 23,000,000 acres being adaptable to 
this branch of husbandry. It is believed that the, as yet, comparatively 
infertile tracts of land found in various parts of the State are susceptible 
of productivity by means of a properly conducted system of irrigation. 
Few minerals of moment have so far been found within the limits of 



268 THE NORTinVES^TEKX STATES. 

Nebraska, if we may except important saline deposits at the head of Salfc 
Creek in its southeast section. The State is divided into 57 counties, 
independent of the Pawnee and Winnebago Indians, and of unorganized 
territory in the northwest part. The principal towns are Omaha, Lincoln 
(State capital), Nebraska City, Columbus, Grand Island, etc. In 1870, 
the total assessed value of property amounted to 'S^OiOOOjOOO, being au 
increase of $11,000,000 over the previous year's returns. The total 
amount received from the school-fund during the year 1869-70 was 
$77,999. Education is making great onward strides, the State University 
and an Agricultural College being far advanced toward completion. In 
the matter of railroad communication, Nebraska bids fair to soon place 
herself on a par with her neighbors to the east. Besides being inter- 
sected by the Union Pacific line, with its off-shoot, the Fremont and Blair, 
other tracks are in course of rapid construction. Organized by Con- 
gressional Act into a Territory, May 30, 1854, Nebraska entered the 
Union as a full State, March 1, 1867. Population, 122,993, 



CONSTITUTION 0¥ THE UNITED STATES 2(j9 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
AND ITS AMENDMENTS. 

We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, 
establish Justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common 
defense, promote the general loelfare, and secme the blessings of liberty 
to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution 
for the United States of America. 

Article I. 

Section 1. All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in 
a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and 
House of Representatives. 

Sec. 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of mem- 
bers chosen every second year by the people of the several states, and the 
electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of 
the most numerous branch of the State Legislature. 

No person shall be a representative who shall not have attained to the 
age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United 
States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state in 
which he shall be chosen. 

Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the sev- 
eral states which may be included within this Union, according to their 
respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole 
number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of 
years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons. 
The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the first 
meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subse- 
quent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. The 
number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, 
but each state shall have at least one Representative ; and until such 
enumeration shall be made the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled 
to choose three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plan- 
tations one, Connecticut five. New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylva- 
nia eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, 
and Georgia three. 

When vacancies happen in the representation from any state, the 
Executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such 
vacancies. 

The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and other 
officers, and shall have the sole power of impeachment. 

Sec. 3. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two 
Senators from each state, chosen by the Legislature thereof for six years ; 
and each Senator siiall have one vote. 

Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the first 
election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three classes. 
The seats of the Senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expira- 



2(0 AND ITS AMENDMENTS. 

tion of the second year, of the second class at the expiration of the fourth 
year, and of the third class at the expiration of the sixth year, so that 
one-third may be chosen every second year; and if vacancies happen by 
resignation or otherwise, during the recess of the Legislature of any state, 
the Executive thereof may make temporary appointments until the next 
meeting of the Legislature, which sliall then fill such vacajcies. 

No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the age 
of thirty years and been nine years a citizen of the United States, and 
who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state for which he 
shall be chosen. 

The Vice-President of the United States shall be President of the 
Senate, but shall liave no vote unless they be equally divided. 

The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a President jsro 
tempore, in the absence of the Vice-President, or when he shall exercise 
the office of President of the United States. 

The Senate shall have the sole joower to try all impeachments. When 
sitting for that purpose they shall be on oath or affirmation. When the 
President of the United States is tried the Chief Justice shall preside. 
And no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds 
of the members present. 

Judgment, in cases of impeachment, shall not extend further than to 
removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of 
honor, trust, or profit under the United States ; but the party convicted 
shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment, 
and punishment according to law. 

Sec. 4. The times, places and manner of holding elections for Sen- 
ators and Rejjresentatives shall be prescribed in each state by the Legis- 
lature thereof ; but the Congress ma}- at any time by law make or alter 
such regulations, except as to the places of choosing Senators. 

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such 
meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by 
law appoint a different day. 

Sec. 5. Each house shall be the judge of the election, returns, and 
qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall constitute 
a quorum to do business ; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to 
day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members 
in such manner and under such penalties as each Jiouse may provide. 

Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings, jiunish its 
members f^r disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, 
expel a member. 

Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to 
time publish the same, exce[)ting such jiarts as may, in their judgment, 
require secrecy ; and tlie yeas and nays of the members of either house 
on any question shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those present, be entered 
on tlie journal. 

Neither house, during the session of Congress, shall, without the 
consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other 
place than that in which the two houses shall be sitting. 

Sec. 6. Tlie Senators and Representatives shall receive a compen- 
sation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the 
treasury of tlie United States. They shall in all cases, except treason, 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 



271 



felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their 
attendance at the session of their respective houses, and in going to and 
returning from the same ; and for any speecli or debate in either house 
they shall not be questioned in any other jilace. 

No Senator or Repi'esentative shall, during the time for which he was 
elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the United 
States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall 
have been increased during sucli time ; and no person liolding any office 
under the United States, shall be a member of either house during his 
continuance in office. 

Sec. 7. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of 
Representatives ; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments 
as on other bills. 

Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and 
the Senate, shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the President 
- the United States ; if hs approve he shall sign it ; but if not he shall 
return it, with his objections, to that house in which it shall have origi- 
nated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and 
proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration two-thirds of that 
house shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objec- 
tions, to the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if 
approved by two-thirds of that house, it shall become a law. But in all 
such cases the votes of both liouses shall be determined by 3 eas and nays, 
and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill sluill be entered 
■on the journal of each house respectively. If any bill shall not Ije returned 
by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted), after it shall have 
been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he 
had signed it, unless the Congress, b}' their adjournment, prevent its 
return, in which case it shall not be a law. 

Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of the 
Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a 
question of adjournment), shall be presented to the President of the 
United States, and before the same shall take effect shall be approved by 
him, or, being disapproved by him, shall be re-passed liy two-thirds of 
the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the rules and lim- 
itatlons prescribed in the case of a bill. 

Sec. 8. The Congress shall have power — 

To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts, 
and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United 
Gtates ; but all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout 
the United States ; 

To borrow money on the credit of the United States ; 

To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several 
St."tes, and with the Indian tribes ; 

To estaljlish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on 
the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States ; 

To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and 
fix the standard of weights and measures ; 

To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and 
current coin of the United States; 

To establish post offices and post roads ; 



272 AND ITS AMENDMENTS. 

To promote the progress of sciences and useful arts, by securing^ 
for limited times, to authors and inventors, the exclusive right to their 
respective writings and discoveries ; 

To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court ; 

To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high 
seas, and offenses against the law of nations ; 

To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules 
concerning captures on land and water ; 

To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that 
use shall be for a longer term than two years ; 

To provide and maintain a navy ; 

To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and 
naval forces ; 

To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the 
Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions ; 

To provide for organizing, arming and disciplining the militia, and 
for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the 
United States, reserving to the states respectively tlie appointment of the 
officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discr- 
pline prescribed by Congress ; 

To exercise legislation in all cases whatsoever over such district (not 
exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the 
acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United 
States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the 
consent of the Legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for 
the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock yards, and other needful 
buildings ; and 

To make all laws whicli shall be necessary and proper for carrying 
into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this 
Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any depart- 
ment or officer thereof. 

Sec. 9. The migration or importation of such persons as any of the 
states now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited 
by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, 
but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten 
dollars for each person. 

The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, 
unless when in cases of rebellion or inviision the public safety may 
require it. 

No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed. 

No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in proportion 
to the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to be taken. 

No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any state. 

No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or rev- 
enue to the ports of one state over those of another; nor shall vessels 
bound to or from one state be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in 
another. 

No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in consequence of 
appropriations made by law ; and a regular statement and account of 
the receipts and expeditures of all public money shall be published from 
time to time. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 273J 

No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States : and no 
person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the 
consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title 
of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state. 

Sec. 10. No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confeder- 
ation ; grant letters of marque and reprisal ; coin money ; emit bills of 
credit ; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of 
debts ; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the- 
obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility. 

No state shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any imposts 
or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary 
for executing its inspection laws, and the net produce of all duties and 
imposts laid by any state on imports or exports, shall be for the use of the 
Treasury of the United States ; and all such laws shall be subject to the 
revision and control of the Congress. 

No state shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty on^ 
tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any 
agreement or compact with another state, or with a foreign power, or 
engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will 
not admit of delay. 

Article II. 

Section 1. The Executive power shall be vested in a President of 
the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term 
of four years, and, together with the Vice-President chosen for the same 
term, be elected as follows : 

Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof 
may direct, a number of Electors, equal to the whole number of Senators 
and Representatives to which the state may be entitled in the Congress; 
but no Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust or 
profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector. 

[ * The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by- 
ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of 
the same state with themselves. And they shall make a list of all the 
persons voted for, and of the number of votes for each ; which list they 
shall sign and certify, and transmit, sealed, to the seat of the government 
of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The Pres- 
ident of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Rep- 
resentatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted.. 
The person having the greatest number of votes shall be the President^ 
if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors aj)pointed ; 
and if there be more than one who have such majority, and have an equal 
number of votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately 
choose by ballot one of them for President ; and if no person have a ma- 
jority, then from the five highest on the list the said House shall in like 
manner choose the President. But in choosing the President, the vote 
shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one 
vote ; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members, 
from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be 
necessary to a choice. In every case, after the choice of the President,, 

•This clause between .brackets has been supeisetlcd and annulled by the Twelfth amendment. 



274 AND ITS AMENDMENTS. 

the person having the greatest number of votes of the Electors shall be 
the Vice-President. But if there should remain two or more who have 
equal votes, the Senate shall choose from them by ballot the Vice-Presi- 
dent.] 

The Congress may determine the time of choosing the Electors, and 
the da}'^ on which they shall give their votes ; which day shall be the same 
throughout the United States. 

No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United 
States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible 
to the ofHce of President ; neither shall any person be eligible to that 
■office who shall not have attained the age of thirty-five years, and been 
fourteen years a resident within the United States. 

In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, 
resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said 
office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-Piiesident, and the Congress 
may by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation, or inabil- 
ity, both of the President and Vice-President, declaring what officer shall 
then act as President, and such officer shall act accordingly, until the dis- 
ability be removed, or a President shall be elected. 

The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services a com- 
pensation which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the 
period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive 
within that period any other emolument from the United States or any of 
them. 

Before he enters on the execution of his office, he shall take the fol- 
lowing oath or affirmation: 

" I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the 
office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, 
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." 

Sec. 2. The President shall be commander in chief of the army and 
navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when 
called into the actual service of the United States ; he may require the 
opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive 
departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their resjiective 
offices, and he shall have powei' to grant reprieves and pardon for offenses 
.against the United States, except in cases of impeachment. 

He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the 
Senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present con- 
cur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice of the Senate, 
shall appoint aml)asaadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of 
the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States whose 
appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be 
established by law ; but the Congress may by law vest the appointment 
of such inferior officers as they think proper in the President alone, in 
the courts of law, or in the heads of departments. 

The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may 
happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which 
shall expire at the end of their next session. 

Sec. 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress information 
of the state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such mea- 
sures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may on extraordinary 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 27£^ 

occasions convene both houses, or either of thera. and in case of disagree- 
ment between thera, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may 
adjourn them to sucli time as lie shall think proper ; he shall receive 
ambassadors and other public ministers; he shall take care that the laws be 
faithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers of the United 
States. 

Sec. -1. The Pi-esident, Vice-President, and all civil officers of the 
United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and con- 
viction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. 

Article III. 

Section I. . The judicial power of the United States shall be vested 
in one Supreme Court, and such inferior courts as the Congress may from 
time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the Supreme and 
inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior, and shall, at 
stated times, receive for their services a compensation, wliich shall not be 
diminished during their continuance in office. 

Sec. 2. The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and 
equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and 
treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority ; to all cases 
affecting ambassadors, otlier public ministers, and consuls ; to all cases of 
admiralty and maritime jurisdiction ; to controversies to which the United 
States shall be a party ; to controversies between two or more states ; 
between a state and citizens of another state ; between citizens of differ- 
ent states ; between citizens of the same state claiming lands under grants 
of different- states, and between a state or the citizens thereof, and foreign 
states, citizens, or subjects. 

In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls, 
and those in which a state shall be a party, the Supreme Court shall have 
original jurisdiction. 

In all the other cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall 
have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions 
and under such regulations as the Congress shall make. 

The trial of all Crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by 
jury ; and such trial shall be held in the state where the said crimes shali 
have been committed ; but when not committed within anj^ state, the 
trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law have 
directed. 

Sec. 3. Treason against the United States shall consist only in levy- 
ing war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid 
and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the tes- 
timony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open 
court. 

The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason, 
but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture^ 
except during the life of the person attainted. 

Article IV. 

Section 1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the 
public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state. And 



"276 AND ITS AMENDMENTS. 

the Congress may, by general laws, prescribe the manner in which such 
acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof. 

Sec. 2. The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges 
and immunities of citizens in the several states. 

A person charged in any state with treason, felony, or other crime, 
■who shall flee from justice and be found in another state, shall, on demand 
■of the executive authorit}' of the state from which he fled, be delivered 
up, to be removed to the state having jurisdict'on of the crime. 

No person held to service or labor in one state, under the laws thereof 
escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation 
therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered 
up on the claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due. 

Sec. 3. New states may be admitted by the Congress into this Union ; 
but no new state shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any 
other state ; nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more states, 
or parts of states, without the consent of the Legislatures of the states 
concerned, as well as of the Congress. 

The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful 
rules and regulations I'especting the territory' or other property belonging 
to the United States ; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed 
as to prejudice any claims of the United States or of any particular state. 

Sec. 4. The United States shall guarantee to every state in this 
Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them 
against invasion, and on application of the Legislature, or of the Execu- 
tive (when the Legislature can not be convened), against domestic vio- 
lence. 

Article V. 

The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both houses shall deem it 
necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the ap- 
plication of the Legislatures of two-thirds of the several states, shall call 
a convention for projjosing amendments, which, in either case, shall be 
valid to all intents and purposes as part of this Constitution, when rati- 
fied by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by con- 
ventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or tlie other mode of ratifi- 
eation may be proposed by the Congress. Provided that no amendment 
which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and 
eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth 
section of the first article ; and that no state, without its consent, shall 
be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate. 

Aeticle VI. 

All debts contracted and engagements entered into before the adop- 
tion of this Constitution shall be as valid against the United States under | 
this Constitution as under the Confederation. 

This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be 
made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, 
under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the 
land ; and the Judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in 
the Constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding. 

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the mem- 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 



277 



bers of the several state Legislatures, and all executive and judicial offi- 
cers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound 
by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution ; but no religious test 
shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under 
the United States. 

Article VII. 

The ratification of the Conventions of nine states shall be sufficient 
for the establishment of this Constitution between the states so ratifying 
the same. 

Done in convention by the unanimous consent of the states present, the 
seventeenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand 
seven hundred and eighty-seven, and of the independence of the 
United States of America the twelfth. In witness whereof we have 
hereunto subscribed our names. 

GEO. WASHINGTON, 
President and Deputy from Virginia. 



New Hampshire. 
John Langdon, 
Nicholas Gilman. 

Massachusetts. 
ITathaniel Gokham, 
RuFus King. 

Connecticut. 
Wm. Sam'l Johnson, 
Roger Sherman. 



Delaware. 
Geo. Read, 
John Dickinson, 
Jaco. Broom, 
Gunning Bedford, Jr., 
Richard Bassett. 

Maryland. 
James M'Henry, 
Danl. Carroll, 
Dan. of St. Thos. Jenifer. 



Netv York. 
Alexander Hamilton. 

New Jersey. 
"WiL. Livingston, 
Wm. Paterson, 
David Brearley, 
Jon A. Dayton. 



Virginia. 
John Blair, 
James Madison, Jr. 

North Carolina. 
Wm. Blount, 
Hu. Williamson, 
Rich'd Dobbs Spaight. 



Pennsylvania. 
B. Franklin, 
Robt. Morris, 
Thos. Fitzsimons, 
James Wilson, 
Thos. Mifflin, 
Geo. Clymer, 
Jared Ingersoll, 
Gouv. Morris. 



South Carolina. 
j. rutledge, 
Charles Pinckney, 
Chas. Cotesworth Pinckney, 
Pierce Butler. 

Georgia. 
William Few, 
Abb. Baldwin. 

WILLIAM JACKSON, Secretary. 



278 AND ITS AMENDMENTS. 



Articles in Addition to and Amendatory of the Constitution 
OF THE United States of America. 

Proposed hy Congress and ratified hy the Legislatures of the several states, 
pursuant to the fifth article of the original Constitution. 

Article I. 

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion^ 
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of 
speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble^ 
and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. 

Article II. 

A well regnlated militia being necessary to the security of a fre© 
state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. 

Article III. 

No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without 
the consent of the owner, nor in time of war but in a manner to be pre- 
scribed by law. 

Article IV. 

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers,, 
and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be vio- 
lated ; and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by 
oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched 
and the persons or things to be seized. 

Article V. 

No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamoua 
crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in 
cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia when in actual 
service in time of war or public danger ; nor shall any person be subject 
for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb ; nor shall 
be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be 
deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor 
shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. 

Article VI. 

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a 
speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district 
wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have 
been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and 
cause of the accusation ; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; 
to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor ; and to 
have the assistance of counsel for his defense. 

Article VII. 

In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed 
twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact 



\ 




%,■ 



f^ 













-'"A.- 






^ 



^^'■*% 




CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 1^81 

tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the United 
States than according to the rules of the common law. 

Article VIII. 

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, 
nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. 

Article IX. 

The enumeration, in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be 
construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. 

Article X. 

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, 
nor prohibited by it to tlie states, are reserved to the states respectively, 
or to the people. 

Artic:.e XI. 

The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to 
extend to any suit in hxw or equity con;menced or prosecuted against one 
of the United States by citizens of another state, or by citizens or sub- 
jects of any foreign state. 

Article XII. 

The Electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot 
for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an 
inhabitant of the same state with themselves ; they shall name in their 
ballots the person to he voted for as president, and in distinct ballots the 
person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of 
all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice- 
President, and of the number of votes for each, wiiich list they shall sign 
and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United 
States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the 
Senate shall, in presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, 
open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person 
having the greatest number of votes for President shall be the President, 
if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed ; 
and if no person have such majority, then fi'om the persons having the 
highest number not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as 
President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by 
ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be 
taken by States, tlie representation from each state having one vote; a 
quorum for this pui'pose shall consist of a member or members from two- 
thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to 
a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not clioose a Presi- 
dent wlienever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the 
fourth day of March next following, tlien the Vice-President shall act as 
President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of 
the President. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice- 
President, shall l)e the Vice-President, if such number be the majority 
of the whole number of electors appointed, and if no person have a major- 



•282 AND ITS AMENDMENTS. 

ity then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose 
the Vice-President ; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds 
of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number 
shall l)e necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible 
to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the 
United States. 

Article XIII. 

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a 
punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, 
shall exi&t within the United States, or any place subject to their juris- 
diction. 

Sec. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appro- 
priate legislation. 

Article XIV. 

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States and 
suljject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States, and 
of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law 
which shall alu'idge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United 
States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, 
without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction 
the equal protection of the laws. 

Sec. 2. Representatives shall be appointed among the several states 
according to their respective numbers, counting the wliole number of per- 
sons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed ; but when the right to 
vote at any election for the choice of Electors for President and Vice- 
President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the execu- 
tive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the Legislature 
thereof, is denied to any of the mule inhabitants of such state, being 
twenty-one years of age and citizens of tlie United States, or in any way 
abridged except for participation in rebellion or other crimes, the basis of 
representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the num- 
ber of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens 
twenty-one years of age in such state. 

Sec. 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, 
or Elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or 
military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previ- 
ously taken an oath as a Member of Congress, or as an officer of the 
United States, or as a member of any state Legislature, or as an execu- 
tive or judicial officer of any state to support the Constitution of the 
United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the 
same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress mav 
by a vote of two-thirds of each house, remove such disability. 

Sec. 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States author- 
ized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and boun- 
ties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be ques- 
tioned. But neither the United States nor any state shall pay any debt 
or obligation incurred in the aid of insurrection or rebellion against the 
United States, or any loss or emancipation of any slave, but such debts, 
obligations, and claims shall be held illegal and void. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 



283 



Article XV. 

Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote siiall not 
be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any State, on account of 
race, color, or previous condition of servitude. 

VOTE FOR GOVERNOR, 1877, AND PRESIDENT, 187G. 



Counties. 



Adiiir 

Atlamrt 

AUiiDtakee .... 
.\ppanoose .... 

Auduhon 

Binton 

HUck Uawk.. 

Boone 

Bremer 

Buchanan 

Buena Vista... 

Butler 

Calhoun 

Carroll 

Cass 

Cedar 

Cerro Go'-do... 

Cherokee 

Chickasaw .... 

Clark 

Clay 

CU.vt.m 

Clinton.. 

Crawford 

Dallas 

Davis 

D -catur 

Delaware 

DeJ* Moines ... 

Dickinson 

D'ltnique 

Kimuett 

Favctto 

Fl.'.yd 

Franklin 

Preniont 

Oreeno 

Grundy 

(jiithrie 

Haiutlton 

H;u.i'ock 

Ilui lin 

Hatriaon 

Ileiiry 

Howard 

llutnboldt 

Ida 



owa 

.T.ickson ... 

•la^per 

Jwfterson. 



1ST7. 
Governor. 



Rep. Dem. Gr. Pro. 



1I.S2 

8' 

1547 
1105 

410 
143 
17811 
1C12 
1181 
12iltl 

74 
143 

418 

6i3 
1.502 
1315 

9U:i 

602 
127a 
1(],34 

817 
1873 
2144 

S98 
1541 

w.n 

1209 
1220 
2315 
197 
1587 
213 
1933 
1233 
1311 
12.0U 
11131 
9(19 
1100 
842 
34(1 
1492 
1348 
1770 
651 
.382 
321 
1112 
1619 
1977 
1390 



101 
397 

X54U 

1049 
352 
712 

1111 
981 
582 
709 
192 
758 
75 
744 
839 

1U93 

348 

74 

1107 

207 

16 

1770 

2327 
051 
215 

1231 
901 

1143 

1381 
8 

3415 
2S 

1007 
2US 
336 

1331 
215 
804 
496 
20.5 
95 
001 
80. 
424 
617 
149 
64 

112(1 

19oli 

11.54 
753 



1876. 
Projident. 



Rep. Dem 



681 
4i 

09 
729 

20 
807 

95 
400 
190 
7i 
161 

19 
171 
141 
110 
200 

li 
383 

37 
813 

20 

66 
286 

19 
1241 
803 
31' 

32 
707 



400 



889 
102 
10 
334 
551 



304 
422 
29 
238 
823 

1041 
201 
115 
104 
642 
224 

1018 
570 



44'J 

244 

10 

223 
20 
95 
74 
11 
30 

416 
40 
86 
94 
19 
67 

107 
66 

111 
80 
12 
19 

825 

6 

12 

63 



1334, 

1370 

170') 
1711 

42' 
2')ol 
2i179 
2018 
17.i7 
222 f 

770 
1828 

022 

799 
1870 
2323 
1274 

861 
1574 
140 

667 
260: 
3654 
1043 
2130 
1580 
1047 
2233 
3325 

259 
2798 

240 
3029 
2032 
1178 
1058 
1310 
1099 
21 1434 
87 1187 

281 

154 2152 

19 15.57 

140 2809 

519 1194 

823 

2U 
1870 
2120 
3376 
2100 



22S 

15 

2IH 

109 



593 
620 

1040 

1419 
35; 

135-; 

1592 

1305 
757 

1410 
200 
780 
196 
771 
979 

1445 



Counties. 



Johnson 

Jones 

Keokuk 

Kossuth 

Lee 

Lino 

Louisa 

Lucas 

Lyon 

^Madison 

Mahaika 

jMarion 

MarshaU 

jMills 

Mitchell 

Monona 

448i Monroe 

175j Montgomery . 

l(l9o| M'lscatine 

810; O'Brien 

94, (Jsceola 

2621! Page 

33981 Palo Alto 

038l Plymouth 

752| Pocahontas ... 
1031 
1282 
1406 
2917 



Polk.. 

Pottawattamie.. 

Poweshiek 

Ringgold 

Sac 

Scott 

iSh Iby 

Sioux 

iStory 

Tama 

.Taylor 

Union 

4l7|,Van Buren 

0291 Wapello 

425j Warren 

99| Washington 

9S0| Wayne 

13«0i Webster 

14s."i Winnebago 

000 Winneshiek 

1S3' Woodbury 



4977 
36 

1709 
751 
379 

10.82 
510 



.57 
1348 
2185 
1804 
1449 



Worth 
Wright . 



Totals 

Maj'U'ities.. 



Total vote, 1877, 245,760 , 1870 (includiugj949 Greenback), 292,943. 



1877. 
Governor. 



Rep. Dem. Gr. 



1S84 

1808 

1772 

463 

2167 

2524 

1328 

1203 

261 

1792 

1823 

1970 

1448 

1435 

1396 

680 

1(J34 

1122 

1753 

306 

295 

1100 

311 

779 

370 

3171 

2223 

1496 

964 

686 

3031 

888 

436 

1260 

1426 

1325 

899 

1490 

17 

1726 

1087 

1316 

860 

644 

2074 

17(19 

628 

391 



12154r' 
4.'19- 



2348 

1218 

1526 

236 

2803 

2316 

817 

804 

17 

1077 

10'<0 

ISOO 

837 

1102 

489 

119 

928 

441 

1775 

21 

40 

6(j8: 

357 

487, 

93 

18S5I 

2069 

882 

71 

128 

19(i3 
639 
132 
344 
833 
293 
8161 

1305 

1029 
944 

1221 

«32 

127| 

40' 

1009, 
867i 
132 
10( 



18 
14 

322 

13 

350 

75 

89 

103 

9 

616 

1011 

700 

3S9 

98 

35 

432 

247 

632 

171 

201 

13 

348 



77 
44 

1353 
218 
420 
671 
177 
309 
3 
49 
644 
196 
SOS 
830 
301 

1205 
742 
303 
404 

1421 



79163 



279 

220 

8 

117 



273 
OS 

105 
89 

299 

685 

108 
12 
14 
80 

590 
95 

604 
28 
30 
9 
20 
47 

387 
14 
33 

293 
3 
39 
30 
94 

121 

346 
47 
13 
37 
16 



187 
133 



63 
130 
290 
101 
112 
3 

47 



238 



14 

98 



1S70. 
President. 



Rep. Dem. 



2345 

2591 

2364 

638 

3160 

4331 

1920 

1478 

262 

2246 

3221 

2736 

3056 

1452 

1663 

713 

1418 

1749 

2523 

463 

329 

2243 

343 

835 

374 

4321 

2605 

2809 

1246 

601 

3819 

897 

439 

1843 

2337 

1727 

1238 

2113 

2582 

2439 

2407 

1092 

1299 

498 

2759 

1034 

703 

674 



3563 

1763 

1862 

227 

3682 

2917 

1008 

1044 

46 

1.538 

1701 

2304 

1189 

1165 

671 

304 

1246 

759 

2075 

llG 

89 

801 

333 

80-j 

141 

2382 

2414 

1083 

422 

106 

2853 

631 

220 

579 

1317 

070 

795 

1061 

2412 

1316 

1508 

1341 

987 

39 

1617 

997 

149 

184 



171311 11212) 
.59211 



VOTE FOR CONGRESSMEN, 187G. 



District. 


Rep. 


Dem. 


R. Maj. 


ToUI. 


Maj. '74. 


District. 


Rep. 


Dem. 


R. Maj. 


Total. 


Maj '74. 


] 


17188 
10439 
17423 
20770 
19274 
18778 


14814 
140S3 
lOUlO 
9379 
11164 
14719 


2374 
17,56 
1323 
11.391 
8120 
4059 


32002 
31122 
33523 
30149 
30428 
33497 


n. 1803 
K. 657 
D. 63 
n. 3824 
R. 6243 


VII 


19496 11688 
19358 15230 


7808 
4122 

8980 


31184 
34694 
30146 


R 23(10 


It 


VIII 


R 2127 


Ill 


IX 








168289 






V 


118356 


49933 






VI 


U. 2724 









Total vote, 1874, 1S4.G40 ; aggregate Republican majority, 24,524. ^Including 0,406 Grceaback votes. 



Practical Rules for Every Day Use. 



Hoiv to find the gain or loss per cent, when the cost and selling price 
are given. 

Rule. — Find the difference between the cost and selling price, which 
wi'l be the gain or loss. 

Annex two ciphei'S to the gain or loss, and divide it by the cost 
price ; the result will be the gain or loss per cent. 

Hozv to change gold into currency. 

Rule. — Multiply the given sura of gold by the price of gold. 

Hotv to change currency into gold. 

Divide the amount in currency by the price of gold. 

ILnv to find each partner s share of the gain or loss in a copartnership 
btisiness. 

Rule. — Divide the whole gain or loss by the entire stock, the quo- 
tient will be the gain or loss per cent. 

Multiply each partner's stock by this per cent., the result will be 
each one's share of the gain or loss. 

Hoiv to find gross and net weight and price of hogs. 

A short and simple method for finding the net weight, or price of hogs, 
when the gross tveight or price is given, and vice versa. 

Note.— It is generally assumed that the gross weight (if Hogs diininislied liy 1-5 or 20 per cent 
or itself gives the net weight, auil the net weight increased by K or 25 per cent, of itself equals the 
gross weight. 

To find the net weight or gross price. 

Multiply the given number by .8 (tenths.) 

To find the gross weight or net price. 

Divide the given number by .8 (tenths.) 

How to find the capacity of a granary, bin, or wagon-hed. 

Rule. — Multiply (by short method) the number of cubic feet by 

6308, and point off one decimal place — the result will be the correct 

nswer in bushels and tenths of a bushel. 

For only an approximate answer, multiply the cubic feet by 8, and 
point off one decimal place. 

How to find the contents of a corn-crib. 

Rule. — Multiply the number of cubic feet by 54, short method, or ' 

(284) 



MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 285 

by 4J ordinary method, and point off one decimal place — the result will 
be the answer in bushels. 

NOTK.— In estimating corn in the ear, tlie quality and the time it has been cribbed must be takea 
into consideration, since corn wiil shrinlt considerabiy during the Winter and Spring. Tliis rule generaliy holds 
good for corn measured at the time it is cribbed, provided It is sound and clean. 

How to find the contents of a cistern or tank. 

Rule. — Multiply the square of the mean diameter by the depth (all 
111 feet) and this product by 5681 (short method), and point off one 
decimal place — the result will be the contents in barrels of 31 J gallons. 

How to find the contents of a barrel or cask. 

Rule. — Under the square of the mean diameter, write the length 
(all in inches) in EEVERf j;d order, so that its units will fall under the 
TENS ; multiply by short method, and this product again by 430 ; point 
off one decimal place, and the result will be the answer in wine gallons. 

Hatv to measure boards. 

Rule. — Multiply the length (in feet) by the width (in inches) and 
divide the product by 12 — the result will be the contents in square feet. 

How to measure scantlings, joists, planks, sills, etc. 

Rule. — Multiply the width, the thickness, and the length together 
(the width and thickness in inches, and the length in feet), and divide 
the product by 12 — the result will be square feet. 

How to find the number of acres in a body of land. 

Rule. — Multiply the length by the width (in rods), and divide the 
product by 160 (carrying the division to 2 decimal jjlaces if there is a 
remainder) ; the result will be the answer in acres and hundredths. 

When the opjiosite sides of a piece of land are of unequal length, 
add them together and take one-half for the mean length or width. 

How to find the number of square yards iji a floor or wall. 

Rule. — Multiply the length by the width or height (in fee(), and 
divide the product by 9, the result will be square yards. 

Hotv to find the number of bricks required in a building. 

Rule. — Multiply the number of cubic feet by 22J. 

The number of cubic feet is found by multijilying the length, height 
nd thickness (in feet) together. 

Bricks are usually made 8 inches long, 4 inclies wide, and two inches 
thick ; hence, it requires 27 bricks to make a cubic foot without mortar, 
but it is generally assumed that the mortar fills 1-6 of the space. 

Hno to find the number of shingles required in a roof. 

Rule. — j\lultiply the numlier of squiire feet in the roof by 8, if tho 
shingles are exi^osed 4i inches, or by 7 1-5 if exposed 5 inches. 

To find the number of square feet, multiply the length of the roof by 
twice the length of the rafters. 



286 MISCELLANEOtrS TNFOKMATION. 

To find the length of the rafters, at one-fourth pitch, multiply the 
width of the building hy .56 (hundredths) ; at one-third pitch, by .6 
(tenths) ; at two-fifths pitch, by .64 (hundredths) ; at one-half 
pitch, by .71 (hundredths). This gives the length of the rafters from 
the apex to the end of the wall, and whatever they are to project must be 
taken into consideration. 

Note.— By H or }i pitch is meant that tlic apex or comb of the roof is to be K or K the width of the 
huiklinp higrher lliari tlie walls or base of the rafters. 

Sow to reckon the cost of hay. 

Rule. — Multiply the number of pounds by half the price per ton, 
and remove the decimal point three places to the left. 

How to measure grain. 

lluLE. — Level tlie grain ; ascertain the space it occupies in cubic 
feet ; multiply the numljer of cubic feet by 8, and point off one place to 
the left. 

Note.— Exactness requires the addition to every three hundred Ijnshels of one extra bnshel. 

The foregoing rule may be used for finding the number of gallons, by 
multiplying the number of bushels by 8. 

If the corn in the box is in the ear, divide the answer bj' 2, to find 
the number of bushels of shelled corn, because it requires 2 bushels of ear 
corn to make 1 of shelled corn. 

Rapid rules for measuring land without instruments. 

Ill measuring land, the first thing to ascertain is the contents of any 
given plot in square j-ards ; then, given the number of yards, find out the 
number of rods and acres. 

The most ancient and simplest measure of distance is a step. Now, 
an ordinary -sized man can train himself to cover one yard at a stride, on 
the average, with sufficient accuracy for ordinary purposes. 

To make use of this means of measuring distances, it is essential to 
walk in a straight line ; to do this, fix the e3-e on two objects in a line 
straight ahead, one comparatively near, the other remote ; and, in walk- 
ing, keep these objects constantly in line. 

Farmers and others hy adopting the following simple and ingenious con- 
trivance, may always carry with them the scale to construct a correct yard 
measure. 

Take a foot rule, and commencing at the base of the little finger oJ 
the left hand, mark the quarters of the foot on the outer borders of the 
left arm, pricking in the marks with indelible ink. 

To find how many rods in length will make an acre, the toidtli being given. 
HuLE. — Divide IGO by the width, and the quotient will be the answer. 



MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 287 

Hoiv to find the number of acres in any plot of land, the number of rods 
being given. 

Rule. — Divide the number of rods by 8, multiply the quotient by .5, 
and remove the decimal point two places to the left. 

The diameter being given, to find the circumference. 

Rule. — Multiply the diameter by 3 1-7. 

Hoiv to find the diameter, when the circumference is given. 

Rule. — Divide the circumference by 3 1-7. 

To find hoio many solid feet a round stick of timber of the same thick- 
ness throughout ivill contain when squared. 

Rule. — Square half the diameter in inches, multiply by 2, multiply 
by the length in feet, and divide the product by 144. 

General rule for measuring timber, to find the solid contents in feet. 

Rule. — Multiply the depth in inches by the breadth in inches, and 
then multiply by the length in feet, and divide by 144. 

To find the number of feet of timber in trees with the hark on. 

Rule. — Multiply the square of one-fifth of the circumference in 
inches, by twice the length, in feet, and divide by !'44. Deduct 1-10 to 
1-15 according to the thickness of the bark. 

Soward s new rule for computing interest. 

Rule. — The reciprocal of the rate is the time for which tbe interest 
on any sum of money will be shown by simply removing the decimal 
point two places to the left ; for ten times that time, remove the point 
one place to the left ; for 1-10 of the same time, remove the point three 
places to the left. 

Increase or diminish the results to suit the time given. 

Note.— The reeiprwal of the rate is found by invertins the rate ; thus 3 per cent, per month, In- 
verted, liecomes ii of a month, or 10 days. 

When the rate is expressed by one figure, always write it thus : 3-1, 
three ones. 

Itulefor converting English into American currency. 

Multiply the pounds, with the shillings and pence stated in decimals, 
by 400 plus the premium in fourths, and divide the pi-oduct by 90. 

U. S. GOVERNMENT LAND MEASURE. 

A township — 36 sections each a mile square. 
A section — 640 acres. 

A quarter section, half a mile square — 160 acres. 
An eighth section, half a mile long, north and south, and a quarter 
of a mile wide — 80 acres. 

A sixteenth section, a quarter of a mile square — 10 acres. 



288 MISCELLANEOtrS INFORMATION. 

The sections are all numbered 1 to C6, commencing at the north-east 
corner. 

The sections are divided into quarters, which are named by the 
cardinal points. The quarters are divided in the same way. The de- 
scription of a forty acre lot would read : The soiitli half of the west half of 
the south-west quarter of section 1 in township 24, north of range 7 west, 
or as the case might be ; and sometimes will fall short and sometimes 
oveiTun the number of acres it is supposed to contain. 

The nautical mile is 795 4-5 feet longer than the common mile. 

SURVEYORS' MEASURE. 

7 92-100 inches _ make 1 link. 

25 links " 1 rod. 

4 rods " 1 chain. 

80 chains " 1 mile. 

Note. — A chain is 100 links, equal to 4 rods or 06 feet. 

Shoemakers formerly used a subdivision of the inch called a barley- 
corn ; three of which made an inch. 

Horses are measured directly over the fore feet, and the standard of 
measure is four inches — called a hand. 

In Biblical and other old measurements, the term span is sometimes 
used, which is a length of nine inches. 

The sacred cubit of the Jews was 24.024 inches in length. 

The common cubit of the Jews was 21.704 inches iu length. 

A pace is equal to a j^ard or 86 inches. 

A fathom is equal to 6 feet. 

A league is three miles, but its length is variable, for it is strictly 
speaking a nautical term, and should be three geographical miles, equal 
to 3.45 statute miles, but when used on land, three statute miles are said 
to be a league. 

Iu cloth measure an aune is equal to li yards, or 45 inches. 

An Amsterdam ell is equal to 26.790 inches. 

A Trieste ell is equal to 25.284 inches.' 

A Brabant cU is equal to 27.116 inches. 

HOW TO KEEP ACCOUNTS. 

Every farmer and mechanic, whether he does muck or little business, 
should keep a record of his transactions in a clear and systematic man- 
ner. For the benefit of those who have not had the opportunitj' of ac- 
quiring a primary knowledge of the jirinciples of book-keeping, we here 
present a simple form of keeping accounts which is easily comprehended, 
and well adapted to record the business transactions of farmers, mechanics 
and laborers. 



MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATIOTT. 



289 



1875. 



A. H. JACKSON. 



Dr. 



Cr. 



Jan. 


10 

17 
4 
4 
8 
8 

13 

27 
9 
9 
G 

24 
4 


To 7 bushels Wheat 

By shoeinsT' span of Horses 


at §1 


.25 


$8 

C 

1 

48 
G 

17 


75 

30 

25 

00 
25 

50 


18 
2 

35 


50 


Feb. 

(.1. 


To 14 bushels Oats 

To 5 lbs. Butter 

By new Harrow 


at S 

at 


.45 

.25 


00 


(.i. 


By sharpeninii: 2 Plows .. 


40 


ii. 


By new Double-Treo 


■'5 


ii 


To Cow and Calf 




April 


To half ton of Hav 






By Cash ". 


00 




By repairing Corn-Planter ._ 


75 


To one Sow with Pigs .. 




July 


Bv Cash, to balance account 


15 


^ ' 






$88 


05 


$88 


05 



lS7i 



CASSA MASON. 



D: 



C:-. 



IMirch 


21 

21 

23 

1 

1 

10 

26 

10 

29 

12 

12 

1 


Fjv 3 dnvs' lal'>or 


at $1.25 


$G 
8 


00 
10 


S3 

25 
12 

18 
9 


75 






at 3.00 




it 

Jlay 

it 


To 18 bushels Corn 

By 1 month's Labor 


at .45 


00 


To Cash ._ . . - - 


10 00 

2 75 




June 


By 8 days' Mowing . _. 


_ at $1,50 


on 


u 


To 50 lbs. Flour 




July 
Aug. 


To 27 lbs. Meat... 

By 9 days' Harvesting 

By 6 days' Labor 

To Cash .. . ._ 


at $ .10 

at 2.00 

at 1.50 


2 
20 


70 
00 


00 
00 


Sept. 


To Cash to balance account. . . 


18 20 












$G7 


75 


$G7 


75 



INTEPtEST TABLE. 



A Simple Bulk fok AoctrcATELr Compotino interest at a>-t Givex Tkh Cent. i-or. Any 

Length of Time. 

Multiply the principal (amount of money at interest) by the time reduced to days', then divide this proditct 
by tlie quotient obtaineii l)y dividing 360 (the nuraljer of days in the interest year) by llie per cent, of interest, 
andt/ie qttotient thits obtained will be the required interest. 

ILLUSTRATION. Solution. 

Require the Interest ofS462. 50 for one month and elRhteen davs at 6 per eent. An $402.50 
interest month is 30 days; one month and eighteen days equal 48 days. S4b3.50 multl. .48 
plied bv .48 Hives S'33'2 0000; 360dividi>d bv 6 (the i^er cent, of interest i Rives BO, and • 

?i2a'10U00 divided l>v HO w^ll i;ive von tli^e.Ki'^t intereil, wliii- i is !53.7d. irtliera'-of 370000 

merest in the a'lov. .^[impl • were 12 per rent., we would divide the S222.O')0O by 30 6)300 \ 135)00 

(heeause 3fi0 divided l.v 1-.; Kives 30); If 4 per eent.. we would divide by 90; If 8 per I 

cent., by 45: and In like manner for any otbcr per cent. 00/5203.0000(53.70 

180 

4-20 
430 

"oo 
MISCELLANEOUS TABLE. 

12 units, or things, 1 Dozen. 1 196 pounds, 1 Barrel of Flour, [ 24 sheets of paper, 1 Quire. 

12 dozen. 1 Gross. 200 pounds. 1 Barrel of I'ork. 20 quires paper 1 Re:im. 

80 things, 1 Score. 56 pounds, 1 Firkin of Butter. 4 ft. wide, 4 n. high, and 8 ft. loug, 1 Cord Wood. 



290 MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 

NAMES OF THE STATES OF THE UNION, AND THEIR SIGNIFICATIONS. 

Virginia. — The oldest of the States, was so called in honor of Queen 
Elizabeth, the "Virgin Queen," in whose reign Sir Walter Raleigh made 
his first attempt to colonize that region. 

Florida. — Ponce de Leon landed on the coast of Floi'ida on Easter 
Sunday, and called the country in commemoration of the day, which was 
the Pasqua Florida of the Spaniards, or " Feast of Flowers." 

Louisiana was called after Louis the Fourteenth, who at one time 
owned that section of the country. 

Alabama was so named by the Indians, and signifies " Here we Rest." 

Mississippi is likewise an Indian name, meaning " Long River." 

Arkansas, from Kansas, the Indian word for " smoky water." Its 
prefix was really aro, the French word for " bow." 

The Carolinas were originally one tract, and were called "Carolana," 
after Charles the Ninth of France. 

Creorgia owes its name to George the Second of England, who first 
established a colony there in 1732. 

Tennessee is the Indian name for the " River of the Bend," i. e., the 
Mississippi which forms its western boundary. 

Kentucky is the Indian name for " at the head of the river." 

Ohio means '* beautiful ; " Iowa, " drowsy ones ; " llinnesota, " cloudy 
water," and Wisco7isin, "wild-rushing channel." 

Illinois is derived from the Indian word illini, men, and the French 
suffix ois, together signifying " tribe of men." 

Michigan was called by the name given the lake, fish-weir, which was 
so stj-led from its fancied resemblance to a fish trap. 

Missouri is from the Indian word " muddy," which more properly 
applies to the river that flows through it. 

Oregon owes its Indian name also to its jarincipal river. 

Cortes named California. 

Massachusetts I?, the Indian for " The country around the great hills." 

Connecticut, from the Indian Quon-ch-ta-Cut, signifying " Long 
River." 

Maryland, after Henrietta Maria, Queen of Charles the First, of 
England. 

Netv York was named by the Duke of York. 

Pennsylvania means " Penn's woods," and was so called after William 
Penn, its orignal owner. 



MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 



291 



Delaware after Lord De La Ware. 

New Jersey, so called in honor of Sir George Carteret, who was 
Governor of the Island of Jersey, in the British Channel. 

Maine was called after the jirovince of Maine in France, in compli- 
ment of Queen Henrietta of England, who owned that province. 

Vermont, from the French word Vert Mont, signifying Green 
Mountain. 

Neio Hampshire, from Hampshire county in England. It was 
formerly called Laconia. 

The little State of Rhode Island owes its name to the Island of 
Rliodes in the Mediterranean, which domain it is said to greatly 
resemble. 

Texas is the American word for the Mexican name by which all that 
section of the country was called before it was ceded to the United States. 



POPULATION OF THE 
UNITED STATES. 



States and Territories. 



Alaiiaiiia 

ArKunsas 

California , 

Comiectinul 

Delaware 

Vlonda 

GeorRia 

Illinois 

Jiuliana 

lOWil 

KaiisHS 

Kentucky 

Loitisiaria 

Muiuf 

Mai\laiiit 

Massafluisetls — 

Mirlii;;aii 

Miniie-^ota 

Mississippi 

Missmni , 

Nebraska , 

Nevada 

New Hampshire.. 

New Jersey 

New York 

Noith Carolina ... 

Ohio 

Oregon 

Peniisylvania..... 
Rhode I.slanU .... 
Snuth Carolina... 

Tennessee 

Texas 

Vermont 

Virginia 

West Virginia 

Wisconsin 



Total States.. 



Arizona 

^.'olorada , 

Dakota , 

District of Columbia., 

Idaho 

Montana 

New Mexico 

Ufih , 

Sv'asainRton 

■Wyoming 



Total Territories.. 



Total United States 38. 555, 983 



38,113,*^53 



9.658 
39.864 
14.181 
131.700 
14.999 
20.595 
91.874 
86.786 
23.955 
9.118 

442.730 



POPULATION OF FIFTY 
PRINCIPAL CITIES. 



New York, N. T 

Philadelphia, Pa 

Broolclvn, N. Y 

St. Louis, Mo 

Chicago, 111 

Baltimore, Md 

IJostoTi, Mass 

Cincititiati, Oliio 

New Orleans, La. .. 
San Francisco, Cal.. 

Buffalo, N. Y 

Washington, D. C... 

Newark. N. J 

Lonisville, Ky 

Cleveland, Ohio 

Pittsburp, Pa 

Jersey City, N, J ... 

Detroit, Mich 

Milw.nukee, Wis 

Alhany, N. Y 

Providence, R. I 

Rochester, N. Y 

Allegheny, Pa 

Rrchinond. Va 

New Haven, Conn,, 

Charleston. S. C 

Indianapolis, Ind... 

Troy, N. Y 

•Syracuse, N. Y 

Worcester, Mass 

Lowell, Mass 

Memphis, Tenn 

Camliridge, Mass... 

Hartford, Conn 

Scranton, Pa 

Reading, Pa 

Paterson, N.J 

Kansas City, Mo 

Mobile, Ala 

Toledo. Ohio 

Portland. Me 

Columbus, Ohio 

Wilmington, Del 

Dayton, Ohio 

Lawrence, Mass 

Utica, N, Y 

Charlestown, Mass 

Savannah, Ga 

Lynn. Mass 

Fall River, Mass... 



Aggregate 
Population. 



674, 

39«, 

310, 

2»8, 

267, 

2.50, 

216. 

191, 

149, 

117 

109, 

lO.? 

100, 

93 

86, 

82, 

79. 

71, 

69. 

68. 

62. 

53. 

51, 

60. 

48. 

48. 

46. 

43, 

41, 

40. 

40, 

39, 

37. 

35. 

33, 

33. 

32, 

33. 

31. 

31 

31, 

30. 

30, 

28, 

28, 

28, 

28, 

28, 

26. 



292 
032 
099 
864 
977 
354 
526 
239 
418 
473 
714 
199 
059 
753 
829 
076 
546 
577 
440 
422 
904 
386 
180 
038 
840 
956 
,244 
465 
,051 
105 
,928 
226 
,634 
,180 
092 
930 
579 
260 
034 
.584 
.413 
,274 
.841 
1,473 
1,921 
804 
.323 
.235 
1,233 
768 



MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 



POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Area ill 
States and square 
Territories, aiiles. 



States. 

Alabama 

Arkansas 

Caiiforiila 

CDiiiiecticut 

Delaware 

Florida 

Geor^'ia 

lllhuiis 

Indiana 

Iowa 

Kansas 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

Maine 

Maryland 

Massachusetts.. . 

■ Michigan* 

Minnesota 

Mississippi 

Missouri 

Nehraska 

Nevada 

New Hampshire. 

New Jersey 

New York 

North Carolina.. 

Ohio 

Oregon 



50, 
52. 
188, 
4 
2, 
59, 
58, 
55, 
33, 
55, 
81, 
37. 
41, 
31, 
11. 
7. 
56, 
83, 
47, 
65, 
75, 

iia 

9, 
8, 
47, 
60, 
39, 
95, 
' Last Census of 



3-1 li 



FOFULATIOK. \^'^^ 

1875. 18 



187U. 



996,992 
484.471 
560.247 
537,4.54 
135,015 
187,748 
1.181.109 
■;,:'i:V.i.HHl 
Hon: 1. own, 637 
l)l."> 1,11(1.7112 
818 3111.399 
Will l.SJl.dll 
7-.>li.915 
l)-!«,1115 
780.894 
1.457.351 
1.184.0.59 
439.706 
827.932 
1,721.295 
123.993 
43.491 
318,300 
906,096 
4,383.759 
1,071,361 
3,66.5,260 
90,923 



1,651.91 
1,334.031 
598.429 



!S4 
800 
451 
531 
156 
3,50 
9P5 
090 
280 
330 
000 
704 
964 
244 
Michigan taken In 1874. 



1.350..544 
528.349 



246.280 
52,540 



1,026,502 
4,705,308 



1,671 

i.ola 

830 

227 

466 

2,108 

.5,904 

3.529 

3.160 

1.760 

1.123 

539 

871 



1.606 

3.335, 

1,612 

990 

3,580l 

8281 

593l 

',90 

1,265 

4,470 

1,190 

3,740 

lo9 



States and 
Territories. 



States. 

Pennsylvania 

Rhode Island 

South Carolina... 

Tennessee 

Texas 

Vermont 

Virginia 

West Virginia 

Wisconsin 



Total Slates. 



Territories. 

Arizona 

Colorado 

Dakota 

Dlst. of Ciilumbiu. 

Iilaho 

Montana 

New Mexico 

Utah 

Washington 

Wyjmiiig 

Totat Territories. 



Area ill 

square 
Miles. 



46,000 
1,306 
29,385 
45,600 
237,504 
10,312 
40,904 
23,000 
53,924 



1,950,171 



113, 
104, 
147, 

90, 
143, 
121, 

80. 

69, 

93, 



POPiri.ATION. 



1870. 



3,531,791 
217.363 
705,606 

1,358,520 
818,579 
330,651 

1,325,163 
442.014 

1.054.670 



38,118,253 



9,658 
39,864 
14,181 
131,700 
14.999 
20.595 
91.874 
86,786 
23,955 

9,118 



442,730 



18T5. 



258,239 
935,145 



1.236.72 



.Miles 
R. R. 

1872. 



5,113 
13(i 

i.aoi 

1,530 
8B5 
675 

1,490 
485 

1,735 



59,587 



375 
'498 



Aggregate of n, S,. 2,915,203 38,555,983 60,852 

* Included in the Railroad Mileage of Maryland, 



PRINCIPAL COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD; 

]'OP0LATION AND AeEA. 



Countries. 



Population. 



Date of 
Census. 



Area in 
Square 
Miles. 



Inhabitants 

to Sfiuare 

Mile. 



Population. 



China 

Kritish Kmpire 

Russia 

United States with Alaska. 

France 

Austria and Hungary 

.Japan 

Great Britain and Ireland. 

German Empire 

Italy 

Spam 

Brazil 

Turkey 

Mexico 

.Sweden and Norway 

Persia 

Jtelgium 

Bavaria 

Portugal 

Holland 

> ew Grenada 

Chill 

Switzerland 

Peru 

Bolivia 

Argentine Republic 

Wurceuiburg 

Denmark 

Venezuela 

Baden 

Greece 

Guatemala 

Ecuador 

Paraguay 

Hesse 

Liberia 

San Salvador 

Hayti 

Nicaragua 

Uruguay 

Hoiuluras 

San Domingo 

Costa Rica 

Hawaii 



446, 

336. 

81, 

38, 

36, 

35, 

34, 

31, 

39, 

27, 

16. 

10. 

16. 

«. 

5, 

5, 

5, 

4, 

3, 

3, 

3, 



500.000 
817.108 
93,5,400 
925,600 
469,800 
904,400 
785,300 
817,100 
906,092 
439,921 
643,000 
000.000 
163.000 
173.000 
931,500 
000.000 
031,300 
,861.400 
995.300 
,,688,300 
000.000 
:,000.000 
1,669,100 
500,000 
000,000 
812,000 
,8 18, ,500 

84,700 
.500,000 
461,400 
;457,900 
,180,000 
300,0011 
000.11011 
833. 13N 
718.000 
600,000 
572,000 
350,000 
300,000 
350,000 
136,000 
165.000 

62.950 



1871 
1871 
1871 
1870 
1866 
1869 
1871 
1871 
1871 
1871 
1867 



1869 
1870 
1870 
1869 
1871 
1868 
1870 
1870 
1869 
1870 
1871 

'1869 
1871 
1870 

'isVi 

1870 
1871 



1871 
1871 

'isVi 

1871 
1871 

'isio 



3,741,846 

4,677,432 

8,003,778 

3,603,884 

304,091 

240.348 

149.399 

121.315 

160,207 

118,847 

195,775 

3,253.029 

672,621 

761,536 

293.871 

635,964 

11,373 

29,392 

34,494 

12,680 

357,157 

133.616 

15,992 

471,838 

497,331 

871,848 

7,533 

14,753 

368,238 

5,912 

19,353 

40,879 

218,92| 

63,787 

2,969 

9,576 

7,335 

10,205 

58,171 

66,732 

47,092 

17,837 

21,505 

7,633 



119.3 

48. 6 

10.2 

778 

178.7 

1494 

233.8 

263.3 

187. 

S30.9 

85. 

3.07 
24.4 



20. 
7.8 
441.5 
165.9 
115.8 
290,9 
8.4 
15.1 
166.9 
5.3 
4. 
2.1 
241.4 
120.9 
4.3 
247. 
75.3 
28.9 
5.9 
15.6 
377. 
74.9 
81.8 
56. 
6. 
6.5 
7.4 
7.6 
7.7 
80. 



Pekln 

Loudon 

St. Petersburg. . 

Washlugton 

Paris 

Vienna 

Yeddo 

London 

Berlin 

Rome 

Madrid 

Kio .laneiro 

I'onstanlinople . 

Mfxiid 

Stockholm 

Teheran 

Brussels 

Munich 

Lisbon 

Hague 

Bogota 

Santiago 

Berne 

Lima 

Chuquisaca 

Buenos Ayres... 

Stuttgart 

Coiienhagen 

Caraccas 

Carlsruhe 

Athens 

Guatemala 

Quito 

Asuncion 

Darmstadt 

Monrovia 

Sal Salvador... 
Port au Prince 

Managua 

Monte V.deo... 

Coniayagua 

San lloiningo... 

San Jose 

Honolulu 



1,648,800 

3,251,800 

667,000 

109.199 

1,82,5.300 

833.900 

1,5.54.9110 

3,351,800 

83,5,400 

344,484 

332,000 

430.000 

1,07,5,000 

210.300 

136.900 

130.000 

314.100 

lli9.,5O0 

334,063 

90,100 

45,000 

115,400 

36.000 

160,100 

25.000 

177.800 

91,600 

163.042 

47.000 

36,600 

43,400 

40,000 

70,000 

48,000 

30,000 

3,000 

15.000 

20.000 

10.000 

44,500 

13.000 

SO.OIIO 

a.ooo 

7,633 



ABSTRACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS. 



BILLS OF EXCHANGE AND PROMISSORY NOTES. 

L^pon negotiable bills, and notes payable in this State, grace shall be allowed 
according to the law merchant. All the above mentioned paper falling due on 
Sunday, New Year's Day, the Fourth of July, Christmas, or any day appointed 
or recommended by the President of the United States or the Governor of the 
State, as a day of fast or thanksgiving, shall be deemed as due on the day pre- 
vious. No defense can be made against a negotiable instrument (assigned before 
due) in the hands of the assignee without notice, except fraud was used in 
obtaining the same. To hold an indorser, due diligence must be used by suit 
against the maker or his representative. Notes payable to person named or to 
order, in order to absolutely transfer title, must be indorsed by the payee. 
Notes payable to bearer may be transferred by delivery, and when so payable, 
every indorser thereon is held as a guarantor of payment, unless otherwise 
expressed. 

In computing interest or discount on negotiable instruments, a month shall 
be considered a calendar month or twelfth of a year, and for less than a month, 
a day shall be figured a thirtieth part of a month. Notes only bear interest 
when so expressed ; but after due, they draw the legal interest, even if not 
stated. 

INTEREST. 

The legal rate of interest is six per cent. Parties may agree, in writing. 
on a rate not exceeding ten per cent. If a rate of interest greater than ten 
per cent, is contracted for, it works a forfeiture of ten per cent, to the school 
fund, and only the principal sum can be recovered. 

DESCENT. 

The personal property of the deceased (except (1) that necessary for pay- 
ment of debts and expenses of administration ; (2) property set apart to widow, 
as exempt from execution ; (3) allowance by court, if necessary, of twelve 
months' support to widow, and to children under fifteen years of age), including 
life insurance, descends as does real estate. 

One-third in value (absolutely) of all estates in real pi-operty, possessed by 
husband at any time during marriage, which have not been sold on execution 
or other judicial sale, and to which the wife has made no relinquishment of her 
right, shall be set apart as her property, in fee simple, if she survive him. 

(293) 



294 ABSTRACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS. 

The same share shall be set apart to the surviving Iiusband of a deceased 
wife. 

The widow's share cannot be affected by any will of her liusband's, unless 
she consents, in writing thereto, within six months after notice to her of pro- 
visions of the will. 

The provisions of the statutes of descent apply alike to surviving husband 
or surviving wife. 

Subject to the above, the remaining estate of which the decedent died 
siezcd, shall in absence of other arrangements by will, descend 

First. To his or her children and tlieir descendants in equal parts ; tlie 
descendants of the deceased child or grandchild taking the share of their 
deceased parents in equal shares among them. 

Serond. Where there is no child, nor descendant of such child, and no 
widow or surviving husband, then to the parents of the deceased in equal parts; 
the surviving parent, if either be dead, taking the whole ; and if there is no 
parent living, then to the brothers and sisters of the intestate and their descend- 
ants. 

Third. When there is a widow or surviving husband, and no child or chil- 
dren, or descendants of the same, then one-half of the estate shall descend to 
such widow or surviving husband, absolutely ; and the other half of the estate 
shall descend as in other cases where there is no widow or surviving husband, 
or child or children, or descendants of the same. 

Fourth. If there is no child, parent, brother or sister, or descendants of 
either of them, tlien to wife of intestate, or to her heirs, if dead, according to 
like rules. 

Fifth. If any intestate leaves no child, parent, brother or sister, or de- 
scendants of either of them, and no widow or surviving husband, and no child, 
parent, brother or sister (or descendant of either of them) of such widow or 
surviving husband, it shall escheat to the State. 



WILLS AND ESTATES OF DECEASED PERSONS. 

No exact form of words are necessary in order to make a will good at law. 
Every male person of the age of twenty-one years, and every female of the age 
of eighteen years, of sound mind and memory, can make a valid will ; it must 
be in writing, signed by the testator, or by some one in his or her presence, and 
by his or her express direction, and attested by two or more competent wit- 
nesses. Care should be taken that the witnesses are not interested in the will. 
Inventory to be made by executor or administrator witliin fifteen days from 
date of letters testamentary or of administration. Executors' and administra- 
tors' compensation on amount of personal estate distributed, and for proceeds of 
sale of real estate, five per cent, for first one thousand dollars, two and one-half 
per cent, on overplus up to five thousand dollars, and one per cent, on overplus 
above five thousand dollars, with such additional allowance as shall be reasona- 
ble for extra services. 

Within ten days after the receipt of letters of administration, the executor 
or administrator shall give such notice of appointment as the court or clerk shall 
direct. 

Claims (other than preferred) must be filed within one year thereafter, are 
forever barred, unless the claim is pending in the District or Supreme Court, or 
unless peculiar circumstances entitle the claimant to equitable relief. 



ABSTRACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS. 295 

Claims are classed and payable in the following order : 

1. Expenses of administration. 

2. E.x'penses of last sickness and funeral. 

3. Allowance to widow and children, if made by the court. 

4. Debts preferred under laws of the United States. 

5. Public rates and taxes. 

6. Claims filed within §ix months after the first publication of the notice 
given by the executors of their appointment. 

7. All other debts. 

8. Legacies. 

The award, or property which must be set apart to the widoiv, in her own 
right, by the executor, includes all personal property which, in the hands of thn 
deceased, as head of a family, would have been exempt from execution. 



TAXES. 

The owners of personal property, on the first day of January of each year, 
and tlie owners of real property on the first day of November of each year, are 
liable for the taxes thereon. 

The following property is exempt from taxation, viz. : 

1. The property of the United States and of this State, including univer- 
sity, agricultural, college and school lands and all property leased to the State ; 
property of a county, township, city, incorporated town or school district when 
devoted entirely to the public use and not held for pecuniary profit ; public 
grounds, including all places for the burial of the dead; fire engines and all 
implements for extinguishing fires, with the grounds used exclusively for their 
buildings and for the meetings of the fire companies ; all public libraries, 
grounds and buildings of literary, scientific, benevolent, agricultural and reli- 
gious institutions, and societies devoted solely to the appropriate objects of these 
institutions, not exceeding G40 acres in extent, and not leased or otlierwise used 
with a view of pecuniary profit ; and all property lea.sed to agricultural, charit- 
able institutions and benevolent societies, and so devoted during the term of such 
lease ; provided, that all deeds, by which such property is held, sliall be duly 
filed for record before the property tlierein described shall be omitted from the 
assessment. 

2. The books, papers and apparatus belonging to the above institutions; 
used solely for the purposes above contemplated, and the like property of stu- 
dents in any such institution, used for their education. 

3. Money and credits belonging exclusively to such institutions and devoted 
solely to sustaining them, but not exceeding in amount or income the sum pre- 
scribed by their charter. 

4. Animals not hereafter specified, the wool shorn from sheep, belonging to 
-the person giving the list, his farm produce harvested within one year previous 
to the listing ; private libraries not exceeding three hundred dollars in value ; 
family pictures, kitchen furniture, beds and bedding requisite for each family, 
nil wearing apparel in actual use, and all food provided for the family ; but no 
person from whom a compensation for board or lodging is received or expected, 
is to be considered a member of the family within the intent of this clause. 

" 5. Tlie polls or estates or both of persons who, by reason of age or infirm- 
ity, may, in the opinion of the Assessor, be unable to contribute to the public 



296 ABSTRACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS. 

revenue; such opinion and the fact upon wliich it is based being in all cases 
reported to the Board of Equalization by the Assessor or any other person, and 
subject to reversal by them. 

6. The farming utensils of any person who makes his livelihood by farming, 
and the tools of any mechanic, not in either case to exceed three hundred dollars 
in value. 

7. Government lands entered or located or lands purchased from this State, 
should not be taxed for the year in which the entry, location or purchase is 
made. 

There is also a suitable exemption, in amount, for planting fruit trees or 
forest trees or hedges. 

Where buildings are destroyed by fire, tornado or other unavoidable casu- 
alty, after being assessed for the year, the Board of Supervisors may rebate 
taxes fur that year on the property destroyed, if same has not been sold for 
taxes, and if said tares have not been deh'nqvc7it for tliirty days at the time of 
destruction of the property, and the rebate shall be allowed for such loss only 
as is not covered by insurance. 

All other property is subject to taxation. Every inhabitant of full age and 
sound mind shall assist the Assessor in listing all taxable property of which 
he is the owner, or which he controls or manages, either as agent, gunrdian, 
father, husband, trustee, executor, accounting officer, partner, mortgagor or 
lessor, mortgagee or lessee. 

Road beds of railway corporations shall not be assessed to owners of adja- 
cent property, but shall be considered the property of the companies for pur- 
poses of taxation ; nor shall real estate used as a public highway be assessed 
and taxed as part of adjacent lands whence the same was taken for such public 
purpose. 

The property of railway, telegraph and express companies shall be listed 
and assessed for taxation as the property of an individual would be listed and 
assessed for taxation. Collection of taxes made as in the case of an individual. 

The Township Board of Equalization shall meet first Monday in April of 
each year. Appeal lies to the Circuit Court. 

The County Board of Eqalization (the Board of Supervisors) meet at their 
regular session in June of each year. Appeal lies to the Circuit Court. 

Taxes become delinquent February 1st of each year, payable, without 
interest or penalty, at any time before March 1st of each year. 

Tax sale is held on first Monday in October of each year. 

Redemption may be made at any time within three years after date of sale, 
by paving to the County Auditor the amount of sale, and twenty "per centum of 
such amount immediately added as 'penalty, with ten per cent, interest per 
annum on the whole amount thus made from the day of sale, and also all sub- 
sequent taxes, interest and costs paid by purchaser after March 1st of each 
year, and a similar penalty of twenty per centum added as before, with ten per 
cent, interest as before. 

If 7iotice has been given, by purchaser, of the date at which the redemption 
is limited, the cost of same is added to the redemption money. Ninety days' 
notice is required, by the statute, to be published by the purchaser or holder of 
certificate, to terminate the right of reelemption. 



ABSTRACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS 297 

JURISDICTION OF COURTS 

DISTRICT COURTS 

have jurisdiction, general and original, both civil and criminal, except in such 
cases where Circuit Courts have exclusive jurisdiction. District Courts have 
exclusive supervision over courts of Justices of the Peace and Magistrates, in 
criminal matters, on appeal and writs of error. 

CIRCUIT COURTS 

have jurisdiction, general and original, with the District Courts, in all civil 
actions and special proceedings, and exclusive jurisdiction in all appeals and 
writs of error from inferior courts, in civil matters. And exclusive jurisdiction 
in matters of estates and general probate business. 

JUSTICES OF THE PEACE 

have jurisdiction in civil matters where $100 or less is involved. By consent 
of parties, tlie jurisdiction may be extended to an amount not exceeding $300. 
Tliey have jurisdiction to try and determine all public offense less than felony, 
committed witiiin their respective counties, in which the fine, by law, does not 
exceed §>100 or tlie imprisonment thirty days. 

LIMITATION OF ACTIONS. 

Action for injuries to the person or reputation ; for a stutute penalty ; and 
to enforce a mechanics' lien, must be brought in two (2) years. 

Those against a public officer witliin three (3) years. 

Those founded on unwritten contracts; for injuries to property; for relief 
on tiie ground of fraud; and all Other actions not otherwise provided for, within 
five (5) years. 

Those founded on written contracts; on judgments of any court (except 
those provided for in next section), and for the recovery of real property, within 
ten (10) years. 

Those founded on judgment of any court of rscord in the United States, 
within twenty (20) years. 

All above limits, except those for penalties and forfeitures, are extended in 
favor of minors and insane persons, until one year after the disability is removed 
— time during which defendant is a non-resident of the State shall not be 
included in computing any of tlie above periods. 

Actions for the recovery of real property, sold for non-payment of taxes, 
Tnust be brought within five years after the Treasurer's Deed is executed 
and recorded, except where a minor or convict or insane person is the owner, 
and they shall be allowed five years after disability is removed, in which to 



bring action. 



JURORS. 



All qualified electors of the State, of good moral character, sound judgment, 
and in full possession of the senses of liearing and seeing, are competent jurors 
in their respective counties. 

United States officers, practicing attorneys, physicians nnd clergymen, 
acting professors or teachers in institutions of learning, and persons disabled by 



298 ABSTRACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS. 

bodily infirmity or over sixty-five years of age, are exempt from liability to act 
as jurors. 

Any person may be excused from serving on a jury when liis own interests 
or the public's will be materially injured by his attendance, or when the state of 
his health or the death, or sickness of his family requires his absence. 

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 

was restored by the Seventeenth General Assembly, making it optional with 
the jury to inflict it or not. 

A MARRIED WOMAN 

may convey or incumber real estate, or interest therein, belonging to her ; may 
control the same or contract with reference thereto, as other persons may con- 
vey, encumber, control or contract. 

She may own, acquire, hold, convey and devise property, as her husband 
may. 

Her husband is not liable for civil injuries committeil by her. 

She may convey property to her husband, and he may convey to her. 

She may constitute her husband her attorney in fact. 

EXEMPTIONS FROxM EXECUTION. 

A resident of the State and head of a fixmily may hold the following prop- 
erty exempt from execution : All wearing apparel of himself and family kept for 
actual use and suitable to the condition, and the trunks or other receptacles nec- 
essary to contain the same ; one musket or rifle and shot-gun ; all privafe 
libraries, family Bibles, portraits, pictures, musical instruments, and paintings 
not kept for the purpose of sale; a seat or pew occupied by the debtor or his 
family in any house of public worship ; an interest in a public or private burying 
ground not exceeding one acre; two cows and a calf; one horse, unless a horse 
is exempt as hereinafter provided ; fifty sheep and the wool therefrom, and the 
materials manufactured from said wool ; six stands of bees ; five hogs and all 
pigs under six months ; the necessary food for exempted animals for six months ; 
all flax raised from one acre of ground, and manufactures therefrom; one bed- 
stead and necessary bedding for every two in the family ; all cloth manufactured 
by the defendant not exceeding one hundred yards ; household and kitchen fur- 
niture not exceeding two hundred dollars in value; all spinning wheels and 
looms ; one sewing machine and other instruments of domestic laber kept for 
actual use ; the necessary provisions and fuel for the use of the family for six 
months ; the proper tools, instruments, or books of the debtor, if a farmer, 
mechanic, surveyor, clergyman, lawyer, physician, teacher or professor; the 
horse or the team, consisting of not more than two horses or mules, or two yokes 
of cattle, and the wagon or other vehicle, with the proper harness or tackle, by 
the use of which the debtor, if a physician, public officer, farmer, teamsler or 
other laborer, habitually earns his living ; and to the debtor, if a printer, there 
shall also be exempt a printing press and the types, furniture and material nec- 
essary for the use of such printing press, and a newspaper office to the value of 
twelve hundred dollars ; the earnings of such debtor, or those of his family, at 
any time within ninety days next preceding the levy. 

Persons unmarried and not the head of a fomily, and non-residents, have 
exempt their own ordinary wearing apparel and trunks to contain the same. 



ABSTRACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS. 299 

Tliere is also exempt, to a head of a family, a homestead, not exceeding forty 
acres ; or, if inside city limits, one-half acre with improvements, value not 
limited. The homestead is liable for all debts contracted prior to its acquisition as 
such, and is subject to mechanics' liens for work or material furnished for the same. 

An article, otherwise exempt, is liable, on execution, for the purchase 
money thereof. 

Where a debtor, if a head of a family, has started to leave the State, he shall 
have exempt only the ordinary wearing apparel of Iiimsolf and family, and 
other property in addition, as he may select, in all not exceeding seventy-five 
dollars in value. 

A policy of life insurance shall inure to the separate use of the husband or 
wife and childi-en, entirely independent of his or her creditors. 

ESTRAYS. 

An unbroken animal shall not be taken up as an estray between May 1st 
and November 1st, of each year, unless the same l)e found within the lawful 
enclo.sure of a householder, who alone can take up such animal, unless some 
other person gives him notice of the fact of such animal coming on his place ; 
and if he fiiils, within five days thereafter, to take up sucii estray, any other 
householder of tiie township may take up such estray and proceed with it as if 
taken on his own premises, provided he shall prove to the Justice of the Peace 
such notice, and shall make affidavit where such estray was taken up. 

Any swine, sheep, goat, horse, neat cattle or other animal distrained (for 
damage done to one's enclosure), when the owner is not known, shall be treated 
as an estray. 

Within five days after taking up an estray, notice, containing a full descrip- 
tion thereof, shall be posted up in three of the most public places in the town- 
ship ; and in ten days, the person taking up such estray shall go before a Justice 
of the Peace in the township and make oath as to where such estray was taken 
up, and that the marks or bran<ls have not been altered, to his knowledge. 1 he 
estray shall then be appraised, by order of the Justice, and the appraisement, 
description of the size, age, color, sex, marks and brands of the estray shall be 
entered by the Justice in a book kept for that purpose, and he shall, within ten 
days thereafter, send a certified copy thereof to the County Auditor. 

When the appraised value of an estray does not exceed five dollars, the 
Justice need not proceed further than to ^nter the description of the estray on 
his book, and if no owner appears within six months, the property shall vest in 
the finder, if he has complied with the law and paid all costs. 

Where appraised value of estray exceeds five and is less than ten dollars, if 
no owner appears in nine months, the finder has the property, if he has com- 
plied with the law and paid costs. 

An estray, legally taken up, may be used or worked with care and 
moderation. 

If any person unlawfully take up an estray, or take up an estray and fail to 
comply with the law regarding estrays, or u.se or work it contrary to above, or 
work it before having it appraised, or keep such estray out of the county more 
than five days at one time, before acquiring ownership, such offender shall foifeit 
to the county twenty dollars, and the owner may recover double damages with 
costs. 

If the owner of any estray fail to claim and prove his title for one year after 
the taking up, and the finder shall have complied with the law, a comolete title 
vests in the finder. 



300 ABSTRACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS. 

But if the owner appear within eighteen months from the taking up, prove 
his ownership and pay all costs and expenses, the finder shall pay him the 
appraised value of such estray, or may, at his option, deliver up the estray. 

WOLF SCALPS. 

A bounty of one dollar is paid for wolf scalps. 

MARKS AND BRANDS. 

Any person may adopt his own mark or brand for his domestic animals, and 
have a description tliereof recorded by the Township Clerk. 

No person shall adopt the recorded mark or brand of any other person 
residing in his township. 

DAMAGES FROM TRESPASS. 

When any person's lands are enclosed by a lawful fence, tlie owner of any 
domestic animal injuring said lands is liable for the damages, and the damages 
may be recovered by suit against the owner, or may be made by distraining the 
animals doing tlie diunage ; and if the party injured elects to recover by action 
against the owner, no appraisement need be made by the Trustees, as in case of 
distraint. 

When trespassing animals are distrained within twenty-four hours, Sunday 
not included, the party injured shall notify the owner of said animals, if known ; 
and if tlic owner fails to satisfy the party within twenty-four hours thcreaftei'. 
the party shall have the township Trustees assess the damage, and notice shall 
be posted up in three conspicuous places in the township, that the stock, or part 
thereof, shall, on the tenth dajj after ponting the notice, between the hours of 1 
and 3 P. M., be sold to the iiighest bidder, to satisfy said damages, with costs. 

Appeal lies, witlun twenty days, from the action of the Trustees to the Cir- 
cuit Court. 

Where stock is restrained, by police regulation or by law, from running at 
large, any person injureil in his improved or cultivated binds by any domestic 
animal, may, by action against the owner of such animal, or by distraining such 
animal, recover his damages, whether the lands whereon the injury was done 
were inclosed by a lawful fence or not. 

FENCES. 

A lawful fence is fifty-four inches high, made of rails, wire or boards, with 
posts not more than ten feet apart where rails are used, and eight feet where 
boards are used, substantially built and kept in good repair; or any other fence; 
which, in the opinion of the Fence Viewers, shall be declared a lawful fence—, 
provided the lower rail, wire or board be not more that twenty nor less than six-} 
teen inches from the ground. 

• The respective owners of lands enclosed with fences shall maintain paititiom 
fences between their own and next adjoining enclosure so long as th(y improve 
them in equal shares, unless otherwise agreed between them. 

If any party neglect to maintain such partition fence as he should maintain, 
the Fence Viewers (the township Trustees), upon complaint of aggrieved party, 
may, upon due notice to both parties, examine the fence, and. if found insuf- 



ABSTRACT OK IOWA STATE LAWS. 301 

ficient, notify the delinquent party, in writing, to repair or re-build the same 
uitliin such time as tliey judge reasonable. 

If tiie fence be not repaired or rebuilt accordingly, the complainant may do 
so, and the same being adjudged sufficient by the Fence Viewers, and the 
value thereof, with their fees, being ascertained and certified under their hands, 
the complainant may demand of the delinquent the sum so ascertained, and if 
the same be not paid in one month after demand, may recover it with one per 
cent a month interest, by action. 

Ill case of disputes, the Fence Viewers may decide as to who shall erect or 
maintain partition fences, and in what time the same shall be done ; and in case 
any party neglect to maintain or erect such part as may be assigned to him, 
the aggrieved party may erect and maintain the same, and recover double 
damages. 

No person, not wishing his land inclosed, and not using it otherwise than in 
common, shall be compelled to maintain any partition fence ; but when he uses 
or incloses his land otherwise than in common, he shall contribute to the parti- 
tion fences. 

Where parties have had their lands inclosed in common, and one of the 
owners desires to occupy his separate and apart from the other, and the other 
refuses to divide the line or build a sufficient fence on the line when divided, 
the Fence A'^iewers may divide and assign, and upon neglect of the other to 
build as ordered by the Viewers, the one may build the other's part and 
recover as above. 

And when one incloses land which has lain unincloscd, he must pay for 
one-half of each partition fence between himself and his neighbors. 

Who'e one desires to lay not less than twenty feet of his lands, adjoining 
liis neighbor, out to the public to be used in common, he must give his neighbor 
si.v montlis' notice thereof. 

Where a fence has been built on the land of another through mistake, tha 
owner may enter upon such premises and remove his fence and material withn 
.six months after the division line has been ascertained. Where the material to 
build such a fence has been taken from the land on which it was built, then, 
before it can be removed, the person claiming must first pay for such material 
to the owner of the land from which it was taken, nor shall such a fence be 
removed at a time when the removal will throw open or expose the crops of the 
other party; a reasonable time must be given bcj'ond the six montlis to remove 
crops. 

MECHANICS' LIENS. 

Every mechanic, or other person who shall do any labor upon, or furnish 
any materials, machinery or fi.xtures for any building, erection or other improve- 
ment upon land, including those engaged in the construction or repair of any 
work of internal improvement, by virtue of any contract with the owner, his 
agent, trustee, contractor, or sub-contractor, shall have a lien, on complying 
with the forms of law, upon the building or other impi'ovement for his labor 
done or materials furnished. 

It would take too large a space to detail the manner in which a sub- 
contractor secures his lien. He should file, within thirty days after the last of 
the labor was performed, or the last of the material shall have been furnished, 
with the Clerk of the District Court a true account of the amount due him, after 
allowing all credits, setting forth the time when such material was furnished or 
labor performed, and wlien completed, and containing a correct description of 



302 ABSTRACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS. 

the property sought to be charged with the lien, and the whole verified by 
affidavit. 

A principal contractor must file such an affidavit within ninety daj's, as 
;ibovc. 

Ordinarily, there are so many points to be examined in order to secure a 
meciianics' lien, that it is much better, unless one is accustomed to managing 
such liens, to consult at once with an attorney. 

Remember that the proper time to file tlie claim is ninety days for a princi- 
pal contractor, thirty days fi3r a sub-contractor, as above; and that actions to 
en force these liens must he commenced within two years, and the rest can much 
better be done with an attorney. 

ROADS AND BRIDGES. 

Persons meeting each other on the public highways, shall give one half of 
the same by turning to the right. All persons failing to observe this rule shall 
be liable to pay all damages resulting therefrom, together with a fine, not exceed- 
ing five dollars. 

The prosecution must be instituted on the complaint of the person wronged. 

Any person guilty of racing horses, or driving upon the public highway, in 
a manner likely to endanger the persons or the lives of others, shall, on convic- 
tion, be fined not exceeding one hundred dollars or imprisoned not exceeding 
thirty days. 

It is a misdemeanor, without authority from the proper Road Supervisor, to 
break upon, plow or dig within the boundary lines of any public higinvay. 

The money tax levied upon the property in each road district in each town- 
ship (except the general Township Fund, set apart for purchasing tools, machin- 
ery and guide boards), whether collected by the Road Supervisor or County 
Treasurer, shall be expended for highway purposes in that district, and no part 
thereof shall be paid out or expended for the benefit of another district. 

The Road Supervisor of each district, is bound to keep the roads and bridges 
therein, in as good condition as the funds at his disposal will permit; to put 
guide boards at cross roads and forks of highways in his district; and when noti- 
fied in writing that any portion of the public highway, or any bridge is unsafe, 
must in a reasonable time repair the same, and for this purpose may call out 
any or all the able bodied men in the district, but not more than two days at 
one time, without their consent. 

Also, when notified in writing, of the growth of any Canada thistles upon 
vacant or non-resident lands or lots, within his district, the owner, lessee or 
agent thereof being unknown, shall cause the same to be destroyed. 

Bridges when erected or maintained by the public, are parts of the highway, 
and must not be less than sixteen feet wide. 

A penalty is imposed upon any one who rides or drives fiister than a walk 
across any such bridge. 

The manner of establishing, vacating or altering roads, etc., is so well known 
to all township officers, that it is sufficient here to say that the first step is by 
petition, filed in the Auditor's office, addressed in substance as follows : 

The Board of Supervisors of County: The undersigned asks that 

a highway, commencing at and running thence and terminating 

at , be established, vacated or altered (as the case may be.) 

When the petition is filed, ?11 necessary and succeeding steps will be shown 
and explained to the petitioners by the Auditor. 



ABSTRACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS. 303 



ADOPTION OF CHILDREN. 



Any person competent to make a will can adopt as his own the minor child 
of another. The consent of both parents, if living and not divorced or separ- 
ated, and if divorced or separated, or if unmarried, the consent of the parent 
lawfully having the custody of the child ; or if either parent is dead, then the 
consent of the survivor, or if both parents be dead, or the child have been and 
remain abandoned by them, then the consent of the Mayor of the city where 
the child is living, or if not in the city, then of the Clerk of the Circuit Court 
of the county shall be given to such adoption by an instrument in writing, 
signed by party or parties consenting, and stating the names of the parties, if 
known, the name of the child, if known, the name of the person adopting such 
child, and the residence of all, if known, and declaring the name by which the 
child is thereafter to be called and known, and stating, also, that such child is 
given to the person adopting, for the purpose of adoption as his own child. 

The person adopting shall also sign said instrument, and all the parties shall 
acknowledge the same in the manner that deeds conveying lands shall be 
acknowledged. 1> 

The instrumeat shall be recorded in the office of the County Recorder. 

SURVEYORS AND SURVEYS. 

There is in every county elected a Surveyor known as County Surveyor, 
who has power to appoint deputies, for whose official acts he is responsible. It 
is the duty of the County Surveyor, either by himself or liis Duputy, to make 
all surveys that he may be called upon to make within his county as soon as 
may be after application is made. The necessary chainmon and other assist- 
ance must be employed by the person requiring the same to be done, and to bo 
by him paid, unless otherwise agreed ; but the chainmen must be disinterested 
persons and approved by the Surveyor and swcrn by him to measui-e justly and 
impartially. Previous to any survey, he shall furnish himself with a copy of 
the field notes of the original survey of the same land, if there be any in the 
office of the County Auditor, and his survey shall be made in accordance there- 
with. 

Their fees are three dollars per day. For certified copies of field notes, 
twenty-five cents. 

SUPPORT OF POOR. 

The father, mother and children of any poor person who has applied for aid, 
and who is unable to maintain himself by work, shall, jointly or severally, 
maintain such poor person in such manner as may be approved by the Town- 
ship Trustees. 

In the absence or inability of nearer relatives, the same liability shall e.xtend 
to the grandparents, if of ability without personal labor, and to the male grand- 
children who are of ability, by personal labor or otherwise. 

The Township Trustees may, upon the failure of such relatives to maintain 
a poor person, who has made application for relief, apply to the Circuit Court 
for an order to compel the same. 

Upon ten days' notice, in writing, to the parties sought to be charged, a 
hearing may be had, and an order made for entire or partial support of the poor 
person. 



304 ABSTRACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS. 

Appeal may be taken from such judgment as from other judgments of the 
Circuit Court. 

When any person, having any estate, abandons eitlier cliihh-en, wife or hus- 
band, leaving them chargeable, or likely to become chargeable, upon the public for 
support, upon proof of above fact, an order may be had from the Clerk of the 
Circuit Court, or Judge, authorizing the Trustees or the Sheriff to take into 
possession such estate. 

The Court may direct such personal estate to be sold, to be applied, as well 
as the rents and profits of the real estate, if any, to the su]iport of children, 
wife or husband. 

If the party against whom the order is issued return and support the per- 
son abandoned, or give security for the same, the order shall be discharged, and 
the property taken returned. 

The mode of relief for the poor, througli the action of the Township 
Trustees, or the action of the Board of Supervisors, is so well known to every 
township officer, and the circumstances attending applications for relief are so 
varied, that it need now only be said that it is the duty of each county to pro- 
vide for its poor, no matter at what place they may be. 



LANDLORD AND TENANT. 

A tenant giving notice to quit demised premises at a time named, and after- 
ward holding over, and a tenant or his assignee willfully holding over the prem- 
ises after the term, and after notice to quit, shall pay double rent. 

Any person in possession of real property, with the assent of the owner, is 
presumed to be a tenant at will until the contrary is shown. 

Thirty days' notice, in writing, is necessai-y to be given by either party 
before he can terminate a tenancy at will ; but when, in any case, a rent is 
reserved payable at intervals of less than thirty days, the length of notice need 
not be greater than such interval between the days of payment. In case of 
tenants occupying and cultivating farms, the notice jnust fix the termination of 
the tenancy to take place on the 1st day of March, except in cases of field 
tenants or croppers, whose leases shall be held to expire wlicn tJie crop is har- 
vested ; provided, that in case of a crop of corn, it sliall not be later than the 
1st day of December, unless otherwise agreed upon. But when an express 
agreement is made, whether the same has been reduced to writing or not, 
the tenancy shall cease at the time agreed upon, without notice. 

But where an express agreement is made, wliether reduced to writing or 
not, the tenancy sliall cease at the time agreed upon, without notice. 

If such tenant cannot be found in the county, the notices above required 
may be given to any sub-tenant or other person in pos.session of the premises ; 
or, if the premises be vacant, by affixing tlie notice to the principal door of the 
building or in some conspicuous position on the land, if there be no building. 

The landlord shall have a lien for his rent upon all the crops grown on the 
premises, and upon any otlier personal property of the tenant used on the 
premises during the term, and not exempt from execution, for the period of one 
year after a year's rent or the rent of a shorter period claimed foils due ; but 
such lien shall not continue more than six months after the expiration of the 
term. 

The lien may be effected by the commencement of an action, witliin the 
period above prescribed, for the rent alone ; and the landlord is entitled to a writ 



ABSTRACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS. 305 

of attachment, upon filing an affidavit that the action is commenced to rcover 
rent accrued within one year previous thereto upon the premises described in the 
aflidavit. 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 

Whenever any of the following articles sliall bo contracted for, or sold or 
delivered, and no special contract or agreement shall be made to the contrary, 
the weight per bushel shall be as follows, to-wit: 



Apples, Penches or Quinces 48 

Clierries, Gnipcs, Ciirrniits or Gooseberiies, 40 
Strawhori'ics, liasphei'iies or Blackberries, 32 

Os.ige Oraiigo Seed 32 

.Millet Seed 45 

SloneCoal 80 

Lime 80 

Corn in the ear .-. 70 

Wheat 60 

Potatoes tiO 

Beans 60 

(Jlover Seed 60 

Onions fi7 

Shelled Corn 56 

Rye 56 

Flax Seeil f>6 

Sweet Potatoes 46 



Sand 130 

Sorghum Seed 30 

Broom Cnrn Seed 30 

Bucicwheat 62 

Salt 50 

Barley 48 

Corn Meal 48 

Castor Beans 46 

Timothy Seed : i^ 

Hemp Seed 44 

Dried Peaches 33 

Gals 33 

Dried Apples 24 

Bran 20 

Blue Grass .Seed 14 

Hungarian Grass Seed 45 



Penalty for giving less than the above standard is treble damages and costs 
and five dollars addition thereto as a fine. 



DEFINITION OF COMMERCIAL TERMS. 

$ means dollars, being a contraction of U. S., which was formerly placed 

before any denomination of money, and meant, as it means now, United States 
Currency. 

£-■ means ^->OMnc?s, English money. 

@ stands for at or to ; lb for pounds, and bbl. for barrels ; '^ for per or bt/ 
the. Thus, Butter sells at 20(« 30c f lb, and Flour at $8(5 $12 '^ bbl. 

% for per cent., and J for number. 

^IMay 1. Wheat sells at $1.20(«j$l. 25, " seller June." Seller June means 
that the person who sells the wheat has the privilege of delivering it at any 
time durinsT the month of June. 

Polling sliort, is contracting to deliver a certain aiuount of grain or stock, 
at a fixed price, within a certain length of time, when the seller has not the 
stock on hand. It is for the interest of the person selling "short" to depress 
the market as much as possible, in order that he may buy and fill his contract 
at a profit. Ilence the "i-horts" are termed "bears." 

Buying Ion;/, is to contract to purchase a certain amount of grain or shares 
of stock at a fixed price, deliverable within a stipulated time, expecting to make 
a profit by the rise in prices. The "longs" are termed "bulls." as it is for 
their interest to "operate" so as to "toss" the prices upward as much as 
possible. 



306 ABSTRACT OF lOAVA STATE LAWS. 



NOTES. 

Form of note is legal, worded in the simplest way, so that the amount and 
•EJiie of payment are mentioned : 

$100. Chicago, 111., Sept. 15, 1876. 

Sixty days from date I promise to pay to E. F. Brown or order, one hun- 
dred dollars, for value received. L. D. Lowry. 

A note to bo payable in anything else than money needs only the facts sub- 
stituted for money in the above form. 

ORDERS. 

Orders should be worded simply, thus : 
Mr. F. H. Coats : Chicago, Sept. 15, 1876. 

Please pay to H. Birdsall twenty-five dollars, and charge to 

F. D. SiLVA. 

RECEIPTS. 

Receipts should always state when received and what for, thus : 

$100. ' Chicago, Sept. 15, 1876. 

Received of J. W. Davis, one liundred dollars, for services 
rendered in grading his lot in Fort Madison, on account. 

Thomas Brady. 
If receipt is in full, it should be so stated. 

BILLS OF PURCHASE. 

W. N. Mason, Salem, Illinois, Sept. 18, 1876. 

Bought of A. A. Graham. 

4 Bushels of Seed Wheat, at ^1.50 $0 00 

2 Seamless Sacks ■ " 30 60 



Received payment, $6 60 

A. A. Graham. 



i 



CONFESSION OF JUDGMENT. 

$ . , Iowa, , 18 — . 

after date — promises to pay to the order of , dollar) 

at , for value received, with interest at ten per cent, per annum afte; 

until paid. Interest payable , and on interest not paid when due, 

inteiest at same rate and conditions. 

A lailiire to [iny saiil interest, or any part thereof, within 20 days after due, sliall cause the 
whole note to become due and collectable at once. 

Ir this note is sued, or judgment is confessed hei'con, § shall be allowed as attorney fees. 

No. — . P. 0. , . 



CONFESSION OF .lUDGMENT. 
vs. — . In Court of County, Iowa, , of 



County, Iowa, do hereby confess that justly indebted to , in the 



ABSTRACT OP IOWA STATE LAWS. 307 

sum of dollars, and the furtlier sum of .? as attorney fees, with 

interest thereon at ten per cent, from , and — • hereby confess judgment 

against as defendant in favor of said , for said sum of $ , 

ami Ij? as attorney fees, hereby authorizing the Clerk of the Court of 

said county to enter up judgment for said sum against with costs, and 

interest at 10 per cent, from , the interest to be paid . 

Said debt and judgment bei'.ig for . 

It is especially agreed, however, That if this judgment is paid within twenty 

days after due, no attorney fees need be paid. And hereby sell, convey 

and release all right of homestead we now occupy in favor of said so 

far as this judgment is concerned, and agree that it shall be liable on execution 
for this judgment. 

Dated , 18—. . 

The St.we of Iowa, "I 

• County. J 

being duly sworn according to law, depose and say that the forego- 
ing statement and Confession of Judgment was read over to , and tliat -- 

understood the contents thereof, and that the statements contained therein ar^ 

true, and that the sums therein mentioned are justly to become due said 

as aforesaid. 



Sworn to and subscribed before rae and in my presence by the said 

this day of , 18 — . , Notary Public. 



ARTICLES OF AGREEMENT. 

An agreement is where one party promises to another to do a certain thing 
in a certain time for a stipulated sum. Good business men always reduce an 
agreement to writing, which nearly always saves misunderstandings and trouble. 
No particular form is necessary, but the facts must be clearly and explicitly 
stated, and there must, to make it valid, be a reasonable consideration. 

GENERAL FORM OF AGREEMENT. 

Tins Agreement, made the Second day of June, 1878, between John 
Jones, of Keokuk, County of Lee, State of Iowa, of the first part, and Thomas 
Whiteside, of the same place, of the second part — 

WITNESSETH, that the said John Jones, in consideration of the agreement 
of the party of the second part, hereinafter contained, contracts and agrees to 
and with the said Thomas Whiteside, that he will deliver in good and market 
able condition, at the Village of Melrose, Iowa, during the month of November, 
of this year. One Hundred Tons of Prairie Hay, in the following lots, and at 
the following specified times ; namely, twenty-five tons by the seventh of Nov- 
ember, twenty-five tons additional by the fourteenth of the month, twenty-five 
tons more by the twenty-first, and the entii'e one hundred tons to be all delivered 
by the thirtieth of November. 

And the said Thomas Whiteside, in consideration of the prompt fulfillment 
of this contract, on the part of the party of the first part, contracts to and agrees 
with the said John Jones, to pay for said hay five dollars per ton, for each ton 
as soon as delivered. 



SO'- ABSTRACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS. 

In case of ftiiluro of agreement by eitlier of the parties hereto, it is hereby 
stipulated and agreed that the party sofaihng shall pay to the other, One Hun- 
dred dollars, as lixed and settled damages. 

Ill witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands the day and year first 
above written. John Joxes, 

Thomas Whiteside. 

agreement with clerk for services. 

This Agreement, made the first day of May, one thousand eight hundred 
and seventy-eight, between Ileuben Stone, of Dubuque, County of Dubuque, 
State of Liwa, party of the first part, and George Barclay, of JlcGregor, 
County of Clayton, State of Iowa, party of the second part— 

WITNESSETH, that Said George Barclay agrees faithfully and diligently to 
work as clerk and salesman for the said Reuben Stone, for and during the space 
of one year from the date hercot, shoulil both live such length of time, witliout 
absenting himself from his occupation ; dui'iiig which time lie, the said Barclay, in 
the store of said Si one, of Dubuque, will carefully and honestly attend, doing 
and performing all duties as clerk and salesman aforesaid, in accordance and in 
all respects as directed and desired by the .--aid Stone. 

In consideration of which services, so to be rendered by the said Barclay, the 
said Stone agrees to pay to said Barclay the annual sum of one thousand dol- 
lars, payable in twelve equal monthly payments, each upon the last day of each 
month ; provided that all dues lor days of absence from business by said Barclay, 
shall be deducted from the .sum otherwise by the agreement due and payable by 
the said Stone to the .said Barclay. 

Witness our hands. Reuben Stone. 

George Barclay. 

BILLS OF SALE. 

A bill of sale is a written agreement to another party, for a consideration to 
convey his right and interest in the personal property. The jnirchaser must 
take, actual possession of the proiycrtij, or the bill of sale must be acknowledged 
and recorded. 

COMMON FORM OF BILL OF SALE. 

Xnow all Men by this instrument, that I, Louis Clay, of Burlington, 
Iowa, of the first part, for and in consideration of Five Hundred and Ten 
Dollars, to me paid by John Floyd, of the same place, of the second part, the 
receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, have sold, and by this instrument do 
convey unto the said Floyd, party of the second part, his executors, administra- 
tors and assigns, my undivided half of ten acres of corn, now growing on the 
arm of Thomas Tyrell, in the town above mentioned ; one pair of horses, 
sixteen sheep, and JRve cows, belonging to me and in my possession at the farm 
aforesaid ; to have and to hold the same unto the party of the second part, his 
executors and assigns forever. And I do, for myself and legal representatives, 
agree with the said party of the second part, and his legal representatives, to 
warrant and defend the sale of the afore-mentioned property and chattels unto 
the said party of the secon.d part, and his legal representatives, against all and 
every person whatsoever. 

In witness whereof, I have hereunto affixed my hand, this tenth day of 
October, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six. 

Louis Clay. 



ABSTRACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS. 30{- 

NOTICE TO QUIT. 
[To -John Wontpay : 

You are hereby notified to quit the possession of the premises you now 
occupy to Avit : 

[^Insert Description.^ 
on or before thirty clays from the date of this notice. 

Dated January 1, 1878. Landlord. 

[Rtiverse for Notice to Landlord.^ 



GENERAL FORM OF WILL FOR REAL AND PERSONAL 

PROPERTY. 

I, Charles Mansfield, of the Town of Bellevue, County of Jackson, State 
of Iowa, being aware of tlio uncertainty of life, and in failing health, but of 
sound mind and memory, do make and declare this to be my last will and tes- 
tament, in manner followinji;, to-wit : 

First. I give, devise and bequeatli unto my eldest son, Sidney H. Mans- 
field, the sum of Two Thousand Dollars, of bank stock, now in the Third 
National Bank, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and the farm owned by myself, in the 
Township of Iowa, consisting of one Iiundred and sixty acres, with all the 
houses, tenements and improvements thereunto belonging; to have and to hold 
unto my said son, his heirs and assigns, forever. 

Second. I give, devise and bequeath to each of my two daughters, Anna 
Louise Mansfield and Ida Clara Mansfield, each Two Thousand Dollars in bank 
stock in the Third National Bank of Cincinnati, Ohio ; and also, each one 
quarter section of land, owned by myself, situated in theTownship of Fairfield, 
and recorded in my name in tlie Recorder's ofiice, in the county where such land 
is located. Tiie north one hundred and sixty acres of said half section is 
devised to my eldest daughter, Anna Louise. 

T'drd. I give, devise and bequeath to my son, Frank Alfred Mansfield, five 
shares of railroad stock in the Baltimore & Oliio Railroad, and my one hundred 
and sixty acres of land, and saw-mill thereon, situated in Manistee, Michigan, 
with all the improvements and appurtenances thereunto belonging, which said 
real estate is recorded in my name, in the county where situated. 

Fourth. I give to my wife, Victoria Elizabeth Mansfield, all my household 
furniture, goods, chattels and personal projierty, about my home, not hitherto 
disposed of, including Eight Thousand Dollars of bank stock in the Third 
National Bank of Cincinnati, Ohio, fifteen shares in the Baltimore & Ohio 
Railroad, and the free and unrestricted use, possession and benefit of the home 
farm so long as she may live, in lieu of dower, to whicli she is entitled by law 
— said farm being my present place of residence. 

F(f/h. I bequeath to my invalid father, Elijah H. Mansfield, the income 
from rents of ray store building at 145 Jackson street, Chicago. Illinois, during 
the term of his natural life. Said building and land therewith to revert to 
my said sons and daughters in equal proportion, upon tiie demise of my said 
father. 

<SV,r^/;. It is also my will and desire that, at the death of my wife, A''ictoria 
Elizabeth iNIansfield, or at any time when she may arrange to relinquish her 



310 AUSTRACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS. 

life interest in the above mentioned homestead, the same may revert to my 
above named children, or to the lawfid heirs of each. 

And lastly. I nominate and appoint as the executors of this, my last will 
and testament, my wife, Victoria Elizabeth Mansfield, and my eldest son, Sidney 
H. Mansfield. 

I further direct that my debts and necessary funeral expenses shall be paid 
from moneys now on depo.sit in the Savings Bank of Bellevue, the residue of 
such moneys to revert to my wife, Victoria Elizabeth Mansfield, for her use for- 
ever. 

In witness whereof, I, Charles Mansfield, to this my last will and testament, 
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this fourth day of April, eighteen hundred 
and seventy-two. 

Charles Mansfield. 
Signed, and declared by Charles Mansfield, as and for his last will and tes- 
ment, in the presence of us, who, at his request, and in his presence, and in 
the presence of each other, have subscribed our names hereunto as witnesses 
thereof. Peter A. Sciienck, Dubuque, Iowa, 

Frank E. Dent, Bellevue, Iowa. 

CODICIL. 

Whereas I, Charles Mansfield, did, on the fourth day of April, one thousand 
eight hundred and seventy-two, make my hist will and testament, I do now, by 
this writing, add this codicil to my said will, to be taken as a part thereof. 

Whereas, by the dispensation of Providence, my daughter, Anna Louise, 
has deceased, November fifth, eighteen hundred and seventy-three ; and whereas, 
a son has been born to me, which son is now christened Richard Albert Mans- 
field, I give and bequeath unto him my gold watch, and all right, interest and 
title in lands and bank stock and chattels bequeathed to my deceased daughter, 
Anna Louise, in the body of this will. 

In witness whereof, I hereunto place my hand and seal, this tenth day of 
March, eighteen hundred and seventy-five. Charles Mansfield. 

' Signed, sealed, published and declared to us by the testator, Charles ]\Ians- 
field, as and for a codicil to be annexed to his last will and testament. And 
we, at his request, and in his presence, and in the presence of each other, have 
subscribed our names as witnesses thereto, at the date hereof. 

Frank E. Dent, Bellevue, Iowa, 
John C. Shay, Bellevue, Iowa. 



{Form No. 1.) 

SATISFACTION OF MORTGAGE. 

I^tate op Iowa, \ 

County, j 

I, , of the County of , State of Iowa, do hereby acknowledge 

■chat a certain Indenture of , bearing date the day of , A. D. 

18 — , made and executed by and , his wife, to said on 

che following described Real Estate, in the County of , and State of 

lowa, to-wit : (here insert description) and filed for record in the office of the 
Recorder of the County of , and State of Iowa, on the day of 



ABSTRACT UF IOWA STATE LAWS. 311 

A. D. 18 — , at o'clock . M. ; and recorded in Book of Mortgage 

Records, on page , is redeemed, paid off, satisfied and discharged in full. 

. [seal.] 

State of Iowa, "1 

n * / SS. 

County, J 

Be it Remembered, That on this day of , A. D. 18 — , before 

me the undersigned, a in and for said county, personally appeared , 

to me personally known to be the identical ])erson ■who executed the above 

(satisfaction of mortgage) as grantor, and acknowledged signature 

thereto to be voluntary act and deed. 

Witness my hand and seal, the day and year last above 

■written. . 



ONE FORM OF REAL ESTATE MORTGAGE. 

Know all Mex by these Presents : That , of County, and 

State of , in consideration of dollars, in hand paid by — of 

County, and State of , do hereby sell and convey unto the said 

the following described premises, situated in the County , and State of 

, to wit : (here insert description,) and do hereby covenant with the 

said that lawfully seized of said premises, that they are free from 

incumbrance, that have good right and lawful authority to sell and convey 

the same ; and do hereby covenant to warrant and defend the same against 

the lawful claims of all persons whomsoever. To be void upon condition that 

tlie said shall pay the full amount of principal and interest at the time 

tlierein specified, of certain promissory note for the sura of dollars. 

One note for .^ , due , 18 — , with interest annually at per cent. 

One note for ^ , due , 18 — , with interest annually at per cent. 

One note for § , due , 18 — , with interest annually at per cent. 

One note for $ , due , 18 — , with interest annually at per cent. 

And the said Mortgagor agrees to pay all ta.xes that may be levied upon the 
above described premises. It is also agreed by the Mortgagor that if it becomes 
necessary to foreclose this mortgage, a reasonable amount sliall be allowed as an 

attorney's fee for foreclosing. And the said hereby relinquishes all her 

right of dower and homestead in and to the above described premises. 
Signed to day of , A. D. 18 — . 



[Acknowledge as in Form No. 1.] 



SECOND FORM OF REAL ESTATE MORTGAGE. 

This Indenture, made and executed by and between of the 

county of and State of , part of the first part, and of the 

county of and State of pai'ty of the second part, Witnesseth, that the 

said part of the first part, for and in consideration of the sura of dollars, 

paid by the said party of the second part, the receipt of which is hereby 
acknowledged, ha','e granted and sold, and do by these presents, grant, bargain, 
sell, convey and confirm, unto the said party of the second part, heirs and 



312 ABSTRACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS. 

assigns forever, the certain tract or parcel of real estate situated in the county 
of and State of , described as follows, to-wit: 

[Here insert description.) 

The said part of the first part represent to and covenant with the part of 
the second part, that he have good right to sell and convey said premises, 
that they are free from encumbrance and that he will warrant and defend 
them against the lawful claims of all persons whomsoever, and do expressly 
hereby release all rights of dower in and to said premises, and relinquish and 
convey all rights of homestead therein. 

This Instrument is made, executed and delivered upon the following con- 
ditions, to-wit : 

First. Said first part agree to pay said or order 

Second. Said first part further agree as is stipulated in said note, that if 
he shall fail to pay any of said interest when due, it shall bear interest at the 
rate often per cent, per annum, from the time the same becomes due, and this 
mortgage shall stand as security for the same. 

Third. Said first part further agree that he will pay all taxes and 
assessments levied upon said real estate before the same become delinquent, and 
if not paid the holder of this mortgage may declare the whole sum of money 
herein secured due and collectable qX once, or he may elect to pay such taxes or 
assessments, and be entitled to interest on the same at the rate of ten per cent. 
per annum, and this mortgage shall stand as security for the amount so paid. 
Fourth. Said first part further agree that if .he fail to pay any of said 

money, either principal or interest, within days after the same becomes 

due ; or fad to conform or comply with any of the foregoing conditions or agree- 
ments, the whole sum herein secured shall become due and payable at once, and 
this mortgage may thereupon be foreclosed immediately for the whole of said 
money, interest and costs. j 

Fifth. Said part further agree that inthe event of the non-payment of either ' 
principal, interest or taxes when due, and upon tlie filing of a bill of foreclosure 
of this mortgage, an attorney's fee of dollars shall become due and pay- 
able, and shall be by the court taxed, and this mortgage shall stand as security 
therefor, and the same shall be included in the decree of foreclosure and shall 
be made by the Sherilf on general or special execution with the other money, 
interest and costs, and the contract embodied in this mortgage and tlie note 
described herein, shall in all respects be governed, constructed and adjudged 

by the laws of , where the same is made. The foregoing conditions 

being performed, this conveyance to bo void, otherwise of full force and virtue. 



[Acknowledge as in form No. l.J 



FORM OF LEASE. 



This Article of Agreement, Made and entered into on this day of ■ 

A. D. 187-, by and between , of the county of -, and 



State of Iowa, of the first part, and — ■ , of the county of :, 

and State of Iowa, of the second part, witnesseth that the said party of the fir^t 



ABSTRACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS. uj-3 

part has this day leased unto the party of the second part the following described 
premises, to wit : , 

[//er« insert description.'] 

for the term of from and after the — day of , A. D. 187-, a:^ 

the rent of dollars, to be paid as follows, to wit : 

\_neTe insert Terms.] 

And it is further agreed that if any rent shall be due and unpaid, or if 
default be made in any of the covenants herein contained, it shall then be law- 
ful for tlie said party of the first part to re-enter the said premises, or to destrain 
for such rent; or he may recover possession thereof, by action of forcible entry 
and detainer, notwithstanding the provision of Section 3,612 of the Code of 
1873 ; or he may use any or all of said remedies. ^ 

And the said party of the second part agrees to pay to the party of the first 
part the rent as above stated, except when said premises are untenantable by 
reason of fire, or from any other cause than the carelessness of the party of the 

second part, or persons family, or in " employ, or by superior force 

and inevitable necessity. And tiie said party of the second part covenants 

that will use the said premises as a , and for no other purposes 

whatever ; and that especially will not use said premises, or permit the 

same to be used, for any unlawful business or purpose whatever ; that will 

not sell, assign, underlet or relinquish said premises without the wi'itten consent 

of the lessor, under penalty of a forfeiture of all rights under this lease, at 

the election of the party of the first part ; and that will use all due care 

and diligence in guarding said property, with the buildings, gates, fences, trees, 
vines, shrubbery, etc., from damage by fire, and tiie depredations of animals; 

that will keep buildings, gates, fences, etc., in as good repair as they now 

are, or may at any time be placed by the lessor, damages by superior force, 
inevitable necessity, or fire from any other cause than from the carelessness of 

the lessee, or persons of- fiimily, or in employ, excepted ; and that 

at the expiration of this lease, or upon a breach by said lessee of any of the said 

covenants herein contained, will, without further notice of any kind, c^uit 

and surrender the possession and occupancy of said premises in as good condi- 
tion as reasonable use, natural wear and decay thereof will permit, clamages by 
fire as afoi-esaid, superior force, or inevitable necessity, only excepted. 

In witness whereof, the said parties have subscribed their names on the date 
first above written. 

In presence of 



FORM OF NOTE. 

■ ,18— ■ 

On or before the — day of , 18 — , fcr value received, I promise to 

pay or order, dollars, with interest from date until paid, 

at ten per cent, per annum, payable annually, at . Unpaid interest 

shall bear interest at ten per cent, per annum. On failure to pay interest 

within days after due, the whole sum, priiicipal and interest, shall become 

due at once. 



?.14 ABSTKACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS. 



CHATTEL MORTGAGE. 

Know all Men by these Presents : Tliat of County, and 

State of in consideration of dollars, in hand paid by , of 

County and State of do hereby sell and convey unto the said the 

following described personal property, now in the possession of in the 

county and State of , to wit : 

\_Here insert Description.'] 

And do hereby warrant the title of said property, and that it is free from 

any incumbrance or lien. The only right or interest retained by grantor in 
and to said property being the right of redemption as herein provided. This 
conveyance to be void upon condition that the said grantor shall pay to said 
grantee, or his assigns, the full amount of principal and interest at the time 

therein specified, of certain promissory notes of even date herewith, for 

the sum of dollars, 

One note for $ , due , 18^ — , with interest annually at per cent. 

One note for f , due , 18 — , with interest annually at per cent. 

One note for $ , due , 18 — , with interest annually at per cent. 

One note for $ , due , 18 — , Avith interest annually at per cent. 

The grantor to pay all taxes on said property, and if at any time any part 
or portion of said notes should be due and unpaid, said grantee may proceed by 
sale or foreclosure to collect and pay himself the unpaid balance of said notes, 
whether due or not, the grantor to pay all necessary expense of such foreclosure, 

including $ Attorney's fees, and whatever remains after paying off said 

notes and expenses, to be paid over to said grantor. 

Signed the day of' , 18 — . . 

[Acknowledged as in form No. 1.] . 



WARRANTY DEED. 

Know all Men by these Presents : That of County and 

S'tate of , in consideration of the sum of Dollars, in hand paid by 

of , County and State of , do hereby sell and convey unto 

the said and to heirs and assigns, the following described premises, 

situated in the County of , State of Iowa, to-wit : 

[Ilerc insert description.'] 

And I do hereby covenant with the said that — lawfully seized in fee 

simple, of said premises, that they are free from incumbrance ; that — ha good 
right and lawful authority to sell the same, and — do hereby covenant to war- 
rant and defend the said premises and appurtenances thereto belonging, against 
the lawful claims of all persons whomsoever; and the said hereby re- 
linquishes all her right of dower and of homestead in and to the above described, 
premises. 

Signed the day of , A. D. 18—. 

IN presence op 



[Acknowledged as in Form No. 1.] 



ABSTRACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS. 31^ 



QUIT-CLAIM DEED. 



Know^ all Men by these Presents: That , of County, 

State of , in consideration of the sum of dollars, to — in hand 

paid by , of County, State of , the receipt whereof — do 

hereby acknowledge, have bargained, sold and quit-claimed, and by these presents 

do bargain, sell and quit-claim unto the said and to — heirs and assigns 

forever, all — right, title, interest, estate, claim and demand, both at law and 
in equity, and as well in possession as in expectancy, of, in and to the following 
described premises, to wit : [here insert description] with all and singular the 
hereditaments and appurtenances thereto belonging. 

Signed this day of , A. D. 18—. 

Signed in Presence of 



f Acknowledged as in form No. 1.] 



BOND FOR DEED. 

Know all Men by these Presents: That of County, 

and State of am held and firmly bound unto of County, and 

State of , in the sum of Dollars, to be paid to the said , his 

executors or assigns, for which payment well and truly to be made, I bind myself 
firmly by these presents. Signed the day of A. D. 18 — . 

The condition of this obligation is such, that if the said obligee shall pay to 
said obligor, or his assigns, the full amount of principal and interest at the time 
therein specified, of — certain promissory note of even date herewith, for the 
sum of Dollars, 

One note for $ , due , 18 — , with interest annually at — per cent. 

One note for $ , due , 18 — , with interest annually at — per cent. 

One note for $ , due , 18 — . with interest annually at — per cent. 

and pay all taxes accruing upon the lands herein described, then said obligor 
shall convey to the said obligee, or his assigns, that certain tract or parcel of 
real estate, situated in the County of and State of Iowa, described as fol- 
lows, to wit: [here insert description,] by a Warranty Deed, with the usual 
covenants, duly executed and acknowledged. 

If said obligee should fail to make the payments as above stipulated, or any 
part thereof, as the same becomes due, said obligor may at his option, by notice 
to the obligee terminate his liability under the bond and resume the posses- 
sion and absolute control of said premises, time being the essence of this 
agreement. 

On the fulfillment of the above conditions this obligation to become void, 
otherwise to remain in full force and virtue; uidess terminated by the obligor 
as above stipulated. 



[Acknowledge as in form No. 1.] 



31S ABSTRACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS. 



CHARITABLE, SCIENTIFIC AND RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATIONS. 

Any three or more persons of full age, citizens of the United States, 
a majority of whom shall be citizens of this State, who desire to associate 
themselves for benevolent, charitable, scientific, religious or missionary pur^ 
poses, may make, sign and acknowledge, before any officer authorized to take 
the acknowledgments of deeds in this State, and have recorded in the office of 
the Recorder of the county in which the business of such society is to be con- 
ducted, a certificate in writing, in which shall be stated the name or title by 
which such society shall be known, the partisular business and objects of such 
society, the number of Trustees, Directors or Managers to conduct the same, and 
the names of the Trustees, Directors or Managers of such society for the first 
year of its existence. 

Upon filing for record the certificate, as aforesaid, the persons who shall 
have signed and acknowledged such certificate, and their associates and success- 
ors, shall, by virtue hereof, be a body politic and corporate by the name 
stated in such certificate, and by that they and their successors shall and may 
have succession, and shall be persons capable of suing and being sued, and may 
have and use a common seal, which they may alter or change at pleasure ; and 
they and their successors, by their corporate name, shall be capable of taking, 
receiving, purchasing and holding real and personal estate, and of making by- 
laws for the management of its affairs, not inconsistent with law. 

The society so incorporated may, annually or oftener, elect from its members 
its Trustees, Directors or Managers at such time and place, and in such manner 
as may be specified in its by-laws, who shall have the control and management 
of the affairs and funds of the societj', a majority of whom shall be a quorum 
for the transaction of business, and whenever any vacancy shall happen among 
such Trustees, Directors or Managers, by death, resignation or neglect to serve, 
such vacancy shall be filled in such manner as shall be provided by the by-laivs 
of such society. When the body corporate consists of the Trustees, Directors or 
Managers of any benevolent, charitable, literary, scientific, religious or mis- 
sionary institution, which is or may be established in the State, and which is or 
may be under the patronage, control, direction or supervision of any synod, con- 
ference, association or other ecclesiastical body in such State, established 
agreeably to the laws thereof, such ecclesiastical body may nominate and 
appoint such Trustees, Directors or Managers, according to usages of the appoint- 
ing body, and may fill any vacancy which may occur among such Trustees, 
Directors or Managers ; and when any such institution may he under the 
patronage, control, direction or supervi^on of two or more of such synods, con- 
ferences, associations or other ecclesiastical bodies, such bodies may severally 
nominate and appoint such proportion of such Trustees, Directors or Managers 
as shall be agreed upon by those bodies immediately concerned. And any 
vacancy occurring among such appointees last named, shall bo filled by the 
synod, conference, association or body having appointed the last incumbent. 

In case any election of Trustees, Directors or Managers shall not bo made 
on the day designated by the by-laws, said society for that cause shall not be 
dissolved, but such election may take place on any other day directed by such 
by-laws. 

' Any corporation formed under this chapter shall be capable of taking, hold- 
ing or receiving property by virtue of any devise or bequest contained in any 
last will or testament of any person whatsoever; but no person Jeaving a wife, 



ABSTRACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS. 317 

•child or parent, shall devise or bequeath to such institution or corporation more 
than one-fourth of his estate after the payment of his debts, and such device or 
betjuest shall be valid only to the extent of such one-fourth. 

Any corporation in tliis State of an academical character, the memberships 
of which shall consist of lay members and pastors of churches, delegates to any 
synod, conference or council holding its annual meetings alternately in this and 
one or more adjoining States, may hold its annual meetings for the election of 
officers and the transaction of business in any adjoining State to this, at such 
place therein as the said synod, conference or council shall hold its annual meet- 
inijs; and the elections so held and business so transacted shall be as legal and 
binding as if held and transacted at tlie place of business of the corporation in 
this State. 

The provisions of this chapter shall not extend or apply to any association 
or individual wlio shall, in the certificate filed with the Recorder, use or specify 
41 name or style the same as that of any previously existing incorporated society 
in the county. 

The Trustees, Directors or stockholders of any existing benevolent, char- 
itable, scientific, missionary or religious corporation, may, by conforming to the 
requirements of Section 1095 of this chapter, re-incorporate themselves or con- 
tinue their existing corporate powers, and all the property and effects of such 
existing corporation shall vest in and belong to the corporation so re-incorporated 
■or continued. 



INTOXICATING LIQUORS. 

No intoxicating liquors (alcohol, spirituous and vinous liquors), except wine 
manufactured from grapes, currants or other fruit grown in the State, shall be 
manufactured or sold, except for mechanical, medicinal, culinary or sacramental 
purposes ; and even such sale is limited as follows : 

Any citizen of the State, except hotel keepers, keepers of saloons, eating 
houses, grocery keepers and confectioners, is permitted to buy and sell, within 
the county of his residence, such liquors for such mechanical, etc., purposes 
only, provided he shall obtain the consent of the Board of Supervisors. In 
order to get that consent, he must get a certificate from a majority of the elec- 
•tors of the town or township or ward in which he desires to sell, that he is of 
good moral character, and a proper person to sell such liquors. 

If the Board of Supervisors grant liim permission to sell such liquors, he 
must give bonds, and shall not sell such liquors at a greater profit tlian thirty- 
three per cent, on tlie cost of the same. Any person having a permit to sell, 
shall make, on the last Saturday of every month, a return in writing to the 
Auditor of the county, showing the kind and quantity of the liquors purchased 
by him since the date of his last report, the price paid, and the amount of 
freights paid on the same ; also the kind and quantity of li(juors sold by him 
since the date of his last report; to whom sold; for what purpose and at what 
price; also the kind and quantity of licjuors on hand; which report shall be 
fiworn to by the person having the permit, and shall be kept by the Auditor, 
subject at all times to the inspection of the public. 

No person shall sell or give away any intoxicating liquors, including wine or 
iTjcer, to any minor, for any purpose whatever, except upon written order of 
parent, guardian or family i)hysician ; or sell the same to an intoxicated person 
or a person in the habit of becoming intoxicated. 



318 ABSTRACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS. 

Any person wlio shall mix any intoxicating liquor with any beer, wine or 
cider, by him sold, and siiall sell or keep for sale, as a beverage, such mixture, 
shall be punished as for sale of intoxicating liquor. 

But nothing in the chapter containing the laws governing the sale or pro- 
hibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors, shall be construed to forbid the sale by 
the importer thereof of foreign intoxicating li(]^uor, imported under the author- 
ity of the laws of the United States, regarding the importation of such liquors, 
and in accordance with such laws ; provided that such liquor, at the time of the 
sale by the importer, remains in the original casks or packages in which it was 
by him imported, and in quantities not less than the quantities in which the 
laws of the United States require such liquors to be imported, and is sold by 
him in sucli original casks or packages, and in said quantities only. 

All payment or compensation for intoxicating liquor sold in violation of the- 
laws of this State, wdiether such payments or compensation be in money, goods,- 
lands, labor, or any thing else whatsoever, shall be held to have been received in viola- 
tion of law and e(iuity and good conscience, and to have been received upon a 
valid promise and agreement of the receiver, in consideration of the receipt 
thereof, to pay on demand, to the person furnishing such consideration, the 
amount of the money on the just value of the goods or other things. 

All sales, transfers, conveyances, mortgages, liens, attachments, pledges and 
securities of every kind, which, either in whole or in part, shall have been made 
on account of intoxicating li(|uors sold contrary to law, shall be utterly null and 
void. 

Negotiable paper in the hands of holders thereof, in good faith, for valuable 
consideration, without notice of any illegality in its inception or transfer, how- 
ever, shall not be affected by the above provisions. Neither shall the holder of 
land or other property who may have taken the same in good faith, without 
notice of any defect in the title of the person from whom the same was- 
taken, growing out of a violation of the liquor law, be afi'ected by the above 
provision. 

Every wife, child, parent, guardian, employer, or other person, who shall be 
injured in person or property or means of support, by an intoxicated person, or 
in consequence of the intoxication, has a right of action against any person who 
shall, by selling intoxicating liquors, cause the intoxication of such person, for 
all damages actually sustained as well as exemplary damages. 

For any damages recovered, the personal and real property (except home- 
stead, as now provided) of the person against whom the damages are recovered, 
as well as the premises or property, personal or real, occupied and used by him, 
with consent and knowledge of owner, either for manufacturing or selling intox- 
icating li(iuors cimtrary to law, shall be liable. 

The only other exemption, besides the homestead, from tl^is sweeping liability, 
is that the defendant may have enough for the support of his family for six 
months, to be determined by the Township Trustee. 

No ale, wine, beer or other malt or vinous li([uors shall be sold within two 
miles of the corporate limits of any municipal corporation, except at wholesale, 
for the purpose of shipment to places outside of such corporation and such two- 
mile limits. The power of the corporation to prohibit or license sale of liquors 
not prohibited by law is extended over the two miles. 

No aie, wine, beer or other malt or vinous liquors shall be sold on the day 
on which any election is held under the laws of this State, within two miles of 
the place where said election is held; except only that any person holding a 
permit may sell upon the prescription of a practicing physician. 



ABSTRACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS. 319 



SUGGESTIONS TO THOSE PURCHASING BOOKS BY SUBSCRIP- 
TION. 

The business of publishing hooks bij subscription, having so often been 
brought into disrepute by agents making representations and declarations not 
authorized by the publisher, in order to prevent that asmuch as possible, and 
that there may be more general knowledge of the relation such agents bear to 
their principal, and the law governing such cases, the following statement is 
made : 

A subscription is in the nature of a contract of mutual promises, by which 
the subscriber agrees to pay a certain sum for the work described ; the consid- 
eration is concurrent that the publisher shall publish the booh named, and 
deliver the same, for which the subscriber is to pay the price named. Tlie 
nature and character of the work is described by the ji'rospectus and sample 
shown. These should be carefully examined before subscribing, as they are 
the basis and consideration of the promise to pay, and not the too often exag- 
gerated statements of the agent, who is merely employed to solicit subscriptions, 
for which he is usually paid a commission for each subscriber, and has no 
authority to change or alter the conditions upon which the subscriptions are 
authorized to be made by the publisher. Should the agent assume to agree to 
make the subscription conditional or modify or change the agreement of the 
jiublisher, as set out by the prospectus and sample, in order to bind the princi- 
jpal, the subscriber should sec that such condition or changes are stated over or 
in connection with his signature, so that the publisher may have notice of the 
same. 

All persons making contracts in reference to matters of this kind, or any 
other business, should remember that the law as ivritten is, that they can not be 
altered, varied or rescinded verbally, but if done at all, must be done in writing. 
It is therefoi'e important that all persoyis contemplating subscribing should 
distinctly understand that all talk before or after the subscription is made, is not 
admissible as evidence, and is no part of the contract. 

Persons employed to solicit subseripitions are known to the trade as can- 
vassers. They are agents appointed to do a particular business in a prescribed 
mode, and have no authority to do it any other way to the prejudice of their 
principal, nor can they bind their principal in any other matter. They caymot 
collect money, or agree that ]iayment may be made in anything else but money. 
They can not extend the time of payment beyond the time of delivery, nor bind 
their principal for the payment of expenses incurred in their business. 

It would save a great deal of trouble, and often serious loss, if persons, 
lefore signing their names to any subscription book, or any written instrument, 
would examine carefully what it is ; if they can not read themselves call on 
some one disinterested who can. 




STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE OF IOWA (CENSUS OF 1875.) 





No. of 
Acres 
of Im- 
proved 
Land. 


No. of 
Acres 
Unim- 
)roved 
Land. 


No. of 
Acres 
under 
Culti- 
vation 
n 1874. 


Spring Wheat, 


Winter -Wlieat. 


Indian Corn. 


Oats. 


Value of 
Producla 
of Farm 

in 
Dollars. 


COUNTIES. 


No, of 
Acres, 


No, of 
Bushels 
Harv'l'd 


No. of 
Acres. 


No. of 1 
Bushclsl 
Harv't-d 


No. of 
Acres. 


No. of 
Bushels 
Harv't-d; 


No. of 
Acres. 


No. of 
Bushels 
Harv'td 


Appanoose 

Alamakee 

Audiibou 

Adams 

Adair 


I6I059 

i:m;6: 

21U6 

651S9 

83 182 

33118 

29J318 

156937 

1J9J9J 

1J5JG7 

213025 

19056 

3T059 

51638 

1108G4 

58053 

2J8809 

52'.laO 

212291 

299835 

96.504 

53065 

9«94 

26996 

1.5093S 

115751 

181831 

143665 

472029 

157;0 

132435 

99S9 

147098 

l-.9;04 

(i9S59 

115907 

1460i9 

59010 

8T259 

128331 

29114 

115323 

94818 

10462 

63966 

182030 

7292 

191041 

193290 

211021 

2788S1 

208901 

16T389 

208125 

81550 

1S3S32 

10895 J 

158?2 

281118 

15ia)7 

12G384 

232398 

199669 

141512 

101998 

102215 

223735 

62212 

178945 

104633 

33626 

18190 

207C89 

21928 

1246S0 

208989 

156782 

582S3 

18517 

18400 

235515 

148649 

53180 

39824 

31331 

102861 

25518- 

67005 

153074 

14776! 

1912Cr 

246141 

4417' 

4892- 

22517f 

9723« 

1758 

3351 

15020 


161083 

1.36321 
23819 
43735 
55080 
37031 
63911 
71810 
58908 
47001 

150381 
71418 
39919 
28974 
45304 

283414 
41417 

309895 

151908 
57337 
91772 

309744 
50187 

'iiooos 

87172 

98561 

58163 

6-2305 

29850 

67765 

25586 

32130 

98156 

43 46 

198332 

47926 

49838 

47220 

39930 

S6906 

171048 

337451 

341015 

39935 

50249 

9194 

89357 

142401 

71257 

179752 

63298 

06979 

98999 

48793 

78692 

69757 

318841 

62649 

52922 

70176 

122490 

82779 

5.3601 

183709 

78206 

47532 

S6278 

48S32 

50607 

32070 

31406 

56841 

83372 

419489 

48697 

175471 

61912 

82225 

68329 

19123 

43374 

S932t 

367391 

4T20 

23551 E 

9022-.i 

3321t 

99j2f 

66T9^ 

16717i 

131071 

5709 

4595 

6505 

6174- 

3062 

3233 

6349 


123188 
109388 
15986 
54352 
C0205 
27010 
239408 
108642 
124877 
1O4S10 
181236 
157210 
33375 
■ 45412 
92785 
15262 
166483 
48648 
173622 

"■74164 

39159 

78803 

26018 

131,597 

9.-)275 

140244 

97018 

161 S37 

11961 

:i4025 

8387 

110708 

133758 

65,390 

103(139 

133108 

52323 

76892 

97765 

27018 

61871 

72287 

9005 

52050 

110331 

6314 

158188 

112401 

19.3019 

216949 

140684 

12,3590 

149672 

28835 

133380 

88857 

12766 

175055 

101X166 

91133 

150:;08 

153214 

99837 

137979 

91730 

117303 

39841 

129699 

80026 

20131 

14651 

140450 

19il9 

90619 

171,388 

115484 

41379 

16679 

50373 

185742 

9938' 

4723L 

333 If 

2417f 

79142 

21194 

45821 

11326S 

11768' 

15373- 

25946' 

S309 

3215 

15T88 

70911 

1242 

2893 

13517 


9600 
61880 
6876 
17947 
27550 
15514 
99400 
32505 
57907 
48878 
89361 
64291 
17481 
31693 
40123 
21 COO 
40407 
28199 
86883 
6S683 
40162 
26756 
17968 
11010 
5378 
8211 
49240 
10615 
6U401 
57U1 
29256 
3911 
62067 
00779 
81096 
13229 
67384 
19391 
27489 
38464 
12016 
36115 
23918 
48S9 
20070 
15026 
3108 
48410 
43515 
4,5306 
79926 
36090 
10237 
S3278 
10798 
10351 
13954 
8132 
52178 
.^1-64 
65534 
3IS62 
45136 
24385 
87553 
11038 
69895 
15331 
32375 
1381 
14904 
8709 
37636 
7434 
a3309 
57312 
22039 
33628 
8606 
10926 
47G98 
26658 
22029 
22,196 
11036 
15446 
9T0I3 
10331 
7435 
10375 
42173 
11217,1 
15Mv 
23092 
41646 
30351 
893£ 
1302f 
1736S 


77789 
937639 

89235 
281376 
433014 
102737 
1343666 
4292,37 
779167 
6417'J5 
1108024 
812342 
153159 
40150; 
676209 
321894 
640544 
415463 
1305125 
1010345 
643519 
340161 
217090 
109031 

30993 

71169 
634135 
113396 

71728 

25822 
445848 
1510 
941439 
S63670 
455909 
206901 
976607 
257T60 
8935J4 
497251 

2090-2 
582803 
143701 

700O6 
294682 
180220 

48815 
670-247 
650«Xl 
606779 
1107170 
46-2178 
164904 
368528 

13139 

726-24 
153587 

70742 
050597 
189939 
•■033811 
393532 
6-29663 
312961 
628314 
101413 
112338-2 
183811 
410471 
651539 
157,526 

74757 
563,389 

30774 
588971 
762826 


1049 

181 

10 

7 

70 

11 
20 


10338 

19i;4 

97 

174 

3500 

280' 

84 
700 


04871 

243-25 

9-2-25 

25174 

30800 

7883 

83244 

40151 

38683 

■28:54 

56592 

48831 

8797 

9459 

40582 

17957 

78'i-24 

9512 

37918 

89-297 

16821 

16014 

39066 

10656 

621-27 

50484 

67118 

10-29-24 

56150 

3183 

570.32 

2197 

20462 

37091 

24066 

73815 

40175 

783037 

88902 

41304 

9998 

9918 

447-20 

2O07 

20441 

62672 

■2301 

e2518 

53'J62 

77143 

100217 

054-23 

55061 

75097 

9781 

59863 

. 47022 

■2045 

91773 

49642 

1I'274 

83715 

84030 

59513 

69194 

45575 

67099 

21577 

54760 

39251 

6379 

2510 

77497 

8931 

4T238 

60748 

71336 

10097 

6041 

33613 

59071 

51273 

17674 

6780 

8002 

4ff260 

73251 

24063 

60211 

650-25 

80280 

27185 

14647 

8530 

7S265 

28713 

1374 

10089 

57035 


238.3-2431 
9059201 
394655 
969777 
14021-18 
2-28231 
S328921 
1595152 
V270S;8 
1026641 
I93'J590 
181 1250 
18(11 '20 

1 

"■20311:; 
1471'263 
3061338 
514279 
650041 
1580-260 
3511-20 
2115509 
1763140 
1702391 
2:'o:'i:--- 
11 ■ 

2M-''i 

14273 

6C2448 
129648(1 

753983 
1703985 
14S-S82 

783027 
1669131 
1379901 

297381 

307912 
16-20192 

67899 

670731 
2415670 

108465 
271.3830 
1603318 
3153178 
45-25339 
19093S4 
1095510 
3327282 

119777 
2190300 
1902330 

10390 
8439923 
2184658 

4U.61 
S768;'J9 
S835i,-v3 
15339;0 
2953630 
1738916 
2808256 

818388 
1715973 
1441467 

106052 

17279 

327-2010 

229263 
17500.38 
8,371105 
2239013 

1757T8 

14-2957 
1145937 
2-226340 
1783477 

639530 
3-2038 

279716 
1419080 
284-2859 
1180930 
1823022 
2405187 
3561363 

977311. 

490371 

12-2291 
283-2211 

917911 
5-2423 

281821 
2143731 


13736 
12770 
788 
3951 
4455 
2791 
15190 
lOlOl 
13827 
14-259 
16804 
17431 
4,_I30 

7199 
20(j24 
23704 
11744 

3238 
12337 

2993 
13643 
105.55 
25115 

>r. !•! 

1519 
15461 
■20770 
9532 
5419 
11786 
42-27 
4145 
10982 
8974 
10210 
3402 
1353 
5108 
13393 
455 
11756 
23052 
17760 
15-207 
18-260 
14005 
16582 
5143 
11817 
1-2665 
3477 
22670 
6792 
14078 
.6646 
10937 
o.5',^8 
3-,.-5 
l.-;; 
:sfii 

2304 

13287 
63-22 
8107 
1390 

12188 
2541 
6278 

11416 
9758 
4161 
2979 
9118 

15915 

11-273 
2254 
4591 
8085 
8718 

13574 
6127 

12596 

13242 
839! 

24307 
3072 
4145 

15701 
7491 
1327 
4134 

11570 


387310 
44-23-29 
33233 
141-293 
159739 
67009 
445070 
404620 
4-21719 
518571 
538196 
556209 

98766 
115595 
176281 

99158 
675837 
228097 
669895 
70-2039 
446300 
107.377 
S67643 

73182 
845707 
844651 
643322 
287392 
632113 

37282 
3351-24 

8241 
4877-29 
704407 
828679 
179645 
401948 
1-20948 
153505 
356915 

90944 
340268 

69140 

48816 
168-262 
358-221 

14060 
SI 9071 
621156 
62-M97 
632239 
464824 
446128 
447003 

27857 
279069 
342164 

13789 
585048 
1'5755 
542062 
496248 
335746 
23-2639 
285103 
S41081 
46.1245 

66475 
405562 
201633 

63931 

2682S 
431841 

40j94 
168081 
333565 
34650" 
120ir 

46859 
255007 
528808 
34326.1 

71676 

45096 
6599 
20965" 
384468 
18774E 
35369t 
S0739t 
28151C 
821030f 

9104" 
16155" 
45332C 
207493 

45108 
133176 
29359C 


$1611937 
141576» 
I8415S 
695318 
828171 


Buena Vista . . 


2064995 






Butler 

Bremer 

Black Hawk... 
Buchanan 


1144620 






1 898424 






2615949 






123343. 


Cherokee 






3.3049 






1284899 


Crawford 

Cedar 






483357 


■26 


293 


2606149 


Cerro Gordo... 

Clayton 

Clinton 

CUickawaw 




1347 
12 
3 
3 

7 

10 

5379 

817 

84 

8688 

5 

•?' 


21030 

4-28 

63 

20 

55 

1.50 

56405 

1-2-239 

1720 

117310 

50 

ise' 


2D8179S 
3049019 
894656 
451365 


Clarke 




Calhoun 


160IM9O. 


Decaiur 

Dubuqu*^ 

Des MoineB 

: )elaware 

;)ickin3on 

Jallas 

Emmet 

Floyd 


1636132 
17T2992 
1693314 

45334 
1502047 

1524+ 


46' 

84i' 

2' 

22 


'iitis' 
"'16625' 
44' 

860 


1367377 






Franklin 

Fremont 

Grundy 


1U4606S 
1593977 
620905- 


Guthrie 


1066627 


Humboldt. 

Howard 

Harrison 

Hancock 

Hamilton 

Henry 


84' 


""1266' 


734409 
78667T 
8940S 






62762. 


9041 


113203 


1765«7(> 








36 
491 
100 


lOiO 
7942 
1274 


2005049 


Jackson 

.lohnson 


2447876 
2916838. 




31 
6192 
148 
140 
15400 
31 


409 
66739 
1303 


1M6416 


Jetferson 

Keokuk 

Kossuth 

Lee 

Lucas 


1919728 
105306 


200J07 

S-29 

54 

160 

16267 

""2697' 
2212 
643 

484 
5584 
20C' 


1631518 

1030554 

S-2651 


Linn 


12 

1338 

ibs 

189 
S2 
25 

263 
21 


259005U 
1665739 


Mitchell 

^lahaska 


2195785 
218134^ 


Mills 




Madison 

Monroe 

Marshall 

Monona.. 

Muscatine 

Montgomery... 
O'Brien 


93836 
2368^27f 
447665 


63 
8 


629 
166 


174790* 
107212 
191542 






69581 


Polk 


21 


894 


I1266e 


Pochahontas... 
Pottawattomie 
Powesheik 


63 


475 


1252629 
239S02! 


355792 
442736 
23208 
78851 
762315 
830S97 
317944 
251286 
110094 
206813 
1437807 
141188 
58808 
76316 
654679 
1813465 
2-.a875 
41048" 
409879 
391051 
16-2-281 
190166 
157535 


1-220 
10 
823 
1-25 
40 
8 


20235 
160 


129346! 


Plymouth 

Palo Alto 

Ringgold 


9(>61( 


1762 
618 
20 


1115781 
304187! 




67Sff2( 










166981 


Sac 




10 
3068 




Taylor 


244 


23164(6 
6^2426( 
1439586 
1301371 
220839 
220523 




Union 

Van Buren 


53 

10928 

143 

61 


960 

121854 

1-236 

910 


Warren 

Winnesheik... 
Woodbury — 












89650 


Washtni^ton .. 

Webster 

Wian'-ba^o... . 


1439 
5 
11 


14198 


733341 


270 


14021 
28868 


"Wapello 


1617 


16159 




Totals 


1262785 


) 841043 


935490 


) 3690711 


42669731 


69188 


"59277 


4700176 


130284542 


98-2994 


2914435S 


$131536745 



\ 







J 



'?■^■, 



^:zy^ym£$o 




History of Davis County. 



INTRODUCTION. 

! A Nation grows, and from its central points its population spreads itself 

I and forms new civic communities. Whatever may be tlie incentives or 
motives that prompt this movement, and the outcome of man's attempt to 
turn the wild domain to his advantage, they are themes for the fruitful 
reflection of interested persons — themes which increase in interest the more 

i they are earnestly and carefully examined. These movements of uieii, as 
thej develop themselves, create the material for history. But history, as 
such, cannot rejiroduce the life of a people in all its various details. It 
must be content with exhibiting the develojmient of that life as a whole. 
The thoughts, imaginings, dealings and doings of the individuals, however 
strongly they may reflect the characteristics of the national mind, form no 
essential ])art of history. While it may be correctly said, however, that the 
life of the individual is intimatel}' bound up in that of the State or Nation, 
it may also be said on the other hand, that the State or Nation exists only 
through the unity of their individual membership, that it is not the coun- 
terpart of individual views, but the results of an intelligent and harmonious 
combination of opinions, though wliicli are often conflicting when first 
advanced. Human tliought and action must harmonize when fruitful results 
are aciiieved in any civic or otlier department of State or Nation. Change 
— far-reaching and radical — is written on the face of opposing elements 
— a change that afl'ects not the individual, nor a class of individuals, 
merely, but the uiiited whole. Hei-e is where history becomes possible — 
where it reaches bevond the scope of mere biograph}', admits of those 
broader generalizations which are the very foundation stones of the philos- 

'' ophy of history, and without which there can be no intelligent comprehen- 
sion of the development and sequence of events, and the results to which 
they lead. 

What is thus true of a State, is equally true of its component parts. 

! Laws are not limited in their application; but are so general in their philo- 
sopiiical deduction, that they warrant liroad inferences, and are specific 
enough to apply to the minutla of the smallest civic division. 
1 



324 HISTORY OF DAVIS COTTNTY. 

While, it is true, the liistory of a single county — embracing, as it does, 
but a limited territory and a meager population — nia}' present none ot 
those grander laws in obedience to which nations exist and flourish, and by 
which their power is felt, nevertheless, those principles which make history 
possible, are found in every community, and find a harbor in every heart. 
Then there is tlie added fact, that, the history of the county comes nearer 
to the individual life and character of its citizens, than does that of the 
State or of the Nation of which the State forms a ]iart. 

The spread of population merely, the political progress of a people and 
the military annals, are a part only of our history, and that part which is 
most easily discerned. The American of the present day wants to know 
how his ancestors lived, how they looked, what clothes they wore, on what 
they fed, what were their daily tasks and conversation, and how life dealt 
witli them. This is the most difficult part of history to reproduce accurately ; 
but it is, after all, that which gives us the clearest and most vivid insight 
into the spirit of the past. This important element sliould never be over- 
looked, for in no other manner can the intellectual growth of the people, 
the amelioration of manners, the changes in habits and customs, the ad- 
vance in science and art, the progress of invention, tlie relation of classes, 
the increase of prosperity, or the want of it, the moral condition of society, 
and the every-day life of the people, be understood and made to subserve 
the interests of the present. The events that are recorded, are such as oc- 
curred at our very doors, were compassed by men whom we know, and 
which affect our individual interests for weal or for woe. It is not only 
while these events are fresh in the memory that one may form accurate esti- 
mates of their relative importance, and be impartial and candid in forming 
his judgments; but he may also, from present circumstances which have an 
origin in remote times, and which are historical in the largest, fullest, truest 
sense, freed from myth, or conjecture, or uncertain tradition, read the 
promise of the future. It is beyond doubt true, tliat those Jiiost closely 
identified with great or sudden revolutions in opinion or in government, are 
least competent to decide on their value; they make history; the student 
of after years decides the correctness of their theories, or the justice of their 
cause, and decides, too, under circumstances which preclude the bias of 
partisan feeling. There is that entire originality of work, that subtlety of 
thought, that carefulness of conversation, that catholicity of views, that 
honest, kind, perhaps keen criticism of events and men, in the work of those 
who write years after events have transpired, which they who lived at the 
time, and contributed to them, are unable to exercise. 

The history of a county exhibits a much more limited series of facts in i 



HISTORr OF DAVIS COUNTY. 325 

tlieir proper connections, of wliicli, indeed, each individual one is interest- 
ing iu its proper place — doiiijly interesting, perhaps, because it marks the 
progress of tliinking, toiling men, in our very presence; men who have 
lived in the same moral and social atmosphere, struggled for the same ends 
for which we have struggled, acquired their experience and reputation in 
the same manner, and exhibited the same loves and hates, the same pro- 
clivities and sympatiiies. Tliis is tlie purely biograjihical element of his- 
tory — that element which o[)ens to us tiie sources of iiuman activity, and 
enables us to read how far and in what manner the views of individuals 
became impressed on public life and morals. It enables us to know the 
i kind of men who become leaders, to note the conditions and results of their 
successes or defeats. Tliis is the part of history directly affecting the indi- 
vidual man, because from it does he select his type of character, of thougiit 
and of conduct. The remark of Plutarch is most applicable to the reali- 
zation of individual hopes and wishes, for it depicts the true conditions of 
success. 

He says: " Whenever we begin an enterprise, or take possession of a 
charge, or experience a calamity, we place before our eyes the example of 
the greatest men of our own or bygone ages, and we ask ourselves how 
Plato or Epaminondas, Lycurgus or Agesilaus would have acted. Look- 
ing into those personages as into a faithful mirror, we can remedy our de- 
fects in word or deed. Wlienever any perplexity arrives, or any passion 
disturbes the mind, the student of philo.sophy pictures to himself some of 
those who have been celebrated for their virtue, and the recollection sus- 
tains his tottering steps and jirevents his fall." Such inspiring examples 
as these are the kind that have given to the world names in every walk of 
life that will never die. 



NAME AND LOCATION. 

NAME. 

Davis county was named i!i honor of Garret Davis, at the time a repre- 
sentative in Congress from the Lexington, Kentuckey, district; and later a 
United States senator from that State, who became somewhat distinguished 
in National affairs. The evidence of this fact is contained in an extract 
ifrona a letter addressed by Dr. John G. Elbert, of Van Buren county, to 
('apt: Tlosea B. Horn, then an old and prominent citizen of Davis county; 
who, by the way, had given much attention to the traditional history of its 
early settlements, which he contributed, in 1866, to the Annals of Iowa, 



326 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTV. 

the publication of tlie State Historical Society. The following is the 
extract referred to and explains itself: 

" Ml' James Jenkins and myself were members of the Territorial Council at the time Davis 
county was organized. The name was adopted at the suggestion of some of us Kentuckians, 
who wanted to honor a distinguished politician and Congressman, by the name of Gakiiet 
Davis, of the Lexington, Kentucky, district, who had endeared himself to the West, and 
was thought worthy of the honoi'." 

In addition to this fact it appears from the testimony of Capt. J. H. 

Bonney, wlio, at that time, was a citizen of Yan Buren county, and at the 

Territorial capital when the act was passed giving to the connt}' the name 

of Davis, and defining its boundaries; and from David Ferguson, James 

M. Wray, and otlier pioneer citizens of this county, that soon after the 

termination of the conflict between the State of Missouri and the Territorj- 

of Iowa over the strip of territory lying along our southern border, which 

the former sought to steal from the latter; that those citizens of Iowa who 

were called out by the Governor of the Territory, and the United States 

Marshal as militia, to serve in maintaining the rights of Iowa, and in 

defense of their homes against the unwarranted attempt of Missouri to 

seize territory which it well knew did not belong to her; thought the 

General Government should comj^ensate them for the time spent and 

expenses incurred; and therefore forwarded an application to their delegate 

iti Congress, wiiich was presented in the House, and referred to the 

Committee on Claims, of which Garret Davis was chairman, who reported 

it favorably to the House, accompanied with a bill providing for the 

allowance of the claims. During the ])endency of this bill in Congress, the 

Iowa Territorial Legislature was in session, and passed the act of February 

17, 18i3, defining the boundaries of the new countj^ to which it gave the 

name of Davis, in honor of the distinguished Kentuckian, not more for 

his statesmanship than for liis kindly regard for the pioneer militia who 

rallied to the service of the General Government when a portion of its 

territory was imperiled by a sovereign State. Whether the name of Davis 

was given to this county upon the suggestion of Dr. John D. Elbert and 

James Jenkins, members of the Tej-ritorial Council at the time it was given, 

or, because of Mr. Davis' kindly offices as chairman of the Committee on 

Claims in the National House of Representatives, in championing the 

claims of the jiioneer militia who were called into service, does not clearly 

appear. Whichever may have been- the prevailing reason, one thing appears 

quite certain, that Mr. Davis' bill never passed into a law. Neither did 

the Territorial militiamen ever receive any pay for their services and 

expenses from either the General or Territorial governments, however just^ 

this may appear to have been. 



HISTORY 01.' DAVIS COPNTY. 327 

LOCATION. 

Davis county is situated in the sonliiern tien if counties bordering on tlie 
north line of tiie State of Missouri, and tlie third west from the Mississippi 
River. It is surrounded by the counties of Wapello on the north, Van Bu- 
ren on the east, Schuyler, Missouri, on the south, and Appanoose on the 
west. It contains fourteen cono-ressioual townships, with an area of about 
322,560 acres, being four townships, twenty-four miles, in length from east to 
west, and three and a half townships, twenty-one miles, in width, from north 
to south; the four half congressional townships are those bordering along 
the Missouri State line. 

By act of the Territorial Legislature, approved February 17, 18i3, the 
boundaries of Davis count}' were defined as follows: 

"Sec'I'idx 1. lie it eiirirteel hi/ the Ciiiiiicil ami lloiisi' of Reprefentatires of the Terrifori/ 
of Iowa, That the following shall be the boiiiularies of a new county which shall be called 
'Davis," to-wit: Beginning at the northeast corner of township seventy, north of range 
twelve west; thence west on the township line dividing townships seventy and seventy-one, 
to range sixteen west; thence south on said range line to the'Missouri State line; thence east 
on said State line to the southwest corner of Van Buren county; thence north with the west 
line of said county of Van Buren, to the place of beginning." 

The first white men to view the beautiful landscape now covered by Iowa, 
of which Davis county forms a prominent part, were, two Frenchmen — one 
■A Franciscan friar — James Marquette; the other, a French explorer, 
Louis Juliette. On their way from the straits of the upper lakes, in their 
frail canoes, "to find out and explore the great river lying to the west of 
them, of which they had heard marvelous accounts from the Indians about 
Lake Michigan," says Marquette, they reached and ascended Green Bay and 
Fox River to Lake AVinnebago to a village of the Kickapoo and Miami In- 
dians. Here the Franciscan priest assembled the chiefs and old men of the 
village; and, pointing to Joliette, said: " My friend is an envoy of France, 
to discover new countries, and I am an Embassador from God to enlighten 
them with the truths of the Gospel." On the 10th of June, 1673, they 
pushed (.n from tiiis Indian village toward the great river. Tliey launched 
their canoes on the Wisconsin, not far from the present Portage City, and 
descending tl'.ey reached the bosom of that great and mysterious river of 
which they had heard so much, on the following 17th of June. (_)n the 25th 
they landed on tiie west bank near the present town of Montrose, in Lee 
county; and thus, so far as known, theirs were the foot prints of the first 
white persons ever made upon Iowa soil. Then, and there, in the name of 
Prance, they |)roclaimed jurisdiction over the vast domain watered by the 



328 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

Mississippi and its tributaries, by right of this discovery; to wliich the 
name of " Louisiana " was subsequently given, in lienor of Louis XIV, 
King of France. This vast possession France retained until 1763, when she 
ceded it to spain; and in ISOl, Spain ceded it back to Fi'ance; and by treaty 
dated April ;!0, 1803, the United States acquired this vast domain of Louis- 
iana, for which she paid fifteen mUlion dollars. This acquisition extended 
the domain of our young republic from the Atlantic to the PaciSc. and from 
the Gulf of Mexico to British America on the nortii. 

When the United States government had thus secured the " right, title 
and interest " of all foreign nations to the vast domain overed by the " Lou- 
isiana Purchase," it seemed to lia\e lost sight of the fact that it was, during 
all the period from the year that Marquette and Joliette discovered it, 
1673, to the year the Territory of Ljwa was created, 1838, in the possession 
of its original owners — the red men — a race of ])eople, or the decendents of 
a race of people existing here centuries before tiie Anglo-Saxon Puritans 
settled upon the coast of New England, or before Columbus first visited 
the continent. Of this people, and the acquisition of the soil of Iowa from 
them b}' the government of the United States, more will be said in the 
chapter entitled " The Red Man," i'arther on. 

PHYSICAL FEATURES. 

The surface character of Davis county is somewhat irregnlar, the result 
of its natural and ample drainage system; though its general surface is 
level. While no large rivers course through it, every township is traversed 
by living streams. The Des Moines river passes across the northeast 
corner of the county, from the northwest to the southeast, severing 
something over a thousand acres, or about two sections of land, in the 
corner, which has become historic as the home and burial place of Black 
Hawk, the celebrated chief of the Sac and Fox Indians. 

The general course of the sti-eams north of Blooretield, the county seat, 
is from west to east, and that of those south of the center of the county — 
Bloomfield — is from northwest to southeast— all falling into the Des Moines 
and Mississippi rivers. The streams which so thoroughly water this county 
are Loaf Creek, Fox River, Wyacondah Creek, Fabius Creek, Carter's Creek, 
Lick Creek, besides various minor tributaries to these. Of these, Soap 
Creek is the largest. It rises in the northeast pai't of Appanoose county, 
and courses its way through the northern tier of townships of Davis county, 
and em])ties into the Des Moines in the southeast corner of Wapello county. 
It has several tributaries like Little Soap Creek, rising in Wapello county, 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 329 

and emptying into the main stream in section one, Lick Creek townsliip; 
besides Bear Creek, in Marion township, two or three nameless tributaries 
in Soap Creek township, Lick Creek, in Lick Creek township, and Salt 
Creek in Salt Creek township. The next in size and importance is Fox 
-River, which also rises, in two branches, north and south, in Appanoose 
county, which form a junction in Fox River township, Davis county, and 
thus it courses its way in an easterly direction through Drakeville, Bloom- 
field, Perry, Union, and Prairie townships, entering Van Buren county 
near the line between Union and Prairie, and thus in a southeastern 
direction into Missouri, and so on to the Mississippi, near Alexandria, Mis- 
souri. This river, like Soap Creek, is fed with numerous small tributaries in 
all the townships through which it passes. The next stream, in point of size, 
is Wyacondah, an Indian name pronounced Waii kin-daw. There are two 
branches of this stream rising in this county; the south, or main branch, 
rises in West Grove township, near the west side, and courses in a south- 
eastern direction, touching the townships of Bloomfield on the south, 
crossing the northeast corner of Wyacondah township, thence thi-ough Grove 
township, from the northwest corner to near the southeast corner thereof, 
thence into Missouri from the southeast corner of Koseo township. The 
north branch of this stream, called Little Wyacondah, rises in Bloomfield 
township, and courses parallel on the northeast with the south branch, 
across the northeast corner of Grove township, through Rosco township 
from the northwest corner to near the southeast corner thereof, where it 
passes into Missouri in which the two branches form a junction in Clark 
county, thence on to the Mississippi, at La Grange, Missouri. Numerous 
small tributaries How into both branches, as well as the main stream of the 
Wyacondah. Fabius is the next stream in size, and has its rise in 
Appanoose county, and enters Davis in section thirty, Fabius township; 
thence coursing in an easterly direction to the east line of that township: 
thence it bears southeautward, through Wyacondah township, to the middle 
of its southern line, where it flows into Missouri. A branch of this stream 
also rises' near the north line of Fabius township, and courses southwest 
until it joins the main stream a short distance before it passes into 
Wyacondah township. The branches and main stream are joined by minor 
streams from various directions. Chequest Creek is the next in size and 
importance, and is formed near the east- line of the county by two main 
branches, called " North Chequest Creek " and '-South Chequest Creek." 
The largest of these is the North Chequest, which has its rise in section 
thirty-three, in Soaji Creek township, west of Belknap, and coui'ses across 
the northeast corner of Bloomfield township, and along the north side of 



330 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

Perrj township for some three miles, then bearing northeastward crosses 
tlie southeast corner of Lick Creek township, entering Salt Creek township 
some two miles from its southwest corner, thence bearing southeastward 
across the northeast corner of Union township, to near the west line of Van 
Buren county where it forms a junction with the South Chequest Creek. 
Among other tributaries of the North Chequest is a branch rising in section 
twenty-seven, Soap Creek township, north of the main branch, near Belknap, 
and this, coursing eastward through Lick Creek township, joins the main 
north branch near the east line of this township, in section twenty-five. 
The South Chequest Creek rises in section sixteen. Perry township, and 
courses its way eastwardly, in an irregular direction through the northern 
portion of Union township to near the. east line of the county, where it 
forms a junction with the main creek which enters Van Buren county and 
falls into Des Moines River at Pittsburg, on the great bend near Keosauqua. 
The Bur Oak branch is the largest among several tributaries of the South 
Chequest. It rises in section twenty-five. Perry township, and passing 
northeastward into Union township, it continues in a northeast course to 
section fifteen, where it joins the South Chequest. Carter's Creek is a branch 
oftheFabius, and ranks next in size to the Chequest. It rises in section 
eighteen. West Grove township, near the west line of tl>e county, and 
coursing in an eastern direction through the south eide of this township, 
it bears in a southeastern direction from near its southeast corner, through 
Wyacondah, crossing the southwest corner of Grrove township into 
Missonri. It forms a junction with the main Fabius at the town of Fabius, 
Scotland county, Missouri, and from thence it falls info the Mississippi 
River below Qnincy. Hickory Branch rises in section thirty, west side of 
Grove township, and courses southeast to section fifteen, from whence it 
passes into Missouri, and unites with the Fabius Creek in its course to the 
Mississippi. The Little Fox Creek is the last and least of the streams of, 
the county. It rises in section eighteen, west side of Prairie township, and 
southwest of the main Fox River, and flows eastward through the southern 
part thereof into Van Buren county, and thence into Missouri, where it 
joins the main stream in Clark county, which, thus united, fi^ows on to the 
Mississippi at Alexandria. 

As before noted, the general surface of Davis county is comparatively 
level, broken only by the vallies of the various water courses and ravines. 
The vallies of some of the larger streams extend deep below the general 
upland surface, which thus presents various configurations in the general 
contour of the county — from the level surface of the flood bottoms of the 
vallies, to the more rolling formation of the uplands between them. Of 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 331 

these, tlie valley of Soap Creek is about a iuindred feet deep along some 
portions of it; while the valley of Fox lliver is some ninety feet deep along 
some portions of it; each with flood lands extending from a quarter to a 
mile in width, at intervals along their course. The depth of the vallies ot 
the other streams are comparatively slight, not generally extending beyond 
the channels they themselves have made. 

Thus, it will be seen that the natural drainage system of Davis county is 
excellent — wholly ample to carry off the surplus water from its surface, and 
thus prevent its remaining in localities here and there to the injury of 
crops; and to create miasmatic cess-pools as breeders of disease. 

Along all these streams, the various species of timber indigenous to this 
latitude, given in abundance, such as the white, black, burr, and jack oak, 
red and white elm, bass wood, cotton wood, soft maple, black walnut, hickory, 
ash and some other varieties. Along Soap Creek in the northern part of 
the county hard, or sugar maple is found, which is, to some extent, utilized 
for sugar-making purposes. In addition to the generous growth of forest 
trees and brushwood, along the various water courses of the county, about 
one-third of its surface is quite heavily covered with excellent forest timber, 
extending mainly from the north side southward, which is abundantly ample 
for all the economic uses of the people for generations to come. The soil 
of this portion of the county thus covered with forest timber, is of a clayey 
nature, and is not so warm and prolific as that of a loamy formation. The 
remaining portion of the county is gently rolling prairie, of rich, black, 
loamy soil and beautiful surface. 

Besides the abundant timber grown in Davis county, it has a generous 
supply of good coal underlying a large scope of its surface; and inexaust- 
ible (jualities of sand stone in the northern part of the county, which is 
used tor building and other economic uses; and besides good brick, pottery 
and tile clay abounds to a large extent in the timbered portion of the 
count}'. Of these economic products, coal, stone, clay, etc., more will be 
said in the chapter entitled "Geological Outline," further on in this work. 
And, too, of the productive character of the soil of the county, in its rela- 
tion to agricultural products and industries, will be more elaliorately refered 
to in the chapter further on, entitled "Agricultural Interests." 

Davis county contains no lakes within its borders. Its general elevation 
is high and healthy. It lies one hundred and twenty-five feet above low- 
water mark in the Mississippi liiver at Burlington, and about seven hun- 
dred and eleven feet above the level of the sea. A straight line drawn from 
Burlington westward, passes through Davis countv less than a mile south 
of Belknap. It also lies one hundred and seventy-five feet above low water 



332 HISTOET OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

mark in tbe Mississippi Iliver ;it Keokuk, which low water mark in the 
river at Keokuk is four hundred and forty-four feet above tlie level of the 
sea, which is the lowest point in the State; and low water mark in the river 
at Burlinorton is four hundred and eitjlitv-six feet above the level of the sea. 
It will thus be seen that Davis county lies within the draitiage system com- 
prising the tributaries of the Mississippi. The general descent of the 
connty is east and south-east, as will be observed by the course of its 
streams, but this descent is slight, not exceeding an average of two feet to 
the mile. 

The surface deposits, which forms the soil of Davis county, as we see it 
to-day, are classified by geologists as Drift, Bluff, and Alluvium deposits, 
all resting upon the stratified rocks for their foundation. Of these, the 
"drift deposits" form a wider and deeper distribution over the surface than 
any other. We see it everywhere forming the sufrace of the earth, and 
hiding its foundation — the stratified rocks — from view, except where the 
action of water has exposed them. It forms the soil and subsoil of the 
county, as it does the greater portion of the State; and in it, the crops are 
planted, and the fruits, and vegetation generally, take root therein. The 
drift deposit is composed of sand, clay, gravel and boulders promiscuously 
intermixed, without stratification or other regular arrangement of its mate- 
rials, which have been transported froiTi high places at the north, over the 
continent, by glacial movements, or other natural agencies, sufficiently 
powerful to carry rocks and other material suljstances imbeded in immense 
masses of ice, over the surface; and which were not always dependent for 
their motion to the declivity of the slopes, but more generally to glacial 
currents similar to the currents of the streams. 

The Alluvium deposit is that which has accumulated in the valleys of 
rivers and streams by the action of their own currents; and the material 
composing it is derived from the rocks or deposits which the water courses 
erode or wash out fVoni their vallej' slopes and distribute over the flood 
plains or bottoms, as well as on some ui' the terraces of their valleys. It 
forms a rich and productive soil. 

The Bluff deposit is a fine yellowish ash colored species of sand, and is very 
adhesive in its cotnposition, as shown in the high blufi's along rivers, in their 
finely i-ojmded summits, cut here and there with shar]) ridges, smooth and 
abruptly retreating slopes; configurations which not unfrequently rise from 
one to two and three hundred feet above the flood bottoms of the larger 
rivers. 

This glacial, or whatever natural agencj' it was that caused these various 
drift deposits over the general surface, and along the flood bottoms and 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 333 

bluflFy sides of the valle.ys of the rivei'S, had, doubtless, much to do with the 
formation of the present surface changes of tliis continent — in its mountains 
and hills, its valleys and bluffs, its lakes and rivers. 

Beneatli the deep, rich vegetable mould of the prairie uplands of Davis 
county, is the drift formation. In many localities along the valleys and 
broken border lands of the streams the vegetable mould, and more or less 
of the drift deposit, are carried from their slopes into the valleys. 

As before noted, the general surface of the upland of the county is gently 
undulating prairie, except the timbered portion of the northern part. The 
rich productive prairie land is the delight of the western husbandman. The 
term "prairie" means ■uieadoius. which was first applied to the broad scopes 
■of treeless land bordering the two great rivers of the continent, by its early 
French explorers, and included in the vast central plain, the largest not only 
in North America, but in the world. The natural meadow lands, covered 
mainly with grass and plants, and presenting in the growing season, the 
grandest display of floral beauty the sun ever illumined, are included in 
three divisions — husjiij prairies, loet or swampy prairies, and rolling prairies. 
The latter mainly forms the surface of Davis county; and the English 
anguage cannot be worded in a description of the beauty, nor of the tra- 
ditions they suggest, finer than the following production by America's 
grandest poet, William Cullen Bryant: 

THE PRAIRIES. 

These are the g-ardens of the desert, these 

The unshorn fields, boundless and beautiful, 

For which the sjipech of Enfjland has no name — 

The prairies. 1 Ijehold them lor the first. 

And my heart swells, while the dilated sight 

Takes in the encircling vastness. Lo! they stretch 

In airy undulations far away. 

As if the ocean, in his gentlest swell. 

Stood still, with all his rounded billows fixed, 

And motionless forever Motionless y 

No — they are all unchained again. The clouds 

Sweep over with their shadows, and, beneath. 

The surface rolls and fluctuates to the eye; 

Dark hollows seem to glide along and chase 

The sunny ridges. Breezes of the South! 

Who toss the golden and flame-like flowers. 

And pass the prairie-hawk that, poised on high. 

Flaps his broad wings, yet moves not— ye have played 

Among the palms of iMexico and vines 

Of Texas, and have crisped the limped brooks 



334 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

That from the fountains of Sonora glide 

Into the ealra Pacific — have ye tanned 

A noljler or loveUer scene than this ? 

Man hath no part in this glorious work; 

The hand that built the firmament hath heaved 

And smoothed these verdant swells, and sown their slopes 

With herbage, planted them with Island groves. 

And hedged them 'round with forests. Fitting floor 

For this magnificent temple of the sky — 

With flowers whose glory and whose multitude 

Rival the constellation ! The great heavens 

Seem to stoop down upon the scene in love — 

A nearer vault, and of tenderer blue. 

Than that which bends above the eastern hills. 

As o'er the verdant vast I guide my steed. 

Among the high, rank grass that sweeps his sides. 

The hollow beating of his footsteps seems 

A sacrilegious sound. I think of those 

Upon whose rest he tramples. Are they here — 

The dead of otlier days? — and did the dust 

Of those fair solitudes once stir with life 

And burn with passion? Let the mighty mounds 

That overlook the rivers, or that rise 

In the dim forest, crowded with old oaks. 

Answer. A race that long has passed away 

Built them; a disciplined and populous race 

Heaped, with long toil, the earth, while yet the Greek 

Was hewing the Pentelicus to forms 

Of symmetry, and rearing on its rock 

The glittering Parthenon. These ample fields 

Nourished their harvests; here their herds were fed, 

When haply by their stalls the bison lowed. 

And Ijowed his maned shoulder to the yoke. 

All day this desert murmured with their toils; 

Till twilight blushed, and lovers walked and wooed 

In a forgotten language, and old tunes. 

From instruments of unremerabered form, 

txave the soft winds a voice. 

The valleys and the unbroken horder-hinds, are usually thickly covered 
with forest trees and brushwood, which are fairly distributed along the 
numerous water courses throughout the county. 

An English traveler* in this country, several years ago, published an 
interesting description of the prairie, and its forest borders, from which we; 
quote: 

•'The charm of a prairie consists in its extension, its green, flowery carpet, its undulating 
surface and the spirit of the forest whereby it is surrounded; the latte r being of all others th) 

♦Captain Basil Hall. 



HISTOKY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 335 

most significant and expressive, since it characterizes the landscape and defines the form and 
boundary of the plain. The eye sometimes surveys the green prairie without discovering on 
the illimitable plain a tree or bush or any object, save the wilderness of flower and grass, 
while on other occasions the view is enlivened by the groves, dispersed, like islands, over the 
plain; or by a solitary tree rising above the wilderness. The resemblance to the sea., which 
some of these prairies exhibited, was really most striking. 1 had lieaid of this before, but 
always supposed the account exaggei-ated. * * * 

" In spring, when the young grass has just clothed the soil with a soddy carpet of the most 
delicate green, especially when the sun, rising behind a distant elevation of the ground, its 
rays reflected by myriads ot dew-drops, a more pleasing and more eye- benefitting view can- 
not be imagined. You see the fallow deer quietly feeding on the herbage; the bee flies hum- 
ming through the air; the wolf, with lowered tail, sneaks away to its distant lair, with the 
timorous pace of a creature only too conscious of having disturbed the peace of Nature; prai- 
rie-fowls, either in entire tribes, like our own domestic fowls, or in couples, cover the surface; 
the males rambling, and, like turkeys and peacocks, inflating their plumage, make the air 
resound with a drawled, loud and melancholy cry, resembling the cooing of a wood-pigeon, 
or still more, the sound produced by rapidly rubbing a tambourine with the finger. 

***** ***:.^** 

"On turning from the verdant plain to the forests or groups of high-grown timber, the eye, 
at the said season, will find them clad also in the most lively colors. The rich under or 
brushwood stands out in full blossom. The andromedas, the dog-wood, the wood-apple, the 
wild plum and cherry, grow exuberantly in the rich soil, and the invisible blossom of the wild 
vine impergnates the air with its delicious perfume. The variety of the wild fruit trees, and 
of blooming bushes is so great, and so immense the abundance of the blossoms they are cov- 
ered with, that the branches seem to break down under their weight. 

"The delightful aspect of the prairies, its amenities, and the absence of that sombre awe, 
inspired by forests, contribute to forcing away that sentiment of loneliness which usually 
.steals upon the mind of the solitary wanderer in the wilderness, for, although he espies no 
habitation, and sees no human being, and knows himself to be far ott'from any settlement of 
man, he can .scarcely defend himself from believing that he is traveling through a landscape 
embelished by human art. The flowers are so delicate and elegant as appai-ently to be 
distributed for mere ornament over the plain; the groves and groups of trees seem to be dis- 
persed over the prairie to enliven the land.scape, and we can scarcely get rid of the impression 
invading our imagination of the whole scene being flung out and cieated for the satisfaction 
of the sentiment of beauty in refined man." 

The origin of prairies is a problem not yet clearly solved. It is 

estimated that about seven-eighths of Iowa was prairie when it was first 

settled, though very much of this area is now covered with forest trees. 

The prairies are not always of level surface, but are frequently quite broken 

and hill}', even, as some portious of Davis county verities, and so arc the 

forest surfaces; and, as already shown in this chapter, the soil of the 

i prairies varies in variet}-, as do the soil of the timber surfaces. The Drift, 

tiie Alluvial, and the Bluif soils undei-lie the jjrairie surfaces; and not 

(infrequently all these soils are found to compose a single scope; a portion 

I of wliich may be clayey, another gravelly, another sandy, and still another 

loamy. Geologists tell us that the prairies of Iowa are not confined to 



336 nisTOKY OF davis county. 

regions which are underlaid with any formations especially peculiar to 
them, but extend over various furniations, from those of Azoic to those of 
Cretaceous age. inclusive, which embraces nearly all kinds of rock, such as 
the common lime stone, friable limestone, magnesian limestone, clay, clayey 
and sandy shales, quartzite, etc. 

Thus, it seems clear, that whatever the origin of the praires of Iowa may 
have been, their present existence is not attributable to the influence of 
climate, the character or composition of the soil, nor the peculiar character 
of any of the underlying formations. Hence we are left but one conclusion, 
that the prairies — "these gardens of the desert, these unshorn fields, 
boundless and beautiful " — were once, ages agone, the cultivated plains of 
a civilization, of which the red man is the degenerate relic; and at whose 
hands the torch was applied to these vast and " unshorn fields " each 
autumn before the " chase," until the white man's advent, who stayed 
these annual ravages of fire which prevented the growth of forests. In the 
language of a State geologist: "It remains to say, without the least 
hesitation, that the real cause of the existence of the prairies in Iowa is 
the prevalence of the annual fires. If these had been prevented fifty 
years ago, Iowa would now be a timbered instead of a prairie State." 

In the earlier years of the settlements of our prairie states, much fear 
was expressed lest the prairie portions of them would not become generally 
settled, because of the absence of forest timber thereon, for fuel and other 
economic uses; there being a prevailing conviction that forest trees would 
not grow in that kiud of soil. But subsequent investigations have shown 
that this apprehension is erroneous. A former State geologist* who had 
given the subject of soil, climate, and forestry much careful study, thus 
concludes: "If there is really an unfitness of prairie soil for the growth 
of forest trees, then, at least one-third of our State is worthless indeed. 
But this is not the case, for personal observation in all parts of the State, 
extending through a period of thirty years, has established a knowledg of 
the fact that all varieties of our indigenous forest trees will grow thriftily 
upon all varieties of our soil; even those whose most congenial hahitat is 
upon the alluvial soil of our river valleys, or vpon the riigged slopes of 
the valley sides.'''' It has been thus demonstrated, that throughout the State i 
very many varieties of forest trees will grow rapidly and thrive on our 
prairie soils. Orchards and planted groves of forest trees which have for 
years tested the prairie soil and climate of Iowa, afBrm the assertions of the 
above quotation. "While there are some species of forest trees, as well as 
plants and cereals, indigenous to Iowa, that flourish in some sections of the 

*Prof. White, then of Iowa State University. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 337 

State better than in others; yet tliei'e is a marked iiniibrmity in the compo- 
sition of the soils tlirongliout the Statu; and their variableness in different 
localities and latitudes is the result of climatic influences, and their barren- 
nes or fertility, which is noticeable in the bottom or tlood- plains of the valleys 
in contrast with those npon the uplands and hills. 

The general surface of Davis county being undulating, its U]iland soil, as 
before noted, is of the drift deposit, varying in depth according to the 
altitude of its highlands, thus also varying in its productive force, whether 
of forest trees, ])lants, or cereals. Hence, for agricultural purposes, the county 
is well adapted. The products best adapted to its soil are corn and grass. 
Wheat is not a certain staple crop. Oats, flax, and Hungarian grass yield 
profitably. But the profitable and staple products of the soil of this county 
are corn and grass. The former yields bountifully; and among the grasses 
which are grown and yield bountifully are timothy, clover, and blue grass. 
The latter is a grand success upon the soil of this county, equal to the blue 
grass regions of Kentucky, and is extensively grown for stock growing and 
dairy purposes. Timothy and clover also yield finely. In the early days 
of farming upon the prairie soil of the State, it was proclaimed that tame' 
grasses would never flourish in it; but subsequent experience has long since 
exploded this erroneously conceived idea; and, to-day, timothy and clover 
are among the most profltable products of the soil, not only in this county, 
but throughout the State. A fuller elaboration of these agricultural topics- 
will be made in tlie chapter on "Agricultural Interests," further on. 

THE CLIMATE. 

Climate is a condition of the atmosphere — a temperature of the air — an 
ethereal substance that floats over the earth. It varies in different locali- 
ties, to a greater or less degree, in obedience to fixed natural laws — laws 
which govern the heat and cold, the rain and drouth, the wind and storm. 
Scientists have learned, in a measure, something of these laws, which, at 
this day, enables them to foretell with a great degree of accuracy, the 
chances which will, from day to day, occur in the climatic elements through- 
out the various parts of the country. It is therefore important that every 
one should have a knowledge of these laws; not ou]y because the)' are ad- 
vantageous in the aftairs of life, but also because they indicate to us the at- 
mospheric conditions of localities through the difterent seasons of the year. 
These climatic conditions may be healthful in some localities, and unhealth- 
ful in others. 

The elevation of Davis county is so great, and its general surface is so 



33S 1IISTI>RY OF DAVIS COUXTY. 

J'ree from swamps, and otlier miastnatic generators, that its atmosplieric sur- 
roundings are wholesome — are not hreedei's of disease and pestilence. Iowa, 
as a State, lies between tlie two climatic extremes of the continent, nortii and 
south; not subject to tlie excessive heat of Missouri in the summer, nor to 
the extreme cold of Minnesota in the winter. Tims, atmosplieric extremes 
in this county are not cliai-actei-istie. The abundant and continuous fall of 
snow, the winter of 1880-81, is an exception in this county; and while the 
annual fall of rain is not usuall}' as large here as it is in the same latitude 
farther eastward, the ground rarely suffers from drouth. Tiie winds of the 
winter are frequently merry; the prevailing ones being the " Manitoba 
Waves," which lose much of their ''blizzard" character befoi'e they reach 
this latitude. Those of spring are tempered as they glide under the warmer 
sun rays from a southerly direction; and as the seasons change, so do the 
atmospheric currents. 

There are no preserved meteorological abservations made in this county, 
showing a continuous record, for any considerable length of time, from 
which can be ascertained its precise climatic conditions. We therefore 
avail ourselves of the observations made by Prof T. S. Parvin at Musca- 
tine and Iowa City, covering a period of thirty* years — from 1839 to 1869, 
both inclusive. These observations were made at the former place until 
1860, and at the latter point from 1860 until 1870. Of the difference in 
latitude and longitude between these two points, Prof. Parvin in his pub- 
lislietl reports, says: "The difference in latitude is about one tenth degrees, 
and longitude about five-tenths degrees. I have calculated the means of 
observation at Muscatine for twenty years, and at Iowa Cit}- for ten years, 
and find that the difference is so very slight that I have not hesitated to re- 
gard the observations as taken at one point, and use them accordingly." 
The distance between these two points is some thirty-five miles; While thci 
distance from Bloomfield to Muscatitie and Iowa City is nearly the same, 
about seventy-five miles northeast, or a little more than double the distance 
between Muscatine and Iowa City. Hence, the difterence between Davis 
county and Muscatine in latitude, is about one-fifth of a degree, and in lon- 
gitude about two-thirds of a degree, or thirty-six miles nortli, and sixty-five 
miles east, while the difi'erence between Davis county and Iowa City, is 
eighteen miles farther north, and twenty-five miles less east. Therefore, if 
the difterence in latitude and longitude between Muscatine and Iowa City 
" is so very slight," double that distance between Davis county and the two 
latter points, is only a little more than sliyld, and will give a close approx- 
imation, to the climatic conditions which prevailed in this county during 
the period covered by the following obseivations, which gives the maximum, 



ITISTOEY or DAVIS COUNTV. 



339 



minimum, and mean temperature of each, Jaiuiarv and Julv, and tlie mean 
temperature of each vear as well: 



YEAR. 



1839. 

1840. 

1841. 

1842. 

1843. 

1844. 

1845. 

1846. 

1847 

•1848. 

1849. 

1850. 

1851. 

1852. 

1853. 

1854. 

1855. 

1856 

1857. 

1858. 

1859. 

1860. 

1861. 

1862. 

1863. 

1864. 

1865. 

1866. 

1867. 

1868. 

1869. 



JANUARY- 
DEGKEK 






60 
39 
52 
52 
50 
41 
58 
56 
40 
50 
46 
46 
46 
53 
54 
55 
64 
32 
41 
52 
50 
48 
39 
38 
59 
55 
46 
47 
45 
50 
48 



01 
17| 
23 
10 
15 

6 

6 
12 
23 

8 
24 
10 
16 
23 

9 

14 
23 
26 
30 

8 
13 
26 
IS 
23 


26 
10 
14 
IS 
16 
14 






32.16 
19.50 
20.87 
26.29 
24.97 
22.09 
30.03 
31.22 
12.26 
28.00 
14.26 
24.40 
23.97 
19.60 
27.05 
16.16 
24.77 
7.52 
6.16 
29 96 
24.10 
21 3 v. 
13.85 
13.48 
25.97 
15.89 
20.45 
20. (■,7 
17.86 
13..'57 
26.02 



JULY 

DEGREE 



>< 


c 


w 






mH 


^ 


S 



95I5S 



87146 
9846 
9555 
9355 
9745 
8952 
97|46 
94 50 



97 



47 



95 56 
94 49 
94|55 
91 55 



75.70 
73.92 
70.40 
6S.36 
70.44 
74.87 
76.05 
72.97 
69.52 
63.9S 
66.48 
74.22 
71.62 
72.36 
68.82 
76.16 
73.01 
73.51 
71.21 
78.80 
72.33 
71.68 
69.00 
73.36 
71.45 
75.97 
69.33 
77.12 
73.32 
80.79 
70.86 












CS t- t; 

0) s ^ 

52.02 
50.63 
48.39 
52.14 
45.07 
47.30 
48.74 
50.06 
44.63 
45.32 
45.01 
46.52 
47.63 
46.68 
47.71 
49.99 
47.51 
44.18 
44.87 
49.62 
47.37 
47.76 
47.02 
45.77 
46.22 
47.80 
50.20 
47.65 
47.96 
48.01 



Tlie greatest mean temperature of any one year was 52.14. 

The least mean temperature of any one year was 44.18. 

The average temperature of the whole period of tiiirty years was 47.56. 



340 



HI&TOEY OF DAVIS COUNTY 



The following are the number of days of rain and snow, for the same 
period of thirty years: 





"S 
Pi 


00 

o 


Quantity of rain 
and snow, re- 
duced to water 
in inches. 


1839 


83 
84 
82 
57 
61 
84 
53 
72 
54 
74 
77 
72 

101 
73 
65 
71 
74 
66 
80 

111 
80 
69 
66 
65 
74 
92 
68 
79 
66 
76 


18 
17 
17 
20 
25 
14 
13 
17 
21 
12 
14 
13 
20 
21 
13 
12 
20 
21 
19 
15 
26 
21 
22 
31 
21 
20 
24 
26 
28 
21 




1840 




1841 




1842 




1843 




1844 




1845 




1846 




1847 




1848 


20.29 


1849 


59.27 


1850 


49.06 


1851 


74.49 


1852 


59.49 


1853 . 


45.78 


1854 


23.35 




28.38 


1856 


38.17 




39.52 


1858 


51.28 




32.65 


I860 


25.10 




47.89 


1862 • • 


44.78 




33.75 


1864 


51.57 




45.34 


1866 


43.37 




42.18 


1868 


46.00 


1869.... •••• 





The average number of clays of rain per year for the whole period of thirty years, 74.8. 

The average number of days of snow per year, for the whole period of thirty years, 19.4 

The average quantity of rain and snow, reduced to water per year, for the whole period,, 
in inches, 44.27. 

The average quantity of snow per year, not reduced to water, in inches, 33.23. 

The greatest quantity of snow was in 1867, 61.97 inches. 

The least quantity of snow was in 1850, 7.90 inches. 

The greatest rainfall in the history of the State, was on August 10 and 11, 1851, from 11 
p. M., to 3 A. M., or 4 hours, there fell 10.71 inches. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 



341 



The earliest snow, ever known in the State, until 1881, was October 17, 1859. 
The latest snow fall was April 29, 1851. 

The greatest fall of snow in any one day, was 20}4 inches, December 21st, 1848. 
In 1863, there was frost every montli in the year. 

In 1858, the Mississippi River did not freeze over at Muscatine. It remained closed, on 
an average, 67 days in each year, din-ing the freezing period of thirty years. 

Through the courtesy of Miss Mary Hamilton, observer for the Iowa 
Weatlier Service at the Biooiiiiield Station, we obiain the observations from 
her reports of the rainfall, and climatic temperature in Davis county for the 
years 1879, 1880 and 1881, as follows: 

Rainfall at Bloomtield, from April 1, 1879, to January 1, 1880: 



April 

May 

June 

July 

August 5 

September . . , ... 

October 4 

November 

December 



1AYS. 


INCHES. 








6 


5.98 





6.44 


4 


1.93 


5 


2.76 


7 


2.66 


4 


1.35 


7 


4.76 


6 


1.29 



Total 



.49 



27.17 



Rainfall, and the highest, lowest and average temperature, each month, for the year 1880: 

Latitude, 41 degrees, — minutes. 

Longitude, 95 degrees, — minutes. 

Elevation in feet above low water mark of the Mississippi River, 130 feet. 





Rain. 


Temperature. 


MONTH. 


CO 

>^ 
■a 

Q 


Inches. 


4-J 


4-: 

CO 


to 

« 

> 
<1 


January 


7 
3 
4 
7 
6 
7 
5 
8 
5 
3 
3 
4 

62 


2.73 
0.71 
2.22 
2.50 
2.22 
2.47 
4.93 
3.53 
2.63 
0.93 
1.69 
0.70 

27.26 


|«2'' 

63 

65 

84 

89 

91 

92 

95 

84 

78 

60 

44 

95° 


22° 

13 

16 

43 

56 

C6 

66 

65 

58 

35 

— 8 

—14 

14° 


40 84 " 


February 


38.20 


March 


46. 


April 


60.331 
79 16 


May 


J u ne 


79.60 


July 

August 


83.07 
83.26 


September 


71.10 


October 


57.221 


Xi ivem ber '. 


32.— 


Iticember 


20.30 






Total 


57.59° 







342 



IIISTOEY OF DAVIP (JOTINTY. 



For The Yfab 1881. 



Rain. 



5 



TEMPEEATUliB. 



be 
5 






be 

C3 



Jiiimary. . 
February. 
Marcli. . . 
April. . . . 

May 

J line 

Ji'iy 

Aiienst. . . 



4 
6 

7 
9 
6 
10 
4 
.1 3! 



September 51 



0.521 
2 69 
2.30 
2.44 
1.T5 
9.31 
2.86 
. 32 
5.61 



37° 


— 6^ 


52 


10 


52 


22 


82 


27 


86 


56 


92 


70 


94 


73 


98 


74 


95 


53 



19.33i^ 
26.14 
34.64i 
49.70 

76.93i 

80.161 

85.84 

89.— 

75.29 



The average climate temperature, as noted by Prof. Parvin, at Muscatine and Iowa City, 
for the period of thirty years, ending with 1869, was 57.59 degrees; and the average tem- 
perature at Bloomfield, for the years 1880, 1801, as noted by Miss Hamilton, was 47,%'% de- 
grees, making 10.03 degrees difference. 

The foregoing tables will afl'ord an interesting study of the rain and 
snow fall during the years they cover. Climate has so much to do with the 
health and prosperity of a country or civic locality, that it is an important: 
study. It is a frequent observation that ague, malarial fevers and other 
pestilential diseases tind their source in low, malarial and unhealthy local- 
ities, which generate the seeds of disease and death in those who dwell 
within them. Hence, the importance of escaping such localities, which the 
people of Davis county have so effectually done. These considerations are 
important, not only in their eSect upon the bodj', but upon the mind as 
well. "Health and intelligence, intelligence and good morals, good morals 
and e.xcellent government, are sisters three, without which neither nations 
nor men may live and prosper." 

There are but few days in the year that the movements of the winds an 
not observed in this locality. Their healthful importance cannot be over- , 
estimated. They serve to modify the atmosphere, and distribute its heat I 
and moisture. The malaria whicii escapes from the decayed vegetation ot I 
the prairie — a vegetation which has accumulated for ages upon its wild sur-' 
face and produced the rich black mould overlaying it, is swept away by the 
winds; thus keeping the atmosphere in a healthy- condition. The prevail- 
ing winds during the summer are froiji the south; while the winter windf^ 
are from the west and northwest; and during the spring and autumn seasons 
they are more ciiangeable, coining from all points of the compass, which is 
likely caused by tlie equinoctial periods occurring during those seasons 
East winds are quite certain breeders of rain or snow. 



IIISTOKV OF DAVIS COUNTY. 343 

The rainfall, too, is another health preserving agent in absorbing, and neu- 
tralizing the noxious gasses generated from decaying vegetation, sinks of 
lilth, and various other sources. 

Upon the question of climatic localities, Dr. Farr, in 1852, presented a 
very interesting and instructive report to the Register-general of England, 
in relation to the dugeuerating and destructive results to those of the 
human race who dwell in the low malarial localities of the world. In 
speaking of the destruction of the hum;in I'ace through these causes, Dr. 
Farr says: 

"It is destroyed now periodically by five pestilences — cholera, remittent fever, yellow 
fever, glandular plagues and influenza. The origin or chief seat of the flr.st is the Delta of 
the Ganges. Of the second, the African and other tropical coasts. Of the third, the low- 
west coast around the Gulf of Mexico, or the Delta of the Mississippi, and the West India 
Islands. Of the fourth, the Delta of the Nile and the low sea-side cities of the Mediterran- 
ean. Of the generating field of influenza nothing certain is known ; but * * » 
the four great pestilential diseases — cholera, yellow fever, remittent fever and plagne--have 
this property in common; that they begin and are most fatal in low grounds; that their fatal- 
ity diminishes in ascending the rivers, and is inconsiderable around the river sources, ex- 
cept under such peculiar circumstances as are met with at Erzeroum, where the features of a 
marshy, sea-side city are .'■een at the foot of the luouutain cliain of Ararat. Safety is found 
in flight to the hills. « * » As the power of the Egyptians descended 

from the Thebaid to Memphis, from Memphis to Sais, they gradually degenerated, notwith- 
standing the elevation of their towns above the high waters of the Nile, their hygenic laws 
and the hydrographical and other sanitary arrangements which made the country renowned, 
justlj' or unjustly, for its salubrity in the days of Herodotus, the poison of the Delta in every 
time of wealvue.ss and successful invasion, gradually gained the ascendency, and as the cities 
declined, the canals and the embalments of the dead were neglected, and the plague gained 
ground. The people, sub.iugated by Persians, (iieeks, Romans, Turks. Mamelukes, became 
what they have been for centuries, and what they are at the present day. Every race that 
settled in the Delta degenerated, and was only sustained by immigration. So, likewise, the 
population on the sites of all the city-states of antiquity, on the coast of Syria, Asia Minor, 
Africa, Italy, seated like the people of Rome on low ground under the ruin-clad hills of their 
imcestors, within reach of fever and plague, are enervated and debased apparently beyond 
redemption. 

"'I'he history of the nations on the Mediterranean, on the plains of the Euphrates and 
the Tigris, the Deltas of the Indus and the Ganges, and the rivers of China, exhibit this 
great fact: the gradual descent of races from the highlands, their establishment on the 
coasts in cities sustained and refresherl for a season by immigration from the interior, their 
degradation in successive generations under the influence of the unhealthy earth, and their 
final ruin, eft'aceuient or subjugation by new races of coiiquerers. The causes that destroy 
individual men, lay cities waste, in their nature, are immortal, and silently undermine 
eternal onipires. 

"On the higlilands men feel the lofliest emotions. Every tradition places their origin there. 
The first nations worshipped there; high on the Indian Causasus, on Olympus, and on other 
lofty mountains the Indians and the Greeks imagined the abodes of their highest gods, while 
they peopled the low undei-grouu<l regions, the grave-land of mortality, with infernal deities. 
Their myths have deep signification. Man feels his immortality in the hills." 



344 HISTOKY OF DAVIS COUNTV. 

There comes to this locality — in fact, to all the western country— in the 
autumn, a spell of the most delightful weather, one of the most charming 
periods of the year, known as " Indian Summer." The mellow rays of the 
Bun, and the soft gentle breezes, as they commingle with the golden or cop- 
per colored haze of the atmosphere, awaken dreams, fairy and delusive. 
Here this period bears the name of Indian Summer, from the fact that 
early settlers ascribed this peculiar haze to the burning of the prairies 
by the Indians at that time. This, however is not the cause, as a similar 
spell of fine weather prevails in various other countries at this season of the 
year. In England it is known as " Martinmas Summer," (from St. Mar- 
tin); in France it is known as ^"^ V ete de St. Martini (Summer of St. 
Martin); in Germany, as '■'■Alte Weiier Sommer," (Old Woman's Sum- 
mer); and along the western coast of South America, as " St. Jolin's Sum- 
mer." In no portion of the world, however, do we believe this period of I 
the year to be grander tiian in our own. It "laps all the landscape in its 
silvery fold" for weeks; and finally marks the changing season — blends 
autumn into winter. The splendor of the forest is brief, its gorgeous colors 
are fleeting, but there is joy in the period and the scene, which awakens 
file purest communings of the soul with this nature's holiday. 

One who has lived a quarter of a century' in Iowa, and passed from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific, says that nowhere between the two oceans can be 
observed so iriany magnificent spectacles at the risings and settings of the 
sun, as in an Iowa autumn: " Golden clouds, 'dark clouds with silver lining,' 
atmosphere full of delicious, haze — sometimes like floating gold and silver 
dust — great bands of rosy light shooting upward to the zenith, mark these 
grand panoramas and make them so beautiful and brilliant that no one wlio 
has been entranced by their grandeur can ever forget them! It is seldom 
that these free exhibitions of tiie sublimities of nature are ever equalled in 
any land, and we doubt wlicther they are ever sur|iassed in Italy." 
This is the " Red Man's Summer," of vvliich the poet * sings: 

When was the red uirtii's suinmerV 

When the rose 
Huncf it.s first banner out? When the gray rook, 
Or the Ijrowii heath, the radiant Kalmia clothed? 
Or when the loiterer, by the reedy brooks. 
Startled to see the proud lobelia glow 
Like living flame? When through the fore.st gleara'd 
The ihododendron? Or the fragrant breath 
Of the magnolia swept deliciously 
O'er the half laden nerve? 



*jVrrs. Sigourney. 






HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 345 

No. When the groves 
In fleeting colors wrote theu' own decay, 
And leaves fell eddying on the sharpen'd blast 
That sang their dii-ge; when o'er their rustling bed 
The red deer sprang, or fled the shrill-voiced quail. 
Heavy of wing and fearful ; when, with heart 
Foreboding or depress'd, the white man mark'd 
The signs of coming winter: then began 
The Indian's joyous season. Then the haze, 
Soft and delusive as a fairy dream, 
Lapp'd all the landscape in its silvery fold. 

The quiet rivers that were wont to hide 

'Neath shelving banks, behold their course betrayed 

By the white mists that o'er their foreheads crept, 

'While wrapped in morning dreams, the sea and s!iy 

Slept 'neath one curtain, as if both were merged 

In the same element. Slowly the sun. 

And all reluct-intly, the spell dissolved, 

And then it took upon its parting wing 

A rainbow glory. 

Gorgeous was the time, 
Yet brief as gorgeous. Beautil'ul to thee. 
Our brother hunter, but to us replete 
With musing thoughts in melancholy train. 
Omjoj/s, alas! too oft were woe to thee; 
Yet ah! poor Indian, whom we fain would drive 
Both from our hearts and from thy father's lands, 
The perfect year doth bear thee on its crown. 
And when we would forget, repeat thy name. 



GEOLOGY. 

They are compartively few who pause to question Nature; and fewer still 
are they who stay to question tlie inanimate rock. Ou the landscapes and 
beneath tlie surface are indications of a history that challenge investigation; 
on ever\' hill ami in every valley are facts waiting to be noticed and inter- 
preted, and whether the mass of men notice them or not, the story they il- 
lustrate still has its charm. Tlie hills were here when men came; the rills 
and creeks bulibled as merrily on their way to the sea then as now; the 
broad rich acres of prairie land were as fruitful tlien as now, and the prom- 
ise as great. Why then stay to study these familiar rocks? or why pause 
to discuss their origin? Let the following facts answer these questions, 
and answering arouse iutelliB:ent interest. 



3*0 HISToltY OF TJAVIS COUNTY. 

Ihe geological history of Davis connty is one of peculiar moment, and 
affords some very suggestive tacts relative to its past vicissitudes. It ex- 
tends in point of time over many thousands of years, and embraces periods 
ol repose and periods of remarkable change. Its history, climatologicall'y, 
has been one of deep interest, and embraces changes so radical and so 
directly at variance with one another as to be almost incredible. There 
have been long ages when it basked under a torrid sun; and then these 
ages gave place to others; remarkable for polar frosts. Life, in all the lux- 
uriance and variety of a tropical climate, gave place to the desert wastes of 
an Artie zone. Nor were these changes sudden. They are there; stamped 
in the very rocks at your doors, or limned upon the landscape of your val- 
leys, not as great and far-reaching catastrophies, but as gradual transitions, 
indisputably marked as such by the fossil forms that roll out from the rock 
you crush, or see traced with a delicacy no draughtsman can imitate. 

There have been times when Old Ocean, heedless of his doings, dashed 
against the rocky barrier that dared dispute bis way, or rolled in solemn 
conscious might above its highest point; tiTiies when a beautiful and varied 
flora thrived upon its surface, and times when there was naught save a 
waste of desert water. We strike our pick in the shales on the hillsides, 
and behold! there in the coal that gives us warmth and drives our engines, 
are the fairy forms that made the fern paradise of the coal period — 
beautiful arguments those of changes that thousands of years, as we measure 
them, would not compass. 

In presenting the following princijial facts in the geology of Davis 
county, enough only has been given of the lithological characters of the 
various rock strata to enable the interested reader to identify them. Many 
points of interest from a geological stand-point, have necessaril}' been omit- 
ted; their introduction would have unduly lengthened the chapter, and 
scarcely possessed any general interest. To trace, briefly, the changes that 
have occurred, and to note their probable causes are the main purposes of 
this sketch. There has been given a detailed account uf the various strata 
from above downwards, hence each formation is to be considered later than 
the one next succeeding it. Cronologically, this method of treatment takes 
us backward in time, and as we reach successively the older strata, we are 
gradually approaching earth's morning; geographically we thus deal first 
with the entire surface of the county; subsequently, and with particular 
reference to the Lower Coal Measures, we have to do with local outcrops of 
rock strata. 

The entire surface of Davis county, except in the very valieys where the 
surface soil is called alluvium^ is covered with the drift, a formation which 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 347 

derives its name from tlie manner of its introduction over tlie surface, a 
method hereafter to be explained. The term "'drift," as it is commonly 
employed in geology, "includes the sand, gravel, clay, and boulders occur- 
ring over some ]iarts of the continent, which are without stratification or 
order of arrangement, and have been transplanted from places in higher 
latitudes by some agency which (1) could carry masses of rock hundreds of 
tons in weight, ami which (2) was not always dependent for motion on the 
slopes of the surtace." — Hall . This agency was ice either in the form of an 
extensive glacier, or detached masses called ice-bergs. The whole surface 
of North America, to the thirty-ninth parallel, bears evidence of the denud- 
ing and transforming power. It requires not a little stretch of the imagina- 
tion to conceive all the streams of Davis county tied to their banks by bands 
of ice. The ice-locked rill ceases to babble over its rocky bed, the forests 
have gone like a vision, and ail is one mass of moving ice, a veritable pala- 
eocrystic sea. In its progress onward old valleys were filled and new ones 
dug, rocks were polished, fragments detached and rounded, hills leveled 
and the entire aspect of nature changed. It left at our very doors masses 
of rock, lai'ge and small, or buried them in the hill-side, to excite our won- 
der and arouse us to speculate as to their origin. They were brought hither 
from some northern locality, where the material from which they were de- 
rived is found la situ, and hence the general movements of the glacier was 
to the southward. In this county the drift is exposed in all the valleys and 
ravines, and sometimes on the hillsides where the surface soil, or A^wn^s, 
has been removed. A few feet of this soil removed by the spade will e.x- 
pose the drift in its upper layers, which arc here arranged in a kind of strat- 
ified manner, and which constitute what is called modified drift, a drift in 
which the materials have been assorted, in a rude sort of way, and arranged 
in strata by the action of water. This rearranging, or modification, was 
eft'ected after the meltino- or recession of the glacier which brought the 
materials here; and perhaps in one of those periods of subsidence or con- 
tinual depression which made the greater part of Iowa one vast inland sea. 
In the deepest valleys the outcrops of the drifts are to be seen to the best 
advantage, and there they should be studied in order to learn all its peculiar 
features. But wherever seen the same essential features are presented to 
t the eye. It is seen to be a compound of clay and gravel, with occasional 
tbeds of sand, and is deposited with considerable regularity of stratification. 
It usually contains many small and well-worn pieces of gneiss, prophyry, 
hornblende, and other primary rocks, tojrether with occasional small frag- 
iments of limestone, sandstone, and bits of slate and coal, which have been 
I torn from rocks and transported from points more or less remote from their 



as mSTOET OK 



DAVIS COUNTY. 



present locality. The bluffs along the Mississippi river are almost entirely 
composed of drift, a most striking difference between them ami those ajono- 
the Missouri, which are, superficiallj at least composed of tlie loess. 

Bj far the most important geological formations in this county are the 
coal measures, with which parts of the county is underlaid. Lying imme- 
diately below the drift are found the Upper Coal Measure strata, which, 
though spread over the greater portion of the county, do not often appear 
as surface rocks; nor do they frequentlj' outcrop in the beds of the larger 
streams as might naturally be expected. This is due, perhaps, to the very 
deep deposits of the drift, through which most of the streams of the county 
flow. 

The ne.xt strata, those of the Middle Coal Measures, comprise a consider- 
able portion of the rocks which are presented to view in this county. As 
studied by Dr. C. A. White,* in this county. In this division of the coal 
measures is found the so-called Panora coal, named from the village of that 
name in Guthrie county, where it was studied at a fine exposure. This ex- 
posure, and another one in the immediate vicinity of Wheeler's Mill present 
thelithological character of these rocks in a splendid manner for study. A 
few feet above the Panora coal at this locality, appears a second, perhaps 
local, bed of coal, which has not been opened in the northern extension of tliis 
formation, and to which the name of Wheeler coal has been given. The 
following succession of strata were there observed: 

FEET. 

No. 10. Mottled blue and yellow shales 4 

No. 9. Wheeler coal 1| 

No. 8. Mottled blue and yellow shales 8 

No. 7. Grayish impure limestone, two layers 2 

No. 6. Blue shales 6 

No. 5. Hard, brittle bluish lime rock f 

No. 4. Bituminous, fissile shale 1-| 

*The work of Dr. White is often condemned as inaccurate and incomplete. The inaccu- 
racy, if such there exists, is the i-esult of the incompleteness, the hitter caused Ijy the short- 
sightedness of the fjeneral assembly which ordered the disorganization of the survey, and 
the publication of the results obtained, before opportunity was given to correct data and re- 
sults. Twice has the State instituted a survey, 'and as many times summarily brought it to 
a close before its work was fairly begun. Once, under Dr. Hall, the State prosecuted re- 
searches of this character, allowed the director. Dr. Hall to advance moneys to pay the as- 
sistants and then repudiated the debt — which to this day remains unpaid — and brought the 
survey to an end. The time is coming when a survey must be had, and it is to be hoped is 
in the near future. Dr. AVhite demonstrated enough of our geology to show the necessity of ' 
a complete geological and natural history survey, and the sooner this object is brought to 
the legislature and inteUigi'nthi acted on, the sooner will the higher interest of the State be 
served.— Ph6. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 349 

FEET. 

No. 3. Paiiora coal .". . . IJ- 

No. 2. Blue sliales 2 

No. 1. Yellow, i^ritty sliales 6 

These sliales and limestones contain numerous fossils, characteristic, 
some of them, of this strata are of the formation. 

The Lower Coal Measure has no exposure in this county, although gelogi- 
cal indications evidences the fact that it underlies the north part of the 
county in the fame proportion as it does in the other coal counties. 

These measures have been divided by geologists, into the Upper, Middle 
and Lower, for convenience in study, but they are not wholly arbitrary di- 
visions. It will be noted by the careful observer, that the Lower Coal 
Measures have numerous and sometimes large strata of sandstones. These 
are characteristic of this division. Taken in connection with the deposits 
of fire or potter's clay, which invariably are to be found below the coal 
seams, they form a most reliable guide as to the liorizon to which they 
should be referred. The strata next above are also arenaceous, but to a 
mucli less extent, and have none of the strata of fire cla}'. The Upper 
Measures are characterized by the prevalence of limestones among the 
strata. The Middle Measures are to be regarded as transitional between 
the first and last. The other lithological differences which should be noted 
by the student have been pointed out in the sections made at various local- 
ities. It will be noted also that the heavier or thicker beds of coal are 
found in the lower, the next in thickness and quality in the middle, while 
Qo beds of workable coal are to be found in the upper measures. Aside 
from these general features that will serve to distinguish these formations, 
there are other facts, but they are not so patent- Reference is made to the 
palaeontological features of the rocks in question. These consist in the re- 
mains of animals, belonging to both the vertebrate and invertebrate classes. 
The vei'tebrates are represented solely by the fishes, of which several gene- 
a and species are found in the rocks belonging more especially to the mid- 
lie coal measure strata. The forms of lower or invertebrate life are much 
nore numerous, consisting of the remains of brachiopods, a class belong- 
ng, it is now believed, to the worms, but for a long time and still by 
nany, groupeil with the mollusca. The latter are represented by various 
pecies of univalves, some bivalves, and an occasional laud-shell. The last 
las been found only in the corresponding strata in the State of Illinois, but 
without doubt also occur here. Plants are numerous, as the known vege- 
able origin of coal would lead us to naturally infer. The crustaceans are 
epresented by the remarkable. genus Phillipsia. The radiates by echino- 



350 HISTORV OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

derms unci corals, uiid the protozoans by the peculiar little form known to 
scientists a%, F itsilina cyVmdrica. This interesting little form is abundant 
in the limestones of the Upper Coal Measures, and will readily serve to 
distinguish them. It occurs rarely in the Middle, and not at all, so far as 
known, in the Lower Coal Measures. It may be likened, without doing 
violence to the analogy, to fossil grains of wheat, and indeed Dr. D. D. 
Owen, in his report of the geology of Iowa, mentioned this fact as a com- 
mon one in the belief of many people with whom he conversed. These 
remains are in themselves very instructive, and otier a fruitful field for in- 
vestigation. They relate a story which is truly marvelous; one well worth 
the pains and toil requisite to comprehend it. 

The economical resources of this county are great. Aside from its exten- 
sive beds of invaluable coal, are the adjacent beds of tire-clay for pottery 
and tillTig; the gi-eat beds of blue clay and sand stone for brick manufac- 
ture, and the extensive quarries of limestone for purposes of buililing. These 
need but to be enumerated to indicate their value. In every respect, geo- 
logically, Davis is one of Iowa's most favored counties; beneath its surface 
lie inexhaustible mines of mineral wealth, and within the soil are some of 
the greatest of agricultural possibilities. 

An interesting feature has been observed in connection with the soils in 
the region occupied by the coal-measures, and in which tlie Drift deposits 
are but sparingly distriljuted, coiripared to the region farther north. The 
comparative paucity of the Drift in tliis section, which includes the counties 
of Warren, Lucas, Monroe, Davis, and Appanoose, seems to turnish 
satisfactory explanation of tiie origin of the argillaceous soil occurring over 
considerable tracts in the uplands in those counties. We are forcibly struck 
with the appearance of these tracts in passing from the northern counties 
southwai'd, or from the loamy soils of the Drift region, to the argillaceous 
soil locally found in the southern coal counties. The clay soil is of a light 
color, somewhat recalling the Bluif soil in appearance, Imt differing widely 
from that deposit in composition, and is very fertile and durable; but it is 
not as susceptible of tillage, in extreme wet or dry seasons, as are the loamy 
soils of the Drift. It is probably directly derived from the disintegration 
of the shales of the subjacent coal-measures. 

Davis county is known to contain lai'ge quantities of excellent coal, but 
since the streams which traverse it ai'e none of tliem large, they have not 
exposed much of it by the erosion of their valleys. The prominent 
exposures are in the valleys of Snap and Salt Creeks, in the northern parti 
of the county, wliei-e the coal measures are about four feet in thickness, i 
This county is bounded on evei'}' side by well known coal counties, and there 



HISTOKV OF DAVIS COUNTY. 351 

is no reason why it slionid not ultimately rank ;uni>ng the best coal counties 
in the State. 

The quarries of Saiulstone in this county, are a source IVoin whicli 
succeeding generations may draw inexliaustible supplies of building 
material; the texture of the stone when quari-ied, thongli vei-y soft and 
shaley, and easily worked, soon becomes hard as adamant on exposure to 
the atmosphere. It is now very extensively used for building jnirposes. 

There are two very fine geological collections in this eonnty, one in the 
possession of Hon. Lyman P. Bates, of West Grove townshi]>, and the 
other belonging to Hon. Samuel B. Downing, of Fox River township, the 
present representative from this conntj-. A great deal of enterprise and 
geological experience is displayed in their collection and arrangement. 

THE NATUEAL HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY.* 

The natural history of tiiis county is almost the exact counterpart of that 
of all prairie countries. While its forms of life present an infinite diversity, 
only a few of the many are found to be predominant. With the single ex- 
ception of the insects, the birds will be found most numerously represented. 
The time was, however, when the larger forms of life abounded; when the 
deer, the elk and the buffalo made these prairies their home. The coming 
of the white man, attended by all the circumstances of progress, has driven 
these larger forms from the county, and now the smaller kinds alone retain 
fi footing. 

There is no record of any attempt at any time made to determine the re- 
lation of t\\e flora ?ii\A fauna of this county to the rest of the State. In no 
counties but those in the eastern ]iortion of the State has such a work been 
done, and there chiefly in the interests of science and by private individu- 
als. It is to be hoped that the lime is not far distant when the State will 
order and sustain to completion an intelligent and exhaustive survey of her 
great domain — a survey, the value of which will become more and more 
apparent with the growth of years. Twice has the State instituted a geo- 
logical survey, and twice has it failed to sup]5ort the same, and brought 
j both to a close while yet their work was in its infancy. All that is valua- 
! ble, all that is best known, of its natural resources has been contributed by 
the pens and at the expense of men in private life. The following resume 
of the natural history of the county is by no means a complete reprcsenta- 
i tion of its forms, and is to be considered otdy as indicative of the nature of 
its resources, botii animal and vegetable. In the lists following as much in- 

*Exclusive of fishes and insects. 



352 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

formation has been incorporated as is consistent with a simple cataloo-ne of 
forms. This is especially true of the trees and shrubs. It is manifestly 
impossible to give either descriptions or life histories of a single species in 
a work of this nature. For the sake of insuring accuracy in the reader, 
both scientific and common names are given. ■ 

AVIDyE— BIRDS.* 

TuEDID.E TlIROSHES. 

1. Tardus migratorius, Linn — Robin. 

2. {?) Tardus naevius, Gmelin — Varied Thrush. 

3. Tardus mustelinus, Gmelin — Wood thrush. 

4. Turdus pallasii. Cab — Hermit thrush. 

5. Turdus siuainsonii. Cab — Swainson's thrush. 

6. Mimus CiWoUnensis, (Jab — Cat bird. 

7. {?) Mimus ■polycjlottus, Boie — Mocking bird. 

8. Ilarporhynchus rufus. Cab — Brown thrush. 

Saxicolid.*; — -Blue Birds and Stone-chats. 

9. Sialia sialis, Haldeman — Blue bird. • 

10. (.^) Silia mexicana, Sw. — Western blue bird. 

Paeid.k — Titmice. 

11. Parus airicapillus, J^lnn — Chickadee. 

12. Parus atricapillus var. septentrionalis, Allen — Long-tailed chicka- 
dee. 

13. Lophophanes hicolor, Bonap — Crested titmouse. 

Sylviid.k — Warblers. 

14. Regulus satrapa, Licht — Golden-crested kinglet. 

15. Regtdus calendula, Licht — Ruby-crested kinglet. 

16. Polioptila caerulea, Sclat— Blue-gray gnat-catcher. 

Certhiadve — Creepers. 

17. C erthia familiar is, Linn — Brown creeper. 



*In the following catalogue the general arrangement of Cones' " Birds of the Northwest" 
is adopted as being the one most eonsistent with the great mass of observed facts, and is the 
one approved by the leading ornithologists of the country. The arrangement is by familiea. 
A few species are included which have not been observed in the county but are known to oc- 
cur in the counties surrounding. Such are marked with an asterisk (*). Species doubtfully 
referred to the county are indicated by a queftion mark (?). Many of the following list have 
not been observed in this county, but are admitted fi-om the fact that they are known in the 
State, and on the authority of the work above mentioned, which places them here. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 355 

SiTTin.E — Nuthatches. 

18. S/'tta ca?'oUnensis, Lath- -White-breasted nuthatch. 

19. SiUa (-•anadense.s; Linn — Red -breasted nuthatch; very rare. 

Teoglodytid-k — Wrens. 

20. Salpinctes obsoletus, Cab — Rock wren. 

21. Anortliura hi/emulls, Coues — Wintei' wren. 

22. (.^) Telmatodytes palustris, Bonap —Long-billed marsh wren. 

23. (*) CistothoruH stellaris, Cab — Short-billed marsh wren. 

24. (^?)ThryotJio)'us liuloviclaiias. Bonap — Carolina wren; a "rollick- 
ing" singer. 

25. T/irijot/iorua bewichii, Bonap — Bewick's wren; an odd bird. 

26. Troglodytes aedon,Y\e\\\ — House wren; pugnacious. 

MoTACiLLiD.K — Wag-tails. 

27. Ant/iux iudovicianus, Lieut — Tit-lark. 

SyLVICOLID.B WOOD-W A RULERS. 

28. Mniotilta varia^Y'iexW — Black and white creeper. 

29. Prothoiiotaria citraca, Baird — Prothoiiotarj warbler. 

30. *IlelmUith<)])h(tya ruficapilla^ Baird — Nasliville warbler. 

31. rielminthophaga celata, Baird — Golden-crowned warbler. 

82. {?)IIelminthophaga pinns, Baird — -Blue- winged yellow warbler. 

33. * Dendroeca striata, Baird — Black-poll warbler. 

34. Dendroeca jxdmarum, Baird — Merely a bird of passage. 

35. Deiidooeca pimis, WWson — Pine-creeping warbler; a fall loiterer. 

36. {?)Dendroeca virens, Baird — Black-throated green warbler. 

37. Dendroeca caerulescens, Baird — Black-throated blue warbler. 

38. Dendroeca coronata, Gray — Yellow-crowned warbler. 

39. Deiidroeca hlacklmrniae, Baird — Blackburnian warbler. 

40. Dendroeca castanea, Baird- —Bay-breasted warbler. 

41. Dendroeca eaernlea, Baird — -Blue warbler. 

42. Dendroeca aestiva, Baird — Yellow warbler. 

43. Dendroeca maculosa, Baird — Black and yellow warbler; prairie 
warbler. 

44. Dendroeca discolor, Baii'd — Yellow red-poll warbler. 

45. Dendroeca dominica, Baird — Yellow-throated warbler. 

46. Seiurus aurocapillus, Swain — Golden- crowned wagtail. 

47. {*)Seiurus novehoracensis, Nutt — New York water wagtail. 

48. Seiurus lodovlciamis, Baird — Long-billed water thrush. 



354 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUXTY. 

49. {^'•-)GeotJdij2n>^ ir/c/ia,^, Cal)— Mai-ylaiid yellow-throat. 

50. GeothlyplspUladelphvi, Baird— Mourning warbler. 

51. Ojwroriiwformosus, T?aird — Kentucky warbler. 

52. Myiodioctcs pusillus, Bonap — Green black-capped warbler. 

53. Myiodloctcfi ('(tr/ffdcn.sis, Cab — Canada warbler. 

54. Setopltaga rutic'dhc, Swain — Ked start. 

55. Icteria vircns, Baird — Yellow-breasted chat. 

Tan.\grid,k — Tanageks. 

56. {*)Pj/ra/iija rubra, Vieill — Scarlet tanager. 

57. Pyranga aeMiva, V^ieill — Summer red bird. 

HiKUNDiNiDQ': — Swallows. 

58. Hirundo horreorwm, Barton — Barn swallow. 

59. Petrochelidon luidfron.s, Sclater — Cliff swallow. 

60. PrO(jne purptirea, Boie — Purple martin. 

61. Cotyle riparia, Boie — Bank swallow, sand martin. 

62. Stelgidopteryx serripennis, Baird — Rough-winged sand martin 

Ampelid.e — Wax-wings. 

63. A/npelis cedrorvm. Gray — Cedar bird, wax-wing. 

64. Ampelis garridua, Linn — Northern wax-wing. 

ViKEONDI.E — ViEEOS. 

65. Vireo gilvus, Bonap — Warbling vireo; common. 

66. Vireo aolitariits, Baird — Solitary vireo. 

67. Yireo novehoraeensis, Bonap — White-eyed vireo. 

68. Vireo hellii, Audubon— Bell's vireo. 

69. Vireo olivaceous, Bonap — Red-eyed vireo. 

70. {?)Vireo shslamilphlcus, Cass — Brotlieily-love vireo. 

71. (?)Yireo fiavlfrons, Baird — Yellow-throated vireo. 

Laniid.e — Shrikes. 

72. Collurio borealis, Baird — Northern shrike; butcher bird. 

73. Collurio excithito rides, Coues — Wliite-ruinped shrike. 

Alaudid/e — Larks. 

74. Eremophila alpestris, Boie — Horned lark. 




X 



-P^;;™,"' 








history of davis county. 357 

Fkingillid^ — Sparrows. 

75. Finicola enucleator, Cab — Pine grosbeak; an occasional winter vis- 
itant. 

70. Carpodacus pu2)ure'us, Gray — Pnrple iinch. 

77. Chri/soDiltris trlstls, Cab — Yellow bird; gold-finch. 

78. Chrlsomitris pimis, Bonap — Pine finch. 

79. Ciirvirostra americaria, Wilson — Eed cross bill. 

80. C'urvirostra leueoptera, Wilson — White-winged cross bill. 

81. Aegiothus tinatia, Cab — Red jwU linnet. 

82. Plectrophanes nivalis, Meyer — Snow bnnting. 

83. Plectrophanes lapponiciis, Kaiip — Lapland bunting; in winter. 

84. Pleetrop>hanes pictus. Cab — Painted bunting; in winter onlj'. 

85. Plectropilianes ornatus, Temm — Black-bellied long spnr. 

86. Centronyx bairdii, Baird — Baird's sparrow. 

87. Passerculiis savanna, Bonap — Savanna sparrow. 

88. Pooecetes gramineus, Baird — Grass finch. 

89. Coturniculus passerinus, Bonap — Yellow-winged sparrow. 

90. Cofurnicultis hensloicii, Bona]i — Henslow's sparrow. 

91. Melospisa melodia, Baird — Song sparrow. 

92. Jfelospisa pahisi7-is, Baird — Swamp sparrow. 

93. Juncohyemalis, Sclat — Snowbird. 

94. Spizella montieola, Baird — Tree sparrow. 

95. SpiseUa pnsilla, Bonap — Field sparrow. 

96. Spnzella pallida, Bonap — Western field sparrow. 

97. S2)izella socialis, Bonap — Chipping sparrow. 

98. ZoNotric/iia lencop/iyrs, Swain — White-crowned sparrow. 

99. Zonotrichia alhlcolUs, Bonap — White-throated sparrow. 

100. Zonotrichia querula, Gamb — Harris' sparrow. 

101. Zonotrichia intermedia, Kidgway — Ridg way's sparrow. 

102. Chondestes grammaca, Bonap — Lark sparrow. 

103. Passerella iliaca, Swain — Fox-colored sparrow. 

104. Euspizaainericana, Bonap — Black-throated bunting. 

105. Goniaphea htdoviciana. Cab — Rose-breasted grosbeak. 

106. Goniaphea caridea, Swain — Bins grosbeak. 

107. Cyanospiza cyanea, Baird — Indigo bird. 

108. Cardi'nalis virginianus, Bonap — Cardinal bird. 

109. Pipilo erythroplithalamus, Vieill — Ohewink. 



358 history of davis county 

Icteeidje — Blackbirds and Orioles. 

110. Dolichonyx orysivonis, Swain — Bobolink. 

111. Molothrus 2)ecorus, Swain — Cow blackbird. 

112. Aiicjelceus phmnicexis, Vieill — Red-winged blackbird. 

113. Xmithoeeqhalus icterocephalvs, Baird — Yellow-headed blackbird. 

114. Sturnella magna., Swain — Meadow lark. 

115. Icterus spurius, Bonap — Orchard oriole. 

116. Ictertis baltimore, Dand — Baltimore oriole; hang nest. 

117. {?)Ictervs buUocl-ii, Bonap — Bullock's oriole. 

118. Scoleophatjus ferriKjinevs, Swain — Eiisty grackle. 

119. Scoleophagtts cyaaceyhahis. Cab — Blue-headed grackle. 

120. Quiscalus purpu7'eiis, Licht — Crow blackbird. 

CoEViD.E — Crows and Jays. 

121. Corvus corax, Linn — Raven. 

122. Corvus americanvs, And — Crow. 

123. Cyanurus crisfatus, Swain — Bine jay. 

Ttrannid.g— Tyrant Flycatchers. 

124. Tyrannns carolhiensis, Temin — King bird. 

125. Tyrannus verticalis, Say — Arkansas flycatcher. 

126. Myiarchus erinitus, Cab — Great-crested flycatcher. 

127. Sayornis fuscus, Baird — Bridge pewee. 

128. Contopus borealis, Baird — Olive-sided pewee. 

129. E mpulonax flaviventris, Baird — Yellow-bellied flycatcher. 

130. Empidonax traiUil, Baird — Traill's flycatcher. 

131. Empidonax ininimus, Baii'd — Least flycatcher. 

132. {?)Empidonax acadicus, Baird — Arcadian flycatcher. 

Caprimulgid^e — Goatsuckers. 

133. Antrostoimis vociferus, Bonap — Whippoorwill. 

134. Antrostomus 7iutaUii, Cass — Nutlell's Whippoorwill. 

135. Chordeiles virginianus, Bonap — Night-hawk; bull-bat, pisk. 

CYPCELIDyE — SwiFTS. 

136. Chaetura pelagica, Baird — Chimney swift. 

Trocdilid^ — Humming Birds. 

137. Trochihis colubris, Linn — Humming bird. 



history of davis county. 359 

Alcedinije — Kingfishers. 

138. Ceryle alcyon, Boie — King-fisher. 

CucuLiD^ — Cuckoos. 

139. Coccygus erythrojphthalnms, Bonap — Black-billed cuckoo. 
14:0. Coccygus amet^icanus, Bonap — -Yellow-billed cuckoo. 

PiciD.E — Woodpeckers. 

141. Picus lillosus, Linn — Hairy woodpecker. 

142. Picus j)tihescenit, Linn — Downy woodpecker. 

143. Sjihyrapicus varius, Baird — Yellow flicker. 

144r. Ilylvtornus 2->ileatus, Baird — Pileated woodpecker. 

145. Centurus caroUnus, Bonap — lied-bellied woodpecker, abundant in 
winter. 

146. Melanoses erythrocejjlidlus, Swain — Red-headed woodpecker. 

147. Colaptes auratus, Swain — Golden-winged woodpecker. 

Arid.e — Parkoquets. 

148. *Conurus carolinensis, Knhl — Carolina parroquet. 

Strigid.e — Owls. 

149. Ltrix fianimea, Scl — Barn owl. 

150. Bubo virgbianus, Bonap — -(Treat horned owl. 

151. Scops asio, Bonap — Screech owl. 

152. Otus vulgaris, Flera — Long-eared owl. 

153. Brachyotus palustris, Bonap — Short-.eared owl; rare. 

154. Syruium nchulosum, Boie — Barred owl. 

155. (.?) Sgrnium cinereum, And — Great gray owl. 

156. Nyctea scandiaca, Newt — A wanderer in this county. 

157. (.^) Nyctale alhifrons, Cassin — Kirkland's owl; very doubtful. 

FALC0NID.E — Hawks. 

158. Falco cuvimunis, Gmelin — Duck hawk. 

159. PaJco columbai'ius, Linn — Pigeon hawk. 

160. Pcdco richardsonii, Ridgw— American merlin. 

*A resident of Decatur county told me that he had several times seen a flock of Parrots 
in the southern part of the county, on a tall, dead cottonwood tree, known to the neighboring 
people as the " parrot- tree," from its having been frequented at intervals by the same flock 
for several years. — Miller. 



360 IIISTOEY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

161. Falco spaj'verius, Diun — Sparrow liawk. 

162. {?) A.siur atrieaplllus, Bonap — Gos-liawk. 

163. Accijtiter fuscuii, Boiiap — Sharp-shinned hawk. 

164. Acc'qnfei' cooper'ii, Gray — -Clncken hawk. 

165. Buteo horeaUs, Vieill — Red-tailed hawk. 

166. Buteo lineatus, Jardiiie — Red-shouldered hawk. 

167. {?) Buteo 2>ennsylvanicus, Bonap — Broad-winged hawk. 

168. Archilrateo lagojjus, Graj' — Rough-legged hawk. 

169. Nauclerusfu.rcatus, Vigors — Swallow-tailed hawk. 

170. Circus hudsonius, Vieill — Marsh hawk; common. 

171. (.^) Aqirila chrymetos, Linn — Golden eagle. 

172. Tlaliostus leu.eoeephalus. Say — White-headed eagle; occasional. 

173. Pandion halicetus. Guv — Osprey; tisii-hawk. 

CaTHAETID-E VuLTlTEES. 

174. Cathartes aura, Illiger — Turkey buzzard. 

CoLUNlSID^ — PlC4E0NS. 

175. EctopiMes migratorla, Swain — Wild pigeon. 

176. Zenoedura carolinensis, Bonap — Carolina dove. 

Tetkaonid.e — Geodse. 

177. Pediocmtes phasinellus, Linn — Sharp-tailed grouse; rare. 

178. Cupidonia cupido, Baird — Prairie hen; abundant. 

179. Bonaaa ■umhellus, Steph — Rutfed grouse. 

Peedicid.e — Paetkidges. 

180. Ortyx virginianus, Bonap — Quail, bob-white. 

Meleageid.e — Tuekeys. 

181. Meleagrisgallopavo,'L\nn—WM\.\\Ykey. 

Chaeadeid-e — Plovers. 

182. Charadrius virginicus, Bork — Golden plover. 

183. jEgialitis vooifera, Bork — Kildee plover. 

184. ^gialitis meloda, Cab — Piping plover. 

185. ^gialitis semipalmata. Cab — Ring plover. 

186. Squatarola helvetica, Brehm — Black-bellied plover. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 361 



RkCURYIROSTRID.E — AvOCETS. 



187. Eecurvirosta ameHcana, Gmelin — Avocet. 

188. Himantopus n/(/rieollis,Y\e\\\ -Black-necked stilt. 

Phalaropodid.e. 

189. Steganopus xoilsonii, Cones — Wilson's plialarope. 

190. (.') Lohlpes hyperhoreus, Ciiv — Northern phalarope. 

191. P/ialaropus /'u7 icari us, Bonap — Red phalarope. 

Scot.oPAciD.E — Snipes and Sandpipers. 

192. Philohela minor, Gray — Woodcock. 

193. OaUinago wilsouii, Bonap — Wilson's snipe. 

194. Jfacrorhanvphus griseus. Leach — Red-breasted snipe. 

195. Tr'inga canutu», Linn — Robin-snipe. 

196. Tringa 7ninut ilia, Yie'iW — Least sandpiper. 

197. {P) Tringa hairdii, Cones — Baird's sandpiper. 

198. Tringa maculata, Vieill — Jack snipe. 

199. * Tringa ainericana, Cass — American Dunlin. 

200. Ereunetes pusilhis, Cass — Semi -pal mated sandpiper. 

201. (.^) Mieropalama Jdviantoints, Baird — Stilt sandpiper. 

202. Totanus semi-palmatus, Temn; — Willit. 

203. Totanus melanoleiicus, Vieill — Tell-tale, tattler. 
20i. Totanus flavipes, Vieill — Lesser 3'ellow shanks. 
205. * Totanus solitarius. And — Wood-tattler. 

200. Tringoides macularius. Gray — Spotted sandpiper. 

207. Liinosafedoa, Ord — Marbled godwit. 

208. Limosa Iiudsonica, Swain — Hndsonian godwit. 

209. Niimenus longirostris, Wilson — Long-billed curlew. 

210. Numenius hudsonica, Lathrop — Hudsonian curlew. 

211. Tryngites rufescens. Cab — Buft'-crested sandpiper. 

Tantalid.e — Ibises. 

212. Tantalus loculator, Linn — Wood ibis. 

A RDEiD.E — Herons 

213. Ardea herodias, Linn — Great blue heron. 

214. (.^) Ai'dea egrettn, Gray — Great white heron. 

215. Ardea virescp.ns, Linn — Green heron, poke. 

216. Nycteardea grisea, Allen — Night heron. 



362 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

217. Botaurus minor, Boie — American bittern. 

218. Ardetta exilis, Gray — Little bittern. 

Gkuid^e — Cranes. 

219. Orus canadetisiijTemm — S;u)d-biil crane. 

220. Grus amer/'mna, Tenun — Wbite crane 

Rallid.e — Rails. 

221. Ballus elegans, Aud — Marsli hens. 

222. Rallus virginianiis, Linn — Virginia rail. 

223. Porzana Carolina, Vieill — Carolina rail. 

224. Fulica americana, Gmelin — Coot. 

225. OaUinula galeata, Bonap — Florida gallinnle. 

226. Gallinnla mariinica, Lath — Pnrple gallinnle. 

Anatid.k — Ducks. 

227. Cygnus americana, Sharp — American swan. 

228. Cygnus buccinator. Rich — Trninpeter. 

229. Anser hyperhoreus, Pallas — Snowy goose. 
23*.'. Branta canadensis, Gray — Canada goose. 

231. Branta berniela. Scop — Black brant. 

232. Anas boschas, Linn — Mallard. Common. 

233. Anas obscura, Gmelin — Dusky duck. 

23-1. Querquedtda discors, Stephens — Blue-winged teal. 

235. Qnerquedida car/d-inensis, Stephens — Green winged teah 

236. Spatula clypeata, Boie — Shoveler. 

237. Chaulelasmns streperiis. Gray — Gadwell. Common. 

238. Mareca americana, Stephens — Baldpate. 

239. Al,B sponsa, Boie — Wood duck. 

240. i^M//^M^a- ?;i«>'?7a, Steph— Bluebill, shutfler. 

241. Fulig^da affinis, Eyton — Broad-bill, little black head. 

242. Fxdigula collaris, Honap — Ring-necked duck. 

243. Fuligida fernia, var. americana, Coues — Read-head. 

244. Fuligulavallisneria, Steph — Canvas back duck. 

245. Bucejyhala clangrda, Coues — Golden-eyed. Rare! 

246. Bucephala albeola, Baird — Butter ball. 

247. Jlisfrionicus torquatns, Bonap — Oarlequin duck. 

248. Erismatura rubida, Bonap — Ruddy duck. 

249. Mergus merganser, Linn — Sheldrake. 

250. Mergus serrator, Linn — Red-breasted merganser. 

251. Mergus cucullatus, Linn— Hooded merganser. 



histokt of davis county. 363 

Pelecanid^ — Pelicans. 

252. Peleeanus trachyrhynchus, Lath — Wliite pelican. Common. 

GrACULID.E — CoilMORANTS. 

253. Graculus diloplius, Gray — Donble-crested cormorant. 

LaridjE — Gulls and Tekns. 

254. {f) Larus mariiius, Linn — Black-backed gnll. 

255. Laws delmvarensis, Ord — Ring-billed gull. 

256. Gelochelidon aiiglica, Moiit — Marsh tern. 

257. Sterna hirundo, Linti — Wilson's tern. 

258. Sterna antrillarum, Cones — Least tern. 

259. Ilijdrochelidon larlformis, Coues — Black tern. 

CoLYMBiD/E — Loons and Grebes. 

260. Colymh'us torquatus, Brun — Loon. 

26L Colymhus septentrionalis, Linn — Red-throated loon. 

262. Podiceps holboUii, Reinh — Red-necked grebe. 

263. Pfodiceps cornutus, Lath — Hoi-ned grebe. 

264. Prodiceps C7-ista(iis,La,th — Crested grebe. 

265. Podifymbus prodi'ceps, Lawr — Carolina grebe. Dabchick. 

It will be observed from the above list that over two hundred and fifty 
different and distinctly defined species of birds occur in this count}', which 
are distributed among forty-six families and one hnndred and sixty-eight 
genera. The presence of so large a number— a certain per centum of which 
are migratory, and though sometimes tarrying, are not, properly speaking, 
residents of the county — is to be attributed to the extensive wooded sections 
within its limits, and the presence of a considerable stream — the Chariton 
river — which acts as a highway along which many birds migrate to or from 
high latitudes. 

It would have been a matter of deep interest, and perhaps of abiding 
value, to have introduced short notes illustrative of the habits and homes of 
many species. The limits of a work of this nature will permit only a brief 
extract or two from the highest living authorities on American birds, which 
it is hoped, may serve to interest some of the residents of this county in 
the study of their wonderful and beautiful avi-fanna. In tiic following 
notes, the figures refer to the numbers of the preceding list: 

No. 16. — "I was walking in a narrow path through a hummock, which 
lies back of the old fort at Miami, Florida, and had paused to observe a fe- 



3fi4 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

male of this species, when I heard a low warbling which sounded like the 
distant songs of some bird I had never heard. I listened attentive!}', but 
could make nothing of it, and advanced a few paces, when I heard it more 
plainly. This time it appeared to come from above me, and looking up- 
ward, I saw a male gnat-catcher hopping nimbly from limb to limb on some 
small trees which skirted the woods. Although he was but a short distance 
away, I was obliged to watch the motion of his little throat before I became 
convinced that this music came from him. It was even so, and nothing 
could be more appropriate to the delicate marking and size of the tiny, fairy- 
like bird than the silvery warble which filled the air with sweet continuous 
melody. I was completely surprised, for I never imagined that any bird 
was capable of producing notes so soft and low, yet each one was given with 
such distinctness that the ear could catch every part of the wondrous and 
complicated song. I watched him for some time, but he never ceased sing- 
ing, save when he sprang into the air to catch some passing insect. The 
female seemed to enjoy the musical etforts that were accomplished for her 
benefit, for she drew gradually nearer, until she alighted upon the same tree 
with her mate. At this moment she took alarm and flew a short distance 
followed by her mate. As I walked away I could hear the murmur of the 
love song till it became indistinguishable from the gentle rustling of the 
leaves around." — May?ufrd. 

No. 21. — "'Once when traveling through a portion of the most gloomy 
part of a thick and tangled wood in this great pine forest, near Mauch 
Chunk, in Pennsylvania, at a time when I was intent on guarding myself 
against the venomous reptiles I expected to encounter, the sweet song of 
this wren came suddenl,y on my ear, and with so cheery an effect, that I 
suddenly lost all apprehension of danger, and pressed forward through the 
rank briers and stiffs laurels in pursuit of the bird, which I hoped was not 
far from its nest. But he, as if bent on puzzling me, rambled here and there 
among the thickest bushes with uncommon cunning, now singing in one 
spot not far distant, and presently in another in a different direction. After 
much exertion and considerable fatigue, I at last saw it alight on the side of 
a large tree, close to the roots, and heard it warble a few notes, which 1 
thought exceeded any it had previously uttered. Suddenly another wren 
appeared by its side, but darted off in a moment, and the bird itself which I 
had followed disappeared. I soon reached the spot, without having for an 
instant removed my eyes from it, and observed a protuberance covered with 
moss and lichens, resembling the excresences which are often seen on our 
forest trees, with this difiference, that the aperture was perfectly rounded, 
clean and quite smooth. I put my finger into it and felt the pecking of a.. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 365 

bird's bill, while a qneriiloas cry was emitted. In a word, I had, for the 
lirst time in iny life, found the nest of a Wiiitei- Wren. * * * * Ex- 
ternally it measured seven inclies in length and four and a half in breadth; 
the thickness of its walls, composed of moss and lichens, was nearly two 
inches; and thus it presented internally the appearance of a narrow bag, 
the wall, however, being reduced to a few lines where it was in contact with 
the bark of the tree. The lower half of the cavity was compactly lined with 
the fur of the American hare, and in the bottom or bed of tlie nest there lay 
over this about half a dozen of the large, downy abdominal feathers of our 
common grouse, 2'etro urnheUusy — Auduhon. 

No. 95. — "Have you heard the song of the field-sparrow? If you have 
lived in a pastoral country, with broad upland pastures, you could hardly 
have missed him. Wilson, I believe, calls liim the grass-finch, and was evi- 
dently unacquainted with his powers of song. The two white lateral quills 
of his tail, and his habit of running and skulking a few yards, in advance 
of you as you walk through the fields, are sufficient to identity him. Not 
in meadows or orchards, but in high, breezy pasture grounds, will you look 
for liim. His song is most noticeable after sundown, when other birds are 
silent, for wliich reason he is aptly called the vesper sparrow. The farmer 
following his team from t!ie field at dusk catches his sweetest strain. His 
song is not brisk and varied as that of the song-sparrow, being softer and 
wilder, sweeter and more plaintive. Add the best parts of the lay of the 
latter to tl.e sweet vibrating chant of the sparrow {Spizella pusilla) and you 
have tiie evening hymn of the vesper-bird — the poet of the plain, unadorned 
pastures. Go to those broad, smooth, uplying fields, where the cattle and 
sheep are grazing, and sit down on one of the warm, clean stones, and listen 
to this song. On every side, near and remote, from out the short grass, 
which the herds are cropping, the strain rises. Two or three long, silvery 
notes of rest and peace, ending in some subdued trills or quavers, constitute 
each separate song. Often you will catch only one or two of the bars, the 
[breeze having blown the minor part away. Such unambitious, unconscious 
melody! It is one of the most characteristic songs of Nature. The grass, 
fho stones, the stubble, the furrow, the quiet herds, and warm twilight 
^mong the birds, are all subtilcly expressed in this song; this is what they 
are capable of.'^--John Borroughs. 

No. lit). — "The entire change of plumage which the male of this species 
undergoes twice a year is none the less interesting because it is so well 
known a fact in its economy. When the bird reaches the middle districts, 
fvhicb is usually not until May, the males, as a rule are already in nearly 
perfect breeding attire, but in the vast majority nf instances still show 



366 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

touches of yellowish on the belly and legs. At this period they are very 
conspicuous, associated in flocks, sometimes great in extenl, moving rest- 
lessly about tlie meadows and orchards, overflowing with glad music. Their 
number seems out of all proportion to tiiat of the females, but tliis is prob- 
ably due to the silent and more retiring ways of the latter sex. They really 
pass through, in the vernal migration, quite rapidly, though they do not ap- 
pear to be at all in a hurry, as we see them day by day. They throw them- 
selves in a field, scatter on the ground, feeding, and at the slightest alarm, 
or in mere wantoimess, suddenly fly en masse to the nearest tree, fence, or 
bush, and begin to sing, producing an indescribable medley, hushed in an 
instant only to be resumed. Sometimes they sing as merrily, though with 
less concerted action, while they are rambling in the grass. Their day-time 
leisure for song and food is easily explained; for they migrate at this season, 
almost entirely by night. Every night in early May, as we walk the streets, 
we can hear the mellow metalic clinking coming down through the darkness, 
from birds passing high overhead and sounding clearer in the stillness. By 
the middle of May tliey have all passed; a few, it is stated, linger to breed 
south of New England, but the main body passes on, spreading over that J 
portion of the Union and the neighboring British provinces, occupying in t 
pairs almost every meadow. The change of plumage with the finishing off 
the duties of reproduction is rapid and complete before the return move- J 
merit is made, although this takes place in August. As far north at least j 
as Maryland, I never saw or heard of a decidedly black individual, among I 
the millions that repass that State late in the summer and during September. 
The males are, indeed, distinguishable by their superior size and a sort of dif- 
fnseness of tawney coloration, not quite like the cleaner and lighter pattern 
of the females, aside from the black traces that frequently persist; but the I 
differance is not great. They are now songless — whoever heard bobolink I 
music in the fall? — they have a comfortable, self-satisfied chink, befitting 
such fat and abandoned gourmands as they are, thronging in countless 
hoards the wild rice tracts and the grainfields, loafing and inviting their 
souls. So they go, until the first cold snap, that sends them into winter 
quarters at once — chiefly to the West Indies, but also much further south. 
Thev have successfully rilled the role of bobolink, reed-bird, rice-bird, and 
butter-bird. As soon as the season relaxes once more in March, they will 
re enter the United States, and do it all over again." — Coues. 

No. Ill — "It does not appear that the cow-bird ever attempts to take 
forcible possession of a nest. She watches her chance while the owners are 
away, slips in by stealth and leaves the evidence of her unfriendly visit to 
be discovered on their return, in the shape of the ominous egg. The par- 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 



3G7 



ents hold anxious consultation in this emergency, as their sorrowful cries 
and disturbed actions plainly indicate. If their nest was empty before, 
they generally desert it, and their courage in giving up a cozy home results 
in one cow-bird the less. Sometimes, even after there is an egg of their 
own in the nest, they have nerve enough to let it go, rather than assume the 
hateful task of incubating the strange one. But if the female has already 
laid one or two eggs, the pair generally settle into the reluctant conviction 
that there is no help for it; they quiet down after a while and things go on 
as if nothing had happened. Not always, however, will they desert even 
an empty nest; some birds iiave discovered a way out of the difficulty — it 
is the most ingenious device imaginable, and the more we think about it the 
more astonishing it seems. They build a two story nest, leaving the obnox- 
ious egg in the basement. I want no better ]3roof that birds possess a faculty 
indistinguishable, so far as it goes, from human reason; and such a case as 
this bears impressively upon the general question of the difference between 
reason and tliat faculty we designate by the vague and misleading term, 
"Instinct." The evidence has accutnulated till it has become conclusive, that 
the difference is one of degree, not of kind — that instinct is a lower order of 
reason — the arrest, in brutes, at a certain stage, of a faculty I'eaching higher 
development in man. Instinct, in the ill-considered current sense of the 
term could never lead a summer yellow bird up to building a two-story 
nest to let a cow-bird's egg addle below. Such 'instinct' is merely force of 
habit, inherited or acquired — -a sum of tendencies operating nnknowingly 
and uniformly upon the same recui-ring circumstances, devoid of conscious 
design, lacking recognized precision, totally inadequate to the requirements 
of the first special emergency. What bird, possessed of only such a fac- 
ulty as this, could build a two-story nest to get rid of an objectionable 
deposit in tiie original single-story fabric? It argues as intelligent a design 
its was ever indicated in the ei-ection of a building by a human being. No 
question of inherited tendency enters here; and if it did, the issue would 
be only set back a step, no nearer determination, for there must have been 
ran original double nest, tlie result of an original idea. Nor is this wonder- 
ful forethought very rarely exhibited; considering what proportion the 
Lloiible nests discovered bear to the ordinary ones brought to our notice, 
anjong tiii- millions annually constructed, we can easily believe that the in- 
genious device is in fact a fretpient resort of the birds plagued by the cow- 
bunting. And how can we sufficiently admire the perseverance and energy 
iaf a bird which having once safely shut np the terrible egg in her cellar, 
.nd then having found another one violating her jjremises, forthwith built 
third story? She deserved better of fate than that her house should at 



368 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

last be despoiled by a naturalist. This was a suiainer yellow-bird, to 
whom the jjrice of passing thus into history must have seemed hard." 
Coties. 

No. 123. — "All jays make their share of noise in the world, thoy fret 
and scold about trifles, quarrel over anything, and keep everything in a 
foment when they are about. The particular kind we are now talking 
about is nowise behind his fellows in these respects — a stranger to modesty 
and forbearance, and the many gentle qualities that charm us in some 
little birds and endear them to us; he is a regular filibuster, ready for any 
sort of adventure that promises sport or spoil, even if spiced with danger. 
Sometimes he prowls about alone, but oftener has a band of choice spirits 
witli him, who keep each other in countenance (for our jay is a coward at 
heart, like other bullies), and share the plunder on the usual terms in such 
cases, of each one taking all he can get. Once I had a chance of seeing a 
band of these guerrillas on a raid; they went, at it in good style, but came 
off very badly indeed. A vagabotid troop made a descent upon a bush 
c'ump, where, probablj', tiiey expected to find eggs to suck, or at any rate 
a chance for mischief and amusement. To their Intense joy, they surprised 
a little owl quietly digesting his grasshoppers, with both eyes shut. Here 
was a lark! and a chance to wipe out a part of the score that the jays keep 
against the owls for injuries received, time out of mind. In the tumult 
that ensued, the little birds scurried off, the woodpeckers overhead stopped 
tapping to look on, and a snake that was basking in a sunny spot concluded 
to crawl into his hole. The jays lunged furiously at their enemy, who sat 
helpless; bewildered by the sudden onslaught, trying to look as big as 
possible, with his wings set for bucklers and his bill snapping, meanwhile 
twisting his head till 1 thought he would wring it oft', trying to look all 
ways at once. The jays, emboldened by partial success, grew more impu- 
dent, till their victim made a break through their ranks and fiapped into 
the heart of a neighboring juniper, hoping to be protected by the tough, 
thick foliage. The jays went trooping after, and I hardly know how the 
fight would have ended had I not thought it time to take a hand in the 
game m3'self. I secured the owl first, it being the interesting Pigmy Owl 
{Glaucidium), and then shot four of the jays before they made up their 
minds to be oft'. The collector has no better chance to enrich his cabinet ' 
than when the birds are quarreling, and so it has been with the third party \ 
in a difficulty, ever since the monkey divided cheese for the two cats." 
- — L'oues. 

No. 217. — "Mudie speaks as follows of the European bittern's voice: 
'Anon a burst of savage laughter breaks upon you, gratingly loud, and so 



HISTOEY OF DAVIS CODNTT. 369 

unwonted and odd that it sounds as if the voices of a bull and a horse 
were combined; the former breaking down his'bellow to suit the neigh of 
the latter, in mocking you from the sky;' when the bittern booms and 
bleats overhead, one certainly feels as if the earth were shaking." " * * 
Chaucer speaks as follows in The Wife of Batlis Tale: 

'And as a bitore buiubletli in the mire, 
She laid hire mouth into the water doun, 
Bewray me not, thou water, with they soiin'. 
Quod she, to the I tell it, and no mo', 
Mill husband hath long asses eres two.' 

Another notion was that the bill was put inside a reed to increase the 
sound; the truth is, of course, that the bird uses no means to produce its 
bellow but its own organs of voice. Our own bittern has no rude roar, but, 
as its name in most parts of the country denotes, makes a noise very much 
like driving a stake with an axe. It has also a hollow croak at the moment 
of alarm." — Endicott. 



PLANT.E.* 

WOODY PLANTS AND VINES. 

iVfj/Mr/w «(?c?'tf/fZt;«, box elder. Common; handsome. 
Quercus rulra, red oak. Common; e.xcellent fuel. 

Quercus nigra, black oak. Abundant; valuable; medicinal; bark astrin- 
gent. 

Quercus castanea, chestnut oak. Fairly common. 

Quercus maerocrapa, burr oak. Very common. 

Quercus Phellos (^f) ■w'lWow o?i\.. Valuable for fuel. 

Quercus tinctoria, yellow bark oak. Very rare; bark astringent. 

Ulmus arnericana, white elm. Common in bottoms. 

Vlmusfulva, slippery elm. Common; bark medicinal; demulcent. 

TJhnus alata, winged elm. Very doubtful, more eastern. 

Acer rubrti7ii,rbd maple. Rare; valuable in cabinet work. 

*]t is manifestly impossible to present the reader with anything like a complete list of the 
county's plants, since their nomenclature alone would require a volume of greater proportions 
than this. Three classes only have been given, the aboreous and shrubby — with a few climb- 
ing plants — and the medicinal, the latter including only the most common and best known 
varieties. It is a peculiarity of all science that many forms — small in themselves — rejoice 
in a nomenclature the length of which is altogether disproportionate to their size. Yet such 
IB the looseness with which popular names are used that identification is simply an impossi- 
bility, unless recourse is had to the proper botanical nomenclature — which is a sufficient 
ipology for the introduction of these technical names. — Miller. 



370 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

Acer dafsycarjnim, hard maple. Cultivated; valuable for sugar and fuel. 

Salix tristls. {/) glaucous willow. Common. 

Salix liicida^ shining willow. Very common. 

Salix petiolaris,\>et\6\^dL viiWovj. Very common. 

Salix nigra, black willow. Very rare. 

Salix longifolia, long-leaved willow. Very common. 

Salix huniilis, prairie willow. Not uncommon. 

Popvlus ti'eniuloides, aspen. Cultivated. 

Populus angulata, water poplar. Not common; a large tree. 

Populus monilifera, cottonwood. Abundant; tall and large. 

Platamts occidentalism sycamore. Common along streams; the largest, 
though not the tallest tree in the American forest; conspicuous by its 
whiteness. i 

TtZiiffl «M?.eWca?m, basswood, linn. Common; large. 

Juglans nigra, black walnut. Valuable in the arts. 

t/uglans C'iiierea, (f) butternut. Common; medical; cathartic. 

C«rya aZJ«, shell-bark hickory'. Common; valuable. 

Carya. glabra, pignut hickory. Abundant; fruit bitter. 

C'arija atnara, bitternut. Valuable for fuel: common. 

Betida nigra, red birch. Stately tree; mild tonic; common. 

Fraxinua americana, wliite ash. Common, valuable. 

Fraxinus viridis, green ash. Eare. 

Fraxinus sanihucifulia, black ash. Abundant; valuable for rails. 

Liriodendnn tidipifera, tulip tree. Valuable substitute for pine; very 
large; bark medicinal; diaphoretic. 

Gymnocladus canadensis, coffee tree. Rare; fruit peculiar. 

Gleditschia triacanthus, honey locust. Not rare; wood heavy. 

Carpinus americana, hornbeam. Doubtfully referred to the county. 

Alnus incana, black alder. Common. 

Alnus serrulata, smooth alder. Doubtful; rare, if at all. 

Cornusflorida, cornel. Abundant; very pretty; bark medical; a decided 
roborant. 

Cornns paniculata, panicled dogwood. Common; flowers white. 

P/nis toxicodendron, poison ivy. "Bangerous; easily recognized. 

Phus glabra, sumac. Common; poisonous. 

P/nis radicans, three-leaved ivy. Rare; poisonous. 

Rohinia psev.dacacia, locust. Fragrant; valuable; common. 

Samhucus canadensis, elderberry. Fairly common; edible; medicinal; see 
below. 

Corylus americana, hazel-nut. Very abundant; edible. 



HISTOEY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 371 

Spiroea tomcntofct, hackberry. Coinmon. 

Spirmi saJicifolia, meadow sweet. Yery common. 

MoQ'us 7'uhra, \n\\\hevvy. Common; edible. 

Ostrya virginiea, ironwood. Common along bottoms; heavy. 

EhamnuH C((t}iaftirU'<, ]iei-haps la)ieolatus,\i\\cki\wYV\. Common; medici- 
nal. 

CratiC(jas tornentosa, biacktliorn. Common; very tough. 

Cratoegus coccinea, white thorn. Abundant. 

Cratceytis virdis, red haw. Every wliere; misnomer. 

Amelaneliier caiuidensis, service berry. Common; edible; several varie- 
ties. 

Pnimis americrnia. v/WA ^\\\m. Abundant; edible. 

Cerasus pennsylvanica, wild red cherry. Common; edible. 

Cerasus virgiidca, choke cherry. Abundant; insipid. 

Cerasus serotina, black cherrj-. Common; edible, but bitter. 

Aescnhis (/laira,hi\(i\ieye. Occasional; fetid. 

Asimina triluha, pawpaw. Common; edible. 

Hosa lucida, wild rose. Everywhere; pretty. 

Rosa setiijua, early wild rose. Prairies; beautiful. 

Pyrus ioens/'s, wild crab apple. Abundant; fruit useless unless preserved. 

liibes rotund Ifol turn, smooth gooseberry'. Common; edible. 

Rihes cynosbati, prickly gooseberry. Abundant; edible. 

Ribes fioridum, wild black currant. Common; fruit insipid. 

Lonicera flava. wild honeysuckle. Hillsides; common. 

Lonicera grata (.^), American woodbine. Elegant, often cultivated. 

Ampeloj>sis quinquefolia, Virginia creeper. Common; harmless. 

Xanthoxylxmi americanum ^ prickly ash. Common; medicinal. 
Yilis cai'difolia , frost grape. Common; edible. 
Vitis aestivalis, river bank grape, abundant; edible. 

Ceanotlms americanus, Jersey tea. Abundant on prairies. 
Ceanothus ovalis, red root. Pernicious; abundant. 

Stajihylea trifolia, bladdei'nut. Rare. 

Anidrpha canescens, lead plant. Abundant. 
Vibui'intvh lentago, black haw. Common. 

Shepherdia argentea [f), buffalo berry. Fruit edible, scarlet, acid. 

Cercis canadensis, red bud. Common; used for dyeing. 

Amorphafructicosa, false indigo. 
Cephalantlnis occidentalis, button bnsh. 

Euonymus atropv,ipureus, wahoo. Fairly common. 

Juniperus virginiana, cedar. 



72 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

Celtis crassifulia, liackberry ('?). Common. 
Celastrus scandens, bittersweet. 

Symfhoricarjpus vulgaris. Common nearly ever^-wliere; perliaps two 
species. 

Ruhus oectdentalix. Common. 

Mubus viUosus. Rare, perhaps accidental; root-bark astringent. 

Menisjpernmm canadennis, moon-seed. In woods. 

Smilax rotund 1 folia:'' green briar. Common. 

The preceding list comprises all the trees, shrubs, and woody climbing 
plants known in the county. The major part of them may be found along 
the bottom lands of the ]irincipal streams, or along the bluii's of the 
Missouri Kiver. It will be seen that the county is well wooded with 
vai'ieties valuable both as fuel and in the arts. The varieties are many, 
but, as is nsual in wooded districts, a few kinds predominate. No attempt 
has been made to discuss the relations of i\\e flora to that of the remainder 
of the State, nor to point out the few species of plants peculiar to it. The 
design has been to present a list — with brief notes — of the more valuable 
and large plants, and it is believed the county's resources, in this particular, 
are quite fully represented by the foregoing catalogue. 

There is, however, one feature that cannot be passed without comment. 
The flora of the county is distinctively divided in that it comprises species 
both of woodland and prairie habitat, i. e., its forms are found in either 
the one or the other location. Associated with the trees and shrubs are 
innumerable herbs, such as are commonly found in low or in wooded 
districts, and are, in the main, distinct in hahitat from the plants of the 
higher and more exposed country. The prairie, on the other hand, is 
peculiarly rich in that order of flowering plants known as the Compositae. 
Riding across the country one may see thousands of beautiful blossoms > 
raising their brilliant selves above the grasses that would obscure their 
beaut}'. The golden solidagos, the purple asters or the brilliant puccoons, 
vie with each other in claiming the attention of the passer-by. In the more 
moist places is to be seen the pretty pennyroyal, and by its side blossoms 
the invaluable boneset. Who would recognize in these brilliant white 
flowers the nauseous mixtures our "ffrandames and aunts" were wont to 
prepare for us? To see the prairie in all its beauty it is needful that noti 
one trip, but many, should be made — and let the occasion suit the season,! 
In the earlier summer the omnipresent " nigger-head " — {^Echinacea pur- 
purea) — lifts its form as defiantly and jauntily, withal, as the "ox-eye"! 
daisy for which the meadows of New England are so famous. Then, in thel 



HISTOKV OK HAvrs COUNTT. 373 

valleys bloom the '• iron- weeds " [Veriionia fnscteulatd), while on the 
piaiiies the "rosin-weed" [Siljyhium lacinatum'), lifts its cheerful golden 
face to noil knowingly at you as you pass by. Here, there, everywhere, 
8ome beautiful blossom smiles at you, and awakens feelings in your heart 
that only a prairie^7/(^/'(^ can. What wonder our fathers stopped here amid 
80 much splendor — a splendor withal that marked the great fertility of the 
virgin soil. From early spring, when first appear the "Johny jump-nps," 
{Viola eurulh(ta). -AwA "bird's-foot violet," (F/o/a delp/u'ni folia), to late 
autumn, when the last aster and golden-rod succcnmb to Nature's inexorable 
laws, the prairie torms the botanist's paradise, [nviting, did you say? Aye, 
more than that, instructive in the highest sense, for here some orders reach 
a development unknown elsewhere on tiie globe. Here one finds the princea 
of the flower realm of Nature. Cunningly, wisely, and full of a hiddn,e 
secret meaning, a thousand forms look up into the faces of the pedestrians 
who, with repressed curiosity, and not quite willingly, tread tliem under 
foot. They are leaves of the great folio, marginal notes on the pages 
of the book of Nature, often and to many, and for a long period to every 
one, hieroglyphs whose deciphering would repay all the requisite toil. 

But very many of these plants have an infinitely greater value than that 
conferred by their beauty. Does some astute utilitarian mutter to himself, 
"Now you are getting sensible?" Wonder if he thi)d:s of this when 
making grimaces at some unsavory decoction his physician has prescribed? 
Wonder if lie would not rather look at than take them? Entering largely 
into the catagory of medicinal plants as do many of the forms found in 
this county it is deemed a matter of interest to the general reader to know 
their habitat, their abundance and their uses. The following list is very 
far from exhaustive, dealing as it does with only some of the most common 
or most easily recognized plants that possess a medicinal value. Where 
practical)le, that portion of the plant which is used is indicated, together 
with the nature of its action physiologically. 

CATALOGUE OF COMMON MEDICINAL PLANTS. 

Parmeliaparietiiia, common yellow wall lichen. Tonic. 

Adianinm pet/atnin, maiden hair fern. Common, astringent. 

Ycralum viride, white hellebore. Common in swamps; poisonous; an 

energetic irritant; not safe. 

1 Mentha canudensin, spearmint. Common stimulant and tonic. 

He'hoina puJeyoHes, pennyroyal. Common ; stimulant and carminative. 

VerbascHiii. t/iapsus, common mullein. Emulcent, slightly narcotic; the 

leaves are used. 
4 



374 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

Taraxacum dens-Jeonis, dandelion. Common; tonic and stomachic. 

Ewpatorium perfoliatum, boneset. Very alnindant; cinulcent, an emetic. 

Sanguinaria canadensis, blood root. Abundant; diaphoretic. 

Cassia marilandica, senna. Common; cathartic 

Oxalis stricta. Abundant; an excellent refrigerant. 

Limim ■usitatissiiiium,fi&\. Now naturalized; an emollient and deraul- 
cent. 

Cimicifuga recemosa, black snake root. Only the root used; it is an 
astringent; quite local and only in woodlands along the Missouri bluff. 

Tanacetum huronense. Doubtful here; tonic, leaves only. 

Polygonum iyxcarnatum, knot-weed. Abundant; roots cathartic. 

Dyaiura stramonium, Jamestown- weed. Abundant ; leaves and seeds nar- 
cotic. 

Samhucus canadensis. Common; the flowers are mildly stimulant ant 
sudorific; the herries diruectic, and the inner hark is cathartic and emetic. 

Solidago missouriensis. Common; the flowers reputed valuable in 
wounds. 

Gillenia stipulacea, American ipecac. Leaves emetic. 

Mertensia virginica, lung-wort. The root said to be a valuable expec- 
torant. 

Acorus calmus, sweet flag. Hare, the root; tonic. 

S cilia yraseri, sqn\]]. Rare, the bulb; diuretic. 

Arabia quinquefolia, ginseng. Rare, the root; tonic. 

Marruhlum vnlgare, hoarhound. A \yeak tonic. 

Geranium maculata, cranesbill. Root astringent. 

Sahhaiia angularis, American centaury. Febrifuge and tonic. 

Achillaea milleyolium, mWt'oU. Introduced; tonic. 

Cannabis americana, American hemp. Hynotic. 

REPTILIA.* 

TOADS, FROGS, SNAKES AND TURTLES. 

In the number and variety of reptiles the county is equal to any in the 
State. The dry prairies form congenial homes for the skinks {^E. septent- 
rionalis); its streams are the homes of several species of turtles and ba- 
trachians, and its woods and fields shelter a large number of serpents. Oi 
all the latter that are here listed, only two species, the rattlesnake (O. ter- 



*The classification adoptud is that of Jordan's Manual of Vertebrates, 2d edition. A 
close and more extended survey may add a few more species to the list. 



IIISTORV OF DAVIS COUNTY. 375 

gemina and C. horridus), are poisonous. Wliile local and popular tradi- 
tion arms most of the remaining, and especially the "blowing viper," 
{Heterodon simvs), with deadly powers, the fact is that without a single 
exception they are perfectly harmless. In the economj' of fanning they 
are beneficial, ridding the fields and gardens of many destructive forms. 
Of all the varieties mentioned in the following lists the toads and turtles 
are beyond a doubt the most beneficial to the farmer. The first rid him of 
many destructive insects; the latter clear his streams from dead and deleter- 
ious matters. 

OPHIDI A— Serpents. 

Reptiles, not shielded with an epidermal covering of imbricated scales 
which is shed as a whole and replaced at regular intervals; mouth verv di 
latable; the bones'of the lower jaw separate from each other, only united 
hy ligaments; limbs wanting or represented by small spurs on the sides of 
the vent — a transverse slit. Various anatomical characters distinguish the 
snakes, but the elongated form and absence of limbs separate them at once 
from all our other vertebrates, excepting the lizard Oj/heosam-us, and this is 
not in any other respect, snake-like. — Jordan. 

COLUBRID^E — CoLUBEiNE snakes. 

1. Heterdon platyrhirius, blowing viper. Perfectly harmless. 

2. Heterdon simus, hog-nosed snake. Innocent. 

3. Tropidonohis eryihr-ygaster, red-bellied water snake. 

4. " rhomhifer, Holbrook's water snake. 

5. " gi'ahaini, Graham's snake. 

6. Tropidoclontum kirtlandi, Kirtland's sanke. Pretty. 

7. {?) Stoieria occipiioinaculata, red-bellied snake. Doubtful. 

8. EuUenia saurita, riband snake. Handsome, small snake; rare. 

9. " Jaireyi, Fairie's garter snake. 

10. " proxima, Say's garter snake. 

11. •' radix, Hoy's garter snake. Determination doubtful. 

12. " sirtalis, striped snake. Several varieties. 

13. Pityophis say!, western pine snake. Seventy inches long. 

14. Coluber ohsletur, racer. One of the largest snakes. 

15. " vulpinus, fox snake. 

16. " efnoj'yi, Emory's racer. 

17. Clyclophis astivus, summer green snake. Splendid. 

18. Diadophis punctatus, ring-necked snake, also var. amabitis. 

19. {?) " arnyi, Amy's ring-necked snake. 



376 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

20. Ojjhibolun sayi, king snake. 

21. " doluUns, corn snake. 

22. " triangulatns, spotted adder. Harmless. 

23. " calligaiter, Kennicott's chain snake. 

24. (?) Virgiida elegans, Kennicott's brown snake. Donbtfiil. 

25. Carphophiops anuenus, ground snake. 

26. " vermis, worm snake. Kare and local. 

OROTALID^E— Crotalid SKAKKs. 

(These snakes are all renowned for tlie deadliness of their venoiu.) 

27. Crotalus horridus, rattlesnake. Deadly; doubtful determination. 

28. Caudisoma iergeiinna, jjrairie rattlesnake. Abundant. 

There is much doubt that Cortalus horridus, is found here. Tlie prairie 
snake varies so wonderfully that it is not at all sure but that some local form 
of that species is confounded with the wood-rattlesnake, which is more east- 
ern in its distribution. 

BATRACHIA. 

Cold blooded vertebrates, allied to the fishes, but differing in several re- 
spects, notably in the absence of rayed Mns, the limbs being usually devel- 
oped and functional, with the skeletal elements of the limbs of reptiles; 
toes usually without claws. 

The batrachians undergo a more or less complete metamorphosis, the 
young ("tadpoles") being aquatic and fish-like, breathing by means of ex- 
ternal gills or brachiae; later in life lungs are developed, and with one ex- 
ception, the gills disappear; skin naked and moist (rarely having embeded 
scales), and used to some extent as an organ of respiration; heart with two 
auricles and a single ventricle; reproduction by means of eggs, which are oil 
comparatively small size, without hard shell, developed in water or in moist 
situations. — Jordan. 

RAN ID.¥.— Frogs. 

Rana halcina, leopard frog. Common. 
" claiiiitan.s, green frog. 

" cateabiana, bull frog. "Well noted for its rich bass notes." 
" temporaria, wood frog. Variety. 

HYLID^— Tree frogs. 

Hyla versicola, common tree toad. 

{f) Hyla Piokeringii, Pickering's tree toad. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 377 

Acris gryllus, cricket frog. 
(?) CharophiluK, sp. 

BUFONID.E— ToAus. 

ft 

Bufo lentiginosus, American toad. Variable. 

PLETHODONTID^E— SALAMANDER6. 

Hemidactylium scutatum, four toed salamander. 
Spelerpes belineatus, two-striped salamander. 
Spelerpes longicaudus, cave salamander. 
Spelerpes ruber, red triton. 

AMBLYSTOMID^E— AiiBvsTOMAS. 

Amhlystoma opacum, opaque salamander. Handsome. 
Amhlystoma tlgrhium, tiger salamander. Coinnion. 
Amhlystoma microstonium, small mouthed salamander. 
Amhlystoma jmnctattini, large spotted salamander. 
Menopoitia alleghaniense, hell bender. Common. 

LACERTILIA— LizAKDS. 

Opheosauriis ve?itralis, glass snake. Tail breaks into pieces when caught. 
Cnemidophorits sexlineatus, six lined lizard. 

SCINCID.E— Skinks. 

Eumeces fasciatus, blue-tailed lizard. Common. 
Eumeees septentrionalis, notliern skink. Common. 

TESTUDI NAT A— Turtles. 

Cistud(t claitsa, common box-turtle. 
MaliicocleniDiys geograpjiicus, map turtle. 
Malacoclemmys pseudogcographicus, Lesueur's map turtle. 
Chrysemyn picta, painted turtle. (Not seen. Possibly, in local tradi- 
tion, confounded with the elegant terrapin. 
Pscudeinys tiooxtii, yellow-bellied terrapin. 
Pseudeiiiys elegans, elegant terrapin. 
Chelydra serpenthia, snapping turtle. 
Cinostxunium pennsylvanicam, small mud turtle. 
Trionyx ferox, soft-shell turtle. 

Few persons realize the numbers and beauty of many of these forms of 
life which are usually considered either dangerous or disgusting. They are 
often of surprising beauty and always instructive. Belonging, as they do, 



378 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

to the hifijhest branch of animal life — the vertehratn — though to some of it 
lower orders, they come to us revealing through their structure and structural 
affinites that long line of ancestry through which the highest orders have 
been evolved. They take us back, in thought, to those remofe periods of 
the world's history, when birds, reptiles and tishes were difficult of separa- 
tion; when each comprised in their structure some of the salient features 
of the other. While, perhaps, the structural resemblance of the modern 
forms is recondite or hidden to the casual observer, by the aid of forms 
long since entombed in the rocks the coiupetent student not only detects, 
but i)laces on them their proper value. It is said that ''there are sermons 
in stones," but with, perhaps, greater accuracy it may be said there is his- 
tory in hones. 

MOLLUSC A. 

In the streams of the county, and in its wooded districts as well, are 
found some of those forms of animal life that are rarely if ever seen by a 
people dwelling in prairie regions. These creatures are the mollusks, 
numerous in individuals, but comparatively rare in species. In all theper- 
rennial streams they find a cogenial home. The species, of both land and 
fresh-water shells found in the county, are as follows: 

FRESH-WATER MOLLUSKS. 

Unio* alatus — The winged unio. 

" 7-uhitjinosus, Lea — the ruddy unio. 

" coccineiis, Hill — the Saffron unio. 

" parvus, Barnes — the little unio. 

" litteolus, Lam — -the straw-colored unio. 

" tind'ulatvs, Barnes — the wavy unio. 

" pressvs, Lea — the flat unio. 

" ligamcntinus, Barnes — the ligament unio. 

'' gihhosus, Barnes — the gibbous unio. 

" ventricosus, Barnes — the inflated unio. 

" rectus, Lamarck — the straight unio. 

" mississippiensis, Lea — the Mississippi unio. 
2£argaritana* complanata. Banes — the complanate clam. 

" rvgosa, Barnes — the rugose margaritana. 

Anodoiita danielsii, Lea — Daniel's anodon. 
" grandis. Say — the splendid anodon. 
" ferussaciana, Lea — Ferrusac's anodon. 



*Vnio aiitl Margaritana both mean pearl bearing. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 379 

Anadonta imbecillis, Say — the sliglit anodon. 
Sphaerium striatinum, Lam — the straited globe-shelL 
" oecidentale. Prime — tlie western globe-shelL 

" rhomhoideum, Prime — (very rare) the rhomboid globe-eheU. 

Pisidium abditum. Prime — tlie hidden pea-shell. 
Limneaea reflexa. Say — tlie reflected river-snail. 

" h^iTnilis, Say — the humble river-snail. 

" decidiosa, Say. Abundant. 
Physa heterostropha, Say — the sinistral physa. 

" gijriim, Say, (var. last?) — the tadpole physa. 
Ancylus rivularis, Ilald — the river limpet. 
Planorhis trivolvis, Say — the three-whorled plane-shell. 

" campanulatus. Say — the llittle-bell-like-plane-shell. 

" parrun, Say — the little-plane-shell. 

*' lentus, Say — the smooth plane-shell. 

Melantho subsolidus, Anth — the somewhat-solid black snail. 

LAND MOLLUSKS. 

These forms are very tew, and none of them abundant. It is barely pos- 
sible that the great prairie tires of past years were the main agency in re- 
diicing their numbers. These animals are to be sought in the woods, in 
shady, moist ravines and may be taken in greatest abundance during the 
warm rains of S])ring. They are easily prepared, and when properly 
cleansed, make most beautiful — -though fragile — ornaments. Many of the 
smallest kinds must be sought under chips and decayed vegetation, and 
even then will be commonly overlooked. 

Helix albolabris, Say — white-lipped snail-shell. 

" profunda, Say — the deeply umblicated snail-shell. 

" altrenata, Say — the striped land-snail. 

" Mrsuta, Say — the hirsute snail-shell. 

" arboreus, Say — the tree snail. 

" pidcJtella, Mull — the beautiful whorled shell (^minute). 

" inonodon, Rackett — the one-toothed snail. 

" leaU; Ward — lea's land-snail. 

" clauMi, Lea — -the closed (uml)ilicus) land-snail. 
Pupa pentddoii, Say — the tive-tootlied pupa-shell (very-small). 

Many of these shells possess great beauty, but all lack the brillant col- 
oration of species that are found in tropical countries, or even in some por- 
tions of North America. There are numerous highly colored varieties on the 



380 HISTORY OF DAVIS OOIINTY. 

West Coast, and some few found in the Sontliern States. Only two of the 
above list attain any considerable size, the Helix albolahris, and Helix pro- 
funda, which sometimes grow to one and one-half inches in diameter. Fur- 
ther investigation of all the shells of this county will abundantly reward 
any interested person. 

MAMMALS. 

Time was when the pi-airies and woods of Davis county gave sustenance 
and shelter to many interesting animals among the higher orders. The buf- 
falo (Bison Amerlcaiius) once roamed here in countless numbers, and even 
now, in the marshes and morasses along the river bottoms their remains are 
frequently exposed. The American panther [J^elis concolor) once found a 
congenial home in its woods, but the coming of the white man, who wages 
a merciless war on wild life of every sort — has driven them to other and re- 
mote homes. The wolf {Caiiis lupas and V. latrans) is still occasionally 
seen skulking along the lowlands, the self despised remnants of a once nu- 
merous race. The fox ( Vulpes vulgaris and Vulpes velox) under its various 
names of "red fox,'' "silver fox" and "black fox," occasionally enjoys a 
"square meal" at the farmer's expense, and to the detriment of his hennery, 
but hunted in revenge for their depredations, and in desire for their pelts, 
they are rapidly becoming extinct. One animal still flourishes, the enter- 
prising nature of which is not unfrequently wafted to us on the "stilly 
breezes of night," to our disgust, and yet a most valuable companion to the 
farmer, the skunk {Mephitis mephitica). The French, perhaps, had suffi- 
cient reason to name liiin "?e enfanit diable,'''' but he is a great entomologist, 
if he does occasionally disgrace himself, and conducting his entomological ex- 
cursions by night, he rids the farmer of many a pest otherwise sadly destruc- 
tive. Notwithstanding that his scalp commands a bounty, the industrious 
gopher (Geomys bursarlus) piles his mounds here and there, all unconsioua 
of the legal care of which he is the recipient. In addition to the animals 
above mentioned, there are in the county the following: 

Putoriuo vlsou, common mink. 
" ermineus, weasel. 
" vidgaris, least weasel. 
Vespertillo, little brown bat. 

" Jioctivagans, black bat. 

" cinereus. 

Atalapha crepusculai'is, twilight bat. Rare here. 
" HQveboracaensis. Common. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 381 

Corynorhinus macrotis. Doubtful. 

Scmropterus volucella, flying squirrel. 

Scitirus niger, fox squirrel. Cornmon. 

" carolinensis, gray squirrel. Abundant. 

" hudsonius, chickaree. Common. 
" hudoviciayius, western fox squirrel. 

Tamias striatus, chipmunk. Everywhere. 

Spermophilits tridecemliniatus, striped gopher. 
" franklinii. 

(?) Arctomys vionax, wood-chuck. 

Zapus hudsonius, jnmp\n^ mouse. 

S eiperomys leucopus^ deer mouse. 

" micliiganensis. Common. 

Ochetodon humilis, harvest mouse. 

Ai'vicola riparius, meadow mouse. 
" austerus, meadow mouse. 

Synaptoniys cooperi. Cooper's mouse. 

Blarina hrevlcauda. 

Scalops anjenttitus, silver^' shrew. 

Condylura criKtata, star-nosed mole. 

Castor fiber, beaver. 

Lutra cdnadeii'iis,' otter. By tradition. 

Ta.cidea americana, badger. 

Fiber zibethieus, muskrat. Common. 

Erethizon dorsatus, porcupine. By tradition. 

Lepiis sylvaficiis, hare. Common. 

This list comprises the major part of the mammalian fauna of the county. 
Further study will correct it, perhaps, by the addition of a lew species. This 
simple enumeration of varieties may aid the future student in the deter- 
mination of the county's animal resources. 

THE RED MAN. 

The red men uf the forest, whom the Norsemen of the north, Genoe's 
' adventurer, the Gallic explorers, and Anglo-Saxon Puritans, found upon 
the Auierican continent, is a race whose origin and ancient traditions are 
yet matters of mystery. Theory and speculation have ofi'ered ns all the 
light we have concerning this wild, uncivilized people, who were thus found 
in posession of the North American Continent, as lar back as the tenth cen- 
tury, when the Northmen landed upon its nortiieastern coasts. 



382 HISTOltT OF DAVIS COUKTT. 

Since the Mayflower, in 1620, brought to Plymouth Rock, the advance of 
the Anglo-Saxon race, wiiich was destined to achieve the mastery of the conti- 
nent over its native occupants, and build up a grand civilization, though at 
the cost of conquest, and the probable ultimate extinction of the red man, 
it seems to have progressed. From stride to stride, as the increasing An- 
glo-Saxon race needed more of the wild domain of the Indians, he was 
pushed on to the rear, and tiius tiie rear has well nigh ended; and the prob- 
lem, which to-day, vexes the statesman and the philanthropist of the Nation, 
is the " Indian Problem.'' For over a liundred years its solution has taxed 
the genius of the Anglo-American people, and it bids fair to tax them for 
generations to come. His condition and treatment have, from time to time, 
awakened the sympathy of ])hilanthropists, and various humane plans have 
been devised to ameliorate his savage nature, and bring him under the in- 
fluence of the laws and civilized teachings. This plan novv seems to be the 
policy of the government, and will doubtless eventually be adopted. 

From the close of the revolution, and the treaty of peace with the mother 
country, the Anglo-American population increased rapidly, and reached out 
for domain, until about half a century — 1832 — -brought them to the great 
river of the continent — the Mississippi. Iowa then belonged to the lowas, 
and the Sacs and Foxes, whose^'original titles acquired by the right of posses- 
sion, were secured by various treaties dating from 1832 to 1842, which last 
cession included Davis county, and all their territory west of the Mississippi 
river. These were the tribes that once roamed over the prairie in the buifalo 
chase, and camped along the Des Moines. But in 1846, the last of them 
were removed beyond the western limit of the State. They left no tradition 
in this county for historical record. 

Should tiie younger generations of this mysterious race of people follow 
the wild footsteps of their ancestors, and extinction should be tlie final re- 
sult, the semi-civilized tribes of the Indian Territory will likely be the only- 
ones to perpetuate the race, which now number some eighty thousand per- 
sons. They were tribes from the Southern States. 

" Whether the red man has been justly deprived of the ownership of the 
New World, will remain a subject of debate; but that he has been deprived, 
cannot be denied. The Saxon came; and his conquering foot has trodden 
the vast domain from sliore to shore. The weaker race has withdrawn from 
his presence and his sword. By the majestic rivers, and in the depths of the 
solitary woods, the feeble sons of tiie bow and arrow will be seen no more. 
Only their names remain on the liili, and stream, and mountain. Tiie red 
man sinks and fails. His eyes are to the west. To the prairies and forestffl 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNIT. 383 

the liuntiiig grounds of his ancestors he says farewell. He is gone! The 
cypress and the hemlock sing his requiem."' 

Before the pioneers of advancing civilization had crossed the Mississippi 
river, a young chief was growing up, in the Sac tribe of [ndians, whose name 
was destined to become immortalized in the history of Iowa. It was Black 
Hawk, whose birth place was near the mouth of Rock river, in Illinois. 
He won his commanding influence with his tribe, and with the Foxes, with 
whom they were allies, in a great battle between those tribes and the lowas, 
in which he executed a Hank movement and surprised the lowas in a de- 
fenceless position, and massacred almost the entire village; the few who 
escaped, did so by swimming the Des Moines river and taking refuge in the 
Soap Creek hills, in the north part of this county. The commanding chief 
in this battle, on the part of the Sacs and Foxes was Pash-a-pa-ho, chief of 
the Sacs. This taste of blood, as well as his naturally vindictive disposition, 
rendered him a dangerous and deadly enemy to the early pioneers. It fin- 
ally i-equired the intervention of the United States troops, and volunteers 
from the Western States, and the loss of many lives, in the Black Hawk 
War, before he was completely snbdned. He was then for a while exhib- 
ited over the Nation as a curiosity, then settled down and spent his old age 
with his tribe on the Des Moines river, north of this county, and at his 
death was buried in the northeast corner of this county, according to the 
custom of his tribe. 

As there are contacting statements in circulation in regard to the death 
and burial of this great Indian chieftain and warrior, we shall give the evi- 
dence of this old settler, James H. Jordan, an eyewitness of these events, 
as the best evidence. He says: 

About the latter part of Aiiccust or the first of September, 1888, Black Hawk was taken 
dangerously ill with fever, and after the Indian medicine men had expended their skill and 
failed, then the old chief sent for his pale-face friend, Mr. Jordan, and requested him to send 
to Fort Edwards (Warsaw, 111 ), at the mouth of the Des Moines River, for a white physi- 
cian ; but before noon of that day, October 3, 1838, the fjreat chieftain was no more. Before 
bis death he requested his friend to select the spot for his burial and prepare his burial 
clothes. He was buried as he requested, on the spot where he held a council with the 
" lowas " (on section 2, Salt Creek township); and in the uniform presented to him by Presi- 
dent Andew Jackson: having solid gold epaulets, and a beautiful military hat with ostrich 
plumes. His sword a beautiful one, with a black morocco scabbard, thickly covered with 
silver bands, and three solid silver medals, one presented by the British (iovernment (with 
$-'),000 worth of blankets), to get him to join them against the United States: one by Presi- 
dent Madison, and one by Andrew Jackson, were buried with him. He was buried in Octo- 
ber, 1S38, by his family and friends on the farm now owned and occupied by Jas.H. Jordan, 
on the banks of the Des Moines River. The body was placed on a slab rudely hewn by the 
Indians, and set up in an inclined position, with the feet placed in a shallow ditch, and the 



384 FlISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

head elevated above the ground aljout tlu-ee feet. This was enclosed by setting two stakes in 
the ground with a pole across them, and slabs with one end resting on the ground and the 
other on the pole, making a roof which was then neatly soded over, forming a kind of vault. 
This was enclosed by a wide picket fence made by diging a trench four feet deep, and setting 
long timbers in it on end. Here the remains remained undisturbed till July, 1839, when the 
head was stolen, and the following February the body disappeared. On the complaint of 
Black Hawk's sons the matter was investigated, and the theft traced to a Dr. Turner, who 
then resided in Lexington, Van Buren county, who had sent them to (Juincy, 111., to be ar- 
ticulated. On the earnest solicitation of Black Hawk's family. Gov. Lucas caused them to be 
returned, and at his solicitation they were placed by the family among the Territorial Arch- 
ives at Burlington, where they were destroyed by fire, with a mass of other vahiable matter. 

The treaty in whicli the Sacs and Foxes ceded to the United States, that 
portion of Iowa known as the " Black Hawk Purchase," was made on the west 
side of the Mississippi River, where Davenport is now situated, September 
21,lS3:i, by Gen. Scott and Gov. Keynolds, of Illinois, commissioners on 
the part of the United States, with Keokuk, Pashapaho, and some thirty 
other chiefs and warriors of the Sacs and Foxes, and took efiect in June 
following. This treaty gave to the government a strip of land fifty miles 
wide, west of the Mississippi Piver, running north and south. This limit 
ran through the east part of the present county of Davis, and, therefore, a 
part ot this county was subject to settlement in 1833, but no advantage 
seems to have been taken of it, for a number of years by any one except 
Indian traders. 

Another treaty ceding to the government an additional strip of territory, 
was made October 1, 1837, and on the same date, in consideration of $100.- 
000, the Sacs and Foxes gave up all their territory between the Mississippi 
and Missouri rivers. The last treaty was made with the Sacs and Foxes, 
Octol)er 11, 1842, ratitied March 23, 1843. It was made at the Sac and 
Fox agency (Agency City), by John Chambers, commissioner on behalf of 
the United States. In this treaty the Sac and Fox Indians " ceded to the 
United States all their lands west of the Mississijipi, to which they had any i 
claim or title.'' Ey the terms of this treaty they were to be i-emoved from 
the country at the expiration of thi'ee years, and all who remained afterj 
that were to move at their own expense. Part of them were removi d to 
Kansas in the fall of 1845, and the rest the sjiring following. A great 
many of the old settlei's can very well remember these remnants of the 
once great and powerful Sac and Fox tribe of Indians. 

After the red men had suri'endered possession of the soil of Iowa to their 
Great Father — Uncle Sam — there was arenniantof tlie Pottawattamies whci 
refused to entirely leave their old grounds, and for several years, from 1S4£| 
to alxMit 1S.">4, they catn])ed along the streams in this county, under thel 



HISTORY OF PAYIS COUNTY. 386 

cliieftainship of Joliii Green. They were harmless and friendly; always 
begging, and always hungry enotigh for a hearty tneal, and however amply 
they were supplied, they never left anything ii])jn the table from which 
they partook; they would invariahly hide away under their filthy wraps 
whatever they could not devour. 

When curious visitors dropped in upon them at their wigwams, they were 
friendly, and especially so while their visitors' tohacco lasted. When the 
white settlers first began to vi.sit them, they would, when asked for tobacco, 
hand out all they had, whether it was a full paper or a wliole plug, and would 
expect when they had tilled their pipes, or taken a chew, tliey would hand 
back what remained. But this was contrary to their rule of social life; and 
instead, they would slily slip the balance in their bosoms, and wink at their 
red companions, at their cheeky trick, as !nuch as to say, " white man heap 
good." This trick was short lived, however, as their white neighbors soon 
learned how to manage them. Whenever they took occasion to visit the 
"hazy sons of the forest" ever afterward, they would take the precaution 
to cut their tobacco into small pieces, and thus avoid those wholesale levies 
upon them. 

The Indian is an inveterate beggar; and the white people devised a plan 
to check his too frequent calls upon this mission. They would refuse to 
give them anything, but they wonld otter to nell them what they asked for, 
upon tlieir promise to paij for it the next time they came. The next time 
would never come, and thus tiie white settlers would invariably get rid of 
the dusky beggars. 

THE PIONERS— THEIR SETTLEMENTS AND CAREERS. 

Pioneers are those who go before, and clear the way. They are usually 
brave, hardy and ambitious people, who are prompted by various motives, 
and governed by various circumstances, to break away from the haunts and 
associations of their old homes; whei'e, perhaps, civilization has outgrown 
them, and made them restless and discouraged in their efforts to realize 
their dreams of, and ambition for, wealth and distinction. They are not 
usually those who are settled in their eastern homes, surrounded with wealth 
• and the comforts of life; nor the children of those who have been reared in 
homes of luxury and ease. But they are those who prefer the free and 
.unconventional ways of frontier life. The rigid rules and usages of an ac- 
complished civilization are uncongenial to them, and seeing the opportunity 
'to build up homes of tiieir own, and mould social coimn unities after their own 
.taste and standard, they push out to the front. Airiong these are the chil- 



386 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

dren of many welUto-do people, but who are unable to "give them a start" 
in life, where they are. They, too, with brave hearts, and buoyant and am- 
bitious spirits, go fortli to build for themselves in the wilds of the frontier; 
to emulate the example of their fathers before the.m, whose industry and' 
economy had enabled them to rear comfortable homes upon the rocky hill- 
sides of New England, or in tlie forests of New York, Pennsylvania, Vir- 
ginia, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio, or upon the prairies of Illinois. They 
bade adieu to lion^es, comforts and loved ones, and pushed out for the land 
which the red man had surrendered for their coming. Tiiey select from 
the wild domain the acres upon which are to be carved their future homes 
and secure them to "themselves, their heirs and legal representatives for- 
ever." Rude abodes are constructed for the time, and frontier life com- 
mences. Neighbors are few and far between, but they become neighbors 
in the full and true sense of the term, who stand by each other in sympa-| 
tiiy and assistance, like true brothers of a household; sharing each other's 
pleasures and sorrows, they aid each other in their plans and purposes for the 
future. Buoyed with ambition, with the prospects and hopes of futurd 
prosperiety, they toil on. Their nigiits are passed in their rude cabins 
where they dream of the homes and comforts they have left, and of those 
their imagination picture for the future; startled to intervals of wakefulness 
DOW and then, by the howling wolf, or the tread of some wild intruder. 
Thus, the solitude of pioneer days pass on; and they toil on changing their 
primitive surroundings into productive fields. 

The first summer is past, autumn is at hand, and the single young man 
concludes to return to his old home and friends for the winter; and there- 
fore ]»laces his new possessions, Iiis future liome, in charge of his nearest 
neighbor, some miles away, who had come with his family — with his all, to 
stay. Witli gladdened heart, he takes the trail leading from his western 
wild into civilization, thence oa to greet relatives, friends, old scenes, and- 
one dearer still, into whose ears he uttered the story of hisfrontieradventnre& 
together with his hopes and prospects of the future. In these utterances 
she had a profound regard — a personal interest. With the the courage of a. 
true woman she consented to share his fortunes, be they where or what they 
might Winter passed with all its pleasures and delights with friends, and 
among the scenes of their young manhood and womanhood days. Prepara- 
tions being completed, and the nuptial ceremony pronounced, the happy 
twain leave for their future home — their little cabin on the western frontier. 
The two or three families which had gathered and foruied the settlement 
the spring before, were gladdened by the return of their young neighbor^ 
and lie and his bride were greeted right heartily to their pioneer liome. 



HISTOKY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 387 

Thoiigli toil and privations were theirs, yet tliey enjoyed tiieir new life. 
Crops were planted, improvements were iriade, and their new home soon 
began to wear a homelike appearance. Besides, it was their cnvn, aronnd 
which their hopes and aspirations were entwined, aud which nerved them 
to labor and gain for tliemselves tlie surroundings, comforts aud enjoy- 
ments, equal to, if not better than those they left behind them. 

This year brought additions to the settlement, which rendered it less 
monotonous, and social intercourse soon became cordial. Unlike that of 
to-day, there were no rivalries, no jealousies, no meaningless expressions of 
civility, no unkind criticisms of each other's ways or dress, and no hypo- 
critical manifestations of interest in each other's prosperity and welfare, or 
of sympathy for each otiier in their i-everses and misfortunes. There are 
ties of fellowship e.\isting between the pioneers of a settlement which are 
rarely disregarded — ties of common interest and common sympathy. They 
form u little empire all their own, so far removed from the conventionalities 
of social life in the older and more pretentious communities, that they are 
not affected by them. jS'ew arrivals were made welcome, assisted in con- 
structing their cabins, and were always lent a ready and willing liand,with- 
iout invitation, in anything that would add to their comfort and cheer them 
in their new homes — in short, they were cordially admitted to their pioneer 
brotherhood. In this brotherhood there was a common interest — an interest 
not peculiar to one frontier locality more than another, but in all such 
localities alike, from the earliest times of our country's settlement — from 
the landing of the Puritans upon the eastern shores of our continent, to the 
present time. There were grave reasons for these ties of brotherhood; the 
very nature of the situation created a spirit of unity for self-protection. 
The people of these new frontier settlements had come beyond the safely- 
established reign of law — where local civil authorities had not j'et been 
I'created. Hence, they must rely upon the law of nature — self-protection. 
This was their only protection in those times, and to make it effectual, it 
was essential for each one to have the friendship and good will of his neigh- 
bors. For a man to be in ill-repute in a pioneer settlement was general- 
ly more detrimental to him, than to be an outlaw under the civil authorities. 
Hardened characters often found their way into frontier communities — 
characters who had little fear of the penalties of the law; but, who stood in 
terror of the aroused indignation of a frontier brotherhood. 

Though this be but a picture of general outline of pioneers in their 

. frontier settlements, that genius of the forest,* who, for many years was a 

living e.xemplification of pioneer life beyond the Sierras, and whose songs 

•Joaquin Miller. 



388 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

•of Nature are unexcelled, gives a still more grapic picture of " The! 
Pioneer," as he saw him: 

THE PIONEER. 

Lo! here the smoke of cabins curled. 

The borders of the middle world: 

And mighty, hairy, half-wild men 

Sat down in silence, held at bay 

By mailed horse. Far away 

The red man's boundless borders lay, 

And lodges stood in regions there. 

Striped pyramids of painted men. 

What sturdy, uncommon men were these, 

These settlers hewing to the seas; 

Great, horny-handed men, and tan; 

Men blown from any border land; 

Men desperate and red of hand. 

And men in love, and men in debt. 

And men who lived but to forget, 

And men whose very hearts had died, 

Who only sought those woods to hide 

Their wretchedness, held in vain ! 

Yet every man among them stood 

Alone, along the sounding wood. 

And every man somehow a man. 

A race of unnamed giants these, 

That moved like gods among the trees, 

So stern, so stubborn-browed and slow. 

With strength of black-raaned buffalo, 

And each man notable and tall, 

A kindly and unconscious Saul, 

A sort of sullen Hercules. 

A star stood large and white awest. 

Then time uprose and testified ; 

Theypush'd the mailed woods aside, 

They toss'd the forests like a toy, 

The great, forgotten race of men , 

The boldest band that yet has been 

Together since the siege of Troy, 

And followed it— and found their rest. 

What strength ! What strife! What rude unrest! 

What shocks! What half shaped armies met! 

A mighty nation moving west, 

With all its steely sinews set 

Against a living forest. Here, 

The shouts, the shots of Pioneer! 

The rended forests! rolling wheels. 

As if some half checked army reels, 




;Mf/^i^^^ }7^^ 



PULASKI. IOWA 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTr. 391 

Recoils, redoubles, comes again, 
Loud sounding like a hurricane. 
Oh bearded, stalwart, westmost men, 
So tower like, so Gothic built! 
A kingdom won without the guilt 
Of studied battles, that hath been" 
Your blood's inheritance. * * * * 

Your heir.? 
Know not your tombs. The great plowshares 
'Cleave softly through the mellow loam 
Where you have made eternal home, 
And set no sign. 

Your epitaphs ' 
Are written in furrows. Beauty laughs 
While through the green waves wandering 
Beside her love, slow wandering. 
White starry hearted. May time blooms 
Above your lowly level'd tombs; 
And then below the spotted sky 
■She stops, she leans, she wonders why 
The ground is heaved and broken so. 
And why the grasses darker grow 
And droop, and trail like wounded wing. 
Yea, time, the grand old Harvester, 
Has gathered you from wood and plain. 
We call to you again, again; 
The rush and rumble of the car 
Comes back in answer. Deep and wide 
The wheels of progress have pass'd on; 
The silent Pioneer is gone. 
His ghost is moving down the trees, 
And now we push the memories, 
Of bluff, Ijold men who dared and died 
In foremost battle, quite aside. 
Oh perfect Eden of the earth, 
In (lopies sown, in harvest set; 
Oh sires, mothers of my west; 
How shall we count your proud request? 
But yesterday you gave us birth; 
We eat your hard earned bread to-day, 
Nor toil, nor spin, nor make regret. 
But praise our pretty selves and say 
How great we are, and all forget 
The still endurance of the rude 
Unpolished sons of solitude. 

Prior to the year 1843, the soil of Davis county belonged to the red man. 
Over it he hunted, and fished in its streams; and bv his camp-fires his peo- 
5 



392 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY 

pie danced and sang their songs, unmolested by the white inan, save now 
and then an invader within their wild domain as a trapper. But such in- 
vasions were speedily repelled, and the intruders driven back to their fron- 
tier cabins, with a menace that assured the pale-faced trespasser of severe 
treatment if his incursions should be repeated. 

Bat subsequent to 1843, this beautiful domain passed, by treaty ratified 
March 23d of that year, to the ownership of the United States. By the 
terms of that treaty, the aboriginal occupants were given three years in 
which to remove beyond the Missouri River. Hence, while Iowa was yet 
a territory, and after the red man had been forced on toward the setting sun, 
and relinquished possession of the territory now covered by Davis county, 
and in fact by all the State west, which he had occupied from a time to 
which the record of history nor tradition do not extend, the white man fol- 
lowed immediately upon his trail, and assumed possession of the coveted, 
lands. 

As early as 1837, a number of persons had located along the southern 
border, and within the limits of the present county, and they and their de- 
scendants soon became well known all over the frontier as the " hairy na- 
tion," on account of their long hair and general nondescript appearance. 
This nick-name still clings to the residents of the entire county, humorously 
applied by " funny " (?) journalists. 

James H. Jordan, also established a trading post near a village of Sac and 
Fox Indians, on the Des Moines Eiver, and in 1836, permanently located in 
the county at the place afterwards known as lowaville, his cabin being only 
abont ten rods from that in which Black Hawk died. Van Caldwell and a 
few others settled near the same place in 1839 and 1840. Van Caldwell be- 
ing the first man to whom the authorities of this county ever issned a ferry 
license. At the time Mr. Jordan came here, the chief Keokuk also lived 
in this county, about amile further down the river. 

James H. Jordan, is said to be the oldest living pioneer of Iowa, and ia 
the oldest resident of Davis county; was born in Mercer county, Kentucky, 
September 29, 1806, and is a son of General Peter Jordan. His early 
life was spent assisting his father and attending school. He left home and 
went to St. Louis, when it had only a story and a half tavern, called the 
"Green Tree," kept by the "widow Farish," and only four or five groceries. 
He was soon after licensed by the government to trade with the Sauks and 
Fox Indians, Governor Clark, of Missouri, issuing the license, for which he 
gave bond for $10,000. His trade with them amounted to over $100,000 
a year; buying nearly 60,000 furs a year. He was with Black Hawk, at 
bis cabin in the northeast part of this county, an hour before his death, and 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 393 

Black Hawk gave him liis sword, and was buried on the farm wheru Mr. 
Jordan now resides. Mr. Jordan located on this farm in 1836, and has 
lived there ever since. He here raised the first blue grass ever grown in the 
State. Mr. Jordan was married in 1838, to Frances Williams, at Colnm- 
' bia, Boone count3% Missouri. She is a iadj of more than ordinary intelli- 
j ire nee. They were blessed with three children; Henry C, Victor P., de- 
i ceased, and Sarah Hinkle. Mr. Jordan owns 1,500 acres of splendid land, 
I after giving iiis children 800 acres. He has a tine residence and is very 
comfortably situated. He is an Odd Fellow. His father was a near neigh- 
bor of Henry Clay in Kentucky. His son Henry C, was one of the first 
white children born in this county; that event occurring in the fall of 1840. 
Mr. Jordan came into tiiis State, as earl}' as 1822, and clerked six months 
with an Indian trader, then went into business for himself. He was a per- 
sonal friend of Black Hawk, and they built houses and lived near each other 
for many years, before his death. 

THE HAIRY' NATION. 

May 13, 1854, the first newspaper ever published in Davis county, was 
issued, and the first number contained the following article on the Hairy 
Nation: 

While on our way to this flourishin<? portion of Iowa, we frequently heard persons speak 
of the Hairy Nation; and being of an inquisitive disposition, we soon became anxious to 
know something about the location and peculiarities of the tribe of natives, (as we supposed 
they were) who were known by this cognomen ; and upon inquiry of some of the oldest citi- 
zens were given the following history. In the early days, of the Territory of Iowa a hardy 
race of pioneers, most of whom had fought in the Black Hawk war, settled in the extreme 
south portion of the territory and immediately on the northern line of the State of Missouri, 
so near indeed upon the line that the State of Missouri claimed them as citizens. There had 
been two lines run, one about ten miles north of the other. Missouri had such a title to the 
strip of ten miles lying between these two lines, as gave some appearance of equal right to 
her claim; and Iowa, with an appearance of equal right, also claimed these same 
settlers and the strip of land on which they resided. For a number of years these 
conflicting claims caused but little, if any, difficulty between the two claimants. 
As for the settlers, they claimed nothing but the freedom for which they had emigrated to 
the western frontier, to-wit: Freedom from the restraints imposed by the morality, the 
rehgion, the industrious habits, and the taxing proclivities of the old State.s. In addition to 
this freedom, they enjoyed the unsolicited and unexpected privilege of exercising the right of 
suft'rage in both the State of Missouri and the Territory of Iowa. For it was a usual occar- 
rance to see the acknowledged and authorized otticers of the two governments at the same 
house and same time on this disputed territory, open polls for the election of officers for the 
State of Missouri and the Temtory of Iowa. Ballots and whiskey were abundantly supplied, 
and the Hairy Nation (by which we mean the aforesaid settles) were solicited to exercise their 
undoubted and undisputed right of sovereignty in both the State and Territorial govern- 
ments. This nation of course could not and would not object to it, as they were in duty 



39i HISTORY OF DAVIS COTINTY. 

liouiul to secure the establishment of yood {,'oveniments tosnpercerle that ot tlie savage tribes 
they had just conquered. 

Thus things went on swimmingly, until in the course of human events the tax gatherers 
came around. Then was presented a state of things never anticipated by the Nation, as un- 
expected and unsolicited as the extent of their right of suffrage, and infinitely more ob.jec- 
tionable. A prompt and energetic refusal came then from the conquerors of Black Hawk and 
the Prophet, and in this refusal the Nation was .supported by a po wererfu I State and a young 
and ambitious Territory — each of which protested against the extortionate exactions of the 
tax-gatherers of the other. The consequence of these conflicting claims, these refusals and 
protests was, that the Nation paid no taxes to anybody. But affairs could not long remain 
in such condition, and after a few years, civil officers, acting by authority of the two claiming 
governments, undertook to exercise authority over the Nation. Some of these officers were 
arrested and imprisoned by the opposite contending governments. Now, ({reek had met 
Greek, and then came the tug of war. The Governor of Missouri called out the militia of 
his State, and Gov. Lucas, of Iowa, who had had some experience in this kind of warfare in 
Ohio, against the " Wolvereens," soon paraded the Hawk-eyes in battle array, and marched 
them to the scene of hostilities. It is not related whether these two hostile armies evercarae 
in actual sight of each other. Certain it is that liefore they came to blows, a parley took 
place between the contending governments, which resulted in their submitting their respective 
claims to the disputed territory and to the Hairy Nation in particular to the Supreme Court 
of the United States, for a final and conclusive decision. After this the two armies were 
disbanded, without any great battle fought or splendid victories won. A few years after 
this the Supreme Court decided in favor of Iowa; and the disputed territory soon became 
thickly settled by industrious and thriving citizens, in place of the Hairy Nation, who grad- 
ually left for regions where there is more freedom and less labor, more whiskey and less tax- 
paying than the State of Iowa was about to impose upon them. How these settlers obtained 
the name of the Hairy Nation, we could not ascertain, but conjecture that their naturally 
careless and easy habits led them to indulge their beards to the greatest length, until their 
appearance {prerious to the unitJersdl fashion of irearing beard long), suggested the name. 

John Lucas "Afas tlie first merchant in the county, sol liave been informed. 
He purchased tlie claim of John Bonebrake, about a half-mile north of 
Bloomfield, and opened a stock of goods in his little log cabin, the princi- 
pal ]5art of which he had brought with hitn from Fountain county, Indiana. 
In this cabin, with his family, seven in number, he sold his goods, wares, 
merchandise and " moisture " for several months. He afterwards moved 
into town and built a small frame house on the west side of the square; and 
still later a brick store house, which stood as one of the prominent land 
marks to remind us of " Uncle Johnny " and his eccentricities until the year 
1875, when it gave place to the magnificent bank block that beautifies and 
adorns what has been known for many years as the old Lucas corner. 

The first death among the white frontiersmen in this county, is a question 
upon which tradition gives many different answers, none of which are suffi- 
ciently supported by evidence to warrant an assertion. It was probably 
some poor adventurer, who died with his hoots on, and passed to the other 



HISTOKl' OK DAVIS COUNTY. 395 

world with no funeral eulogy or solemn requiem, leaving no record, no 
liead-stone, no tradition to tell his name. 

The almost insuperable obstacles which the pioneers had to overcome, and 
which were looketl upon by them as a matter of course, would appall the 
people of the present day; such examples as going to Keokuk and Alexan- 
dria for provisions, and to Keosauqua to mill. For a more particular iiis- 
■tory of tliese early pioneers, see the township history and biographical 
sketches. 



FIKST UNITED STATES LAND ENTRIES. 

Tile primary object of pioneers who determine to encounter the liard- 
ships and privations of frontier life,i8a home — a piece of God's eartli wliich 
they can call their own. Hence, among the first things they do, is to Im-ate 
a "claim," where the land is not yet in market, and await the time it can 
be formally purchased from the general government; which is done by ap- 
plying at the office of the United States land district in which such claim, 
or ])reemption, may lie, whei'e the government price of .$1.2.5 per acre is 
paid, and a certificate of purchase is issued to the pui'chaser — unless such 
certificate should be issued upon the presentation of a military land wai-rant, 
in lieu of money. At any time after such entry, upon the presentation of 
such certificate to the register of such land office, the holder, or Ids assignee, 
will be entitled to a ]iatent — which is the same as a deed — from the Presi- 
dent of the United States. This is termed the original purchase, beyond 
which no one need go to ascertain the validity of the tittle to his land in af- 
ter years. 

However, the laws of the United States, do not recognize anj' superior 
right in. those who made " claims'" to any of the public domain prior to its 
being surveyed, and in a public manner proclaimed for sale. The " claim 
rights," or laws, as they are sometimes called, originated with the pioneer 
settlers, as belonging to that class of natural rights which were unrecog- 
nized by the laws of the general government, and which were enforced 
through "pioneer club" organizations, as against all speculative or other 
intrudei's. These were the "preemption laws" of the United States, under 
which settlers acquired the exclusive right to purchase their claims over all 
others, after such public lands had been ottered for sale at public auction, 
and were not sold for want of bidders, or otherwise. These occupants of 
"claims" who liad settled and made improvements on them in good faith 
acquired the right, over all others, to enter such land at $1.25 per acre. 
Thus, in the pioneer days of Davis county, her settlers who came prior to 



39G HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

March 1, 1844, the date of the organization of the county, made their 
"daims " to snch tracts of the public land as suited them for their future 
homes, and maintained them through the force of custom as interpreted by 
the "claim laws" of the settler's clubs. Except a narrow strip some two 
miles wide along the present east line of the county, which belonged to the 
"Black Hawk Purchase'' of 1832, the United States acquired the Indian 
title of the territory covered by Davis county, and westward to the Missouri 
River, by treaty with the Sac and Fox Indians, made October 11, 1842, and 
ratified by the United States Senate March 23, 1843. By the terms of this 
treaty the Indians retained 2M.ssessio)i of all the territory thus ceded, until 
May 1, 1843, and the oc'cnj>anci/ of that portion lying west of a north and 
south line running through the central part of Marion county, striking Red 
Rock on the Des Moines River, until October 11, 1845. The government 
survey of the public lands in Davis county was completed about the time of 
. its organization in March, 1844, and the following autumn they were placed 
in market. 

To protect tiie pioneers in their "claims," club organizations were per- 
fected in every settlement, each cif which made their own laws for the mu- 
tual protection of each otlier in securing tlie purchase of their claims when 
the public sales should occui'. The way, and the law under which this was, 
done will be more elucidated in the chapter entitled "The Pioneers; Their 
Settlements and Careers," further on. The United States land office was 
established at Fairfield about 1843, wiiich included Davis county in its dis- 
trict. The following list includes tlie first entries made in this county, as 
shown by the record certified to the recorder of the county by James Thomp- 
son, register of the United States land office at Fairfield, Iowa, March 10, 
1856: 

Rozin Jordan, October 1, 1844 — lots 3 and 4, and ne qr of se qr, section 
2, township 70, range 12 west, 95.81 acres. 

Jetferson Jordan, February 22, 1845 — e hf of nw (j^r, and e lif of sw qr» 
section 4, township To, range 12. 145.10 acres. 

Henry W. Powell, March 29, 1845 — e lif nw qr, section 5, township 70, 
range 12, 64.54 acres. 

Samuel Mize, January 21, 1845 — nw qr, section 14, township 19, range 
13, 1 60 acres. 

William Miller, June 23, 1846 — n fr hf nw qr, section 1, township 70, 
range 13, 52.23 acres. 

Edward Miller, June 23, 1846- -e hf of se qr, section 2, township 70, range 
13, 80 acres. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 397 

Lafayette Bare, July 20, 1846 — sw qr se qr, section 8, township 70, range 
14, 40 acres. 

David Baer, August 6, 1846 — s hf sw qr, section 8, townsliip 70, range 

14, SO acres. 

Andrew Elswick, June 27, 1846 — e hf ne qr, section 32, township 70, 
range 14, 80 acres. 

Jacob Zigler, November 5, 1846 — e hf ne qr and sw qr ne qr, section 12, 
township 70, range 15, 120 acres. 

Samuel Robb, July 20, 1846 — se qr sw qr, section 17, township 70, range 

15, 40 acres. 

Samuel T. Adams, July 20, 1846 — nw qr sw qr, section 27, township 70, 
range 15, 40 acres. 

William McCormick, May 26, 1846 — e hf sw qr, section 1, township 69, 
range 12, 80 acres. 

John Wilkinson, May 26, 1846 — ne qr, section 9, township 69, range 12, 
160 acres. 

Fleming Mize, May 26, 1846 — se qr, section 27, township 09, range 12, 
160 acres. 

Gabriel S. Lockinan, Jul}^ 20, 1846 — se qr ne qr, section 7, township 69, 
range 13, 40 acres. 

Leroy C. Evans, June 22, 1846 — e hf ne qr and e hf se qr, section 30, 
township 69, range 13, 160 acres. 

George W. Lester, June 26, 1846 — se qr, section 11, township 69, range 

14, 160 acres. 

John G. Wood, November 6, 1847 — n hf ne qr, section 6, township 69, 
range 14, 84.17 acres. 

John A. Drake, November 3, 1847 — s hf sw qr, section 4, township 69, 
range 14, 80 acres. 

Charles M. Jennings, September 18, 1848 — se qr, section 1, township 69, 
range 15, 160 acres. 

John Hockersmitli, August 10, 1848 — ne qr, section 14, township 69, 
range 15, 160 acres. 

Lewis Rominger, Jul}' 2, 1846 — e hf ne qr, section 25, township 69, range 

15, 80 acres. 

William D. Smith, December 4, 1844 — ne qr, section 4, township 68, 
range 12, 171.45 acres. 

Stephen L. Sanders, June 6, 1846 — w hf nw qr, section 6, township 68, 
range 12, 115.38 acres. 

■ John Brown, August 28, 1848 — sw qi-, section 10, township 68, range 12, 
160 acres. 



398 



lilSTOEY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 



Madison Jackson Maskal, June 22, 18-16— w hf ne qr, section 1, township 
68, range 13, 82.52 acres. 

Ephraira Young, July 20, 1846— ne n\v, section 1, township 68, range 13, 
42.32 acres. 

David R. Wayland, July 3, 1848- ne qr and ne qr, nw qr and w hf, nw 
qr and se qr nw qr and ne qr sw qr, section 1, township 68, range 14, 161.4 
acres. 

Jesse Evans, July 20, 1846 — nw qr se qr, section 9, township 69, range 
14, 40 acres. 

Jesse Paterson, October 27, 1846— se ne, section 14, township 68, range 
14, 40 acres. 

Greenup Hopkins, September 8, 1848 — ne qr, section 36, township 68, 
range 15, 160 acres. 

Lewis B. Wayland, June 26, 1847 — e hf sw qr, section 7, township 67, 
range 12, 80 acres. 

Joseph Beauchamp, July 5, 1847 — w hf se qr and sw ne, section 1, town- 
ship 67, range 13, 120 acres. 

George Abernethy, June 29, 1849 — e hf nw qr, section 3, township 67, 
range 13, 80 acres. 

Samuel W. McAtee, September 5, 1848 — se sw, section 7. township 67, 
range 13, 40 acres. 

Jubel Dabney, July 20, 1846 — se ne, section 2, township 67, range 14, 
40 acres. 

Joel Fenton, June 26, 1846 — w hf ne qr, section 5. township 67, range 

14, 80 acres 
George and David Howell, June 26, 1846 — ne qr, section 17, township 

67, 14, 160 acres. 

Benjamin Blubough, December 28, 1846 — sw sw, section 4, township 67r 
range 15, e hf ne qr, and e hf se qr, section 5, township 67, range 15, nw 
nw section 9, township 67, range 15, 240 acres. 

Burgoyne Barnett, March 22, 1849 — ne qr, section 10, township 67, range 

15, 160 acres. 
Isaac Baker, December 10, 1849 — s hf nw qr, and n hf sw qr, section 12, 

township 67, range 15, 160 acres. 

There were 14,162.19 acres of the public land in Davis county, certified 
to the State of Iowa by the general government, for the improvement of the 
Des Moines Eiver, as certified to by Thomas Seely, register United States 
land office at Fairfield, April 2, 1866. There were also 1,520 acres of pub- 
lic land in this county, of the grant to the Burlington & Missouri Eiver 
Railroad Company, as certified of record by Thomas Seely, register United 
States land otiice at Fairfield, April 2, 1866. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 399^ 



COUNTY ORGANIZATION. 

Since the existence of nations, the territory comprising them Itas been 
sub-divided into snbortinate civic or<?anizations. First, the State or prov- 
ince; next, the count}', shire, parish or district; and finally, the township. 
In England the realm is divided into shires, the same as counties in this 
country. Under the present land system of that country, however, town- 
ship organizations would be insignificant, as one of the size of a congres- 
sional township in Iowa, would not often contain more than the estate of a 
single landed proprietor. In the colonial days of this country the English' 
system was initiated in some of the colonies, notably in Virginia. Mr. E. 
M. Haines, in his work on "Township Organizations," of Illinois, also gives- 
some account of the organization of the county system in this country. 
He says: 

It oi'igiiiated with Virginia, whose early settlers soon became hirge landed proprietors, 
aristocratic in feeling, living apart in almost baronial magnificence on their own estates and 
owning the hi boring- part of the population. Thus the materials for a town were not at hand,, 
the voters being thinly distributed over a great area. 

The county organization, where a few influential men managed the whole business of 
the community, retaining their places almost at their pleasure, scarcely responsible at all, 
except in name, and permitted to conduct the county concerns as their ideas or wishes might 
direct, was moreover consonant with their recollections or traditions of the judicial and social' 
dignities of the landed aristocracy of England, in descent from whom the Virginia gentlemer* 
felt so much pride. In 1784 eight counties were organized in Virginia, and the system ex- 
tending throughout the State, spread into all the southern states, and some of the northern 
states; unless we except the nearly similar division into 'districts " in South Carolina, and 
that into ' parishes " in Louisiana, from the French laws. 

Illinois, which with its vast additional territory, became a county of Virginia, on its con- 
quest by Gen. George Rogers Clark, retained the county organization, which was formally 
extended over the State by the constitution of 181S, and continued in exclusive use until the 
constitution of 1848. Under this sj'stem, as in other states adopting it, most local business 
was transacted by those commissioners in each county, who constituted a county court, with 
quarterly sessions. 

This system of county organizations has been continued and improved 
in the various American States, and is, to-day. more perfect in its workings 
than it was in colonial days. Its affairs are brought down closer to tlie 
masses of the people, and the system is more in keeping with our torni of 
self-government. Its landed interests are not in the hands of a few arioto- 
sratic proprietors, by wliom the count}- affairs are managed, but the soil is 
generally owned by the tiller, and divided among the people in moderate 
quantities, according to their pecuniary eircumstaiices and disposition for 



400 HISTOET OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

this branch of industry, who with every otlier male citizen has a voice in 
tlie general management of their county affairs. 

Davis county had the honor of being organzed by a special act of tlie Ter- 
ritorial Legislature, as follows: 

An Act to organize the county of Davis, and to provide for the location of the seat of jus- 
tice thereof. 

Section 1. Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatires of the Territory 
of Iowa, That the county of Davis be and the same is hereby organized, from and after the 
first day of March, 1844; and the inhabitants of said county shall be entitled to all the rights 
and privileges to which, by law, the inhabitants of other organized counties of this Territory 
are entitled to, and that the said county shall constitute a part of the first judicial district of 
this Territory. 

Sec. 2. That the clerk of the District Court of said county, shall, and in case there 
should be no such clerk appointed and qualified, or for any cause said office should become 
vacant, on or before the tenth day of March, 1844, then it shall be the duty of the clerk of 
the board of commissioners of Van Buren county, to proceed to establish, temporarily, six 
election precincts in said county, for the purpose of holding the first election in said county as 
hereinafter provided; and also give notice for the holding such election on the first Monday 
of April, 1844, by posting up, or causing to be posted up, three written or printed notices of 
said election in each of the election precincts so established, at least ten days previous to 
holding said election; also to appoint three judges of said election for each precinct in said 
<;ounty, and issue cirtificates to said judges of their appointment. 

Sec. 3. It shall be legal for the inhabitants of said county, at such special election, to 
■elect the following officers, who shall hold their offices until the next general election there- 
after, to-wit: Three county commissioners, one judge of probate, one county treasurer, one 
■clerk of the board of county commissioners, one county recorder, one county surveyor, one 
•county assessor, one sheriff, one coroner; one sealer of weights and measures; also, for each 
election precinct, two justices of the peace, and two constables, which officers, when so elected, 
will enter into the same bonds and be qualified in the same manner as is now required by law. 
That the returns of said election shall be made to the per.son ordering the same, within ten 
days after holding such election, m the same manner as is now provided for by law, and at 
the expiration of said time, or sooner, if the returns from all the precincts are received, he 
shall cairto his assistance two justices of the peace from either of the counties of Davis or 
Van Buren, and proceed to canvass the votes given at said election, and grant certificates of 
election to the persons entitled thereto. 

Sec. 4. Said election shall in all cases not provided for by this act be conducted accord- 
ing to the laws of this Territory regulating general elections. 

Sec. 5. That the officer ordering said election shall return all the books and papers 
which may come into his possession by virtue of this act, to the clerk of the board of commis- 
sioners of said county of Davis, as soon as practicable after such clerk shall have been elected 
and qualified. 

Sec. 6. That the clerk of the District Court for said county of Davis may be appointed 
and qualified at any time after the passage of this act, but shall not enter upon the discharge 
of his duties prior to the first day of March, 1844. 

Sec. 7. That" all actions at law or equity in the District Court, for the county of Var 
Buren, commenced prior to the first day of March, 1844, where the parties, or either of them, 
reside in the county of Davis, shall be prosecuted to final judgement, order or decree, in said 
court as fully and effectually as if that act had not been passed. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 401 

Sec. 8. That the county assessor elected under the provisions of this act, for the county 
of Davis, shall assess said county in the same manner and be under the same obligations and 
liabilities, as is now or may hereafter be provided by law, in relation to township assessors. 

Sec. 9. That Charles H, Price, of Van Buren county, Thomas Wright, of Henry county, 
and John Brown, of Lee county, be and they are hereby appointed commissioners to locate 
and establish the seat of justice of said county of Davis. Said commissioners, or any two of 
them, shall meet at the house of Noble C. Barron, in said county of Davis, on the first Mon- 
day of April, 1844, or on such other day during the said month of April as they or a majority 
of them may agree, and proceed to locate and establish the seat of justice of said county, as 
near the geographical center of said county as said commissioners may deem proper, paying 
■due regard to the present as well as future population of said county; and as soon as they 
have come to a determination, the same shall lie committed to writing, signed by the said 
commissioners or a majority ot them, and tiled in the office of the clerk of the board of com- 
missioners of said county of Davis, who shall record the same and forever keep it on file in his 
office; and the place so .selected shall be the seat of justice of Davis county. 

Sec. 10. Said commissioners shall, previous to entering upon their duties as aforesaid, 
take and subscribe before some magistrate or other person authorized to administer oaths, 
the following oath or affirmation to-wit: We do solemnly swear {or affirm) that we have no 
personal interest, directly or indirectly, in the location of the seat of justice of the county of 
Davis, and that we will faithfully and impartially locale the same according to the best inter- 
ests of said county, taking into consideration the future as well as the present population of 
said county; and the person so administering such oath shall certify and tile the same in the 
office of the clerk of the board of county commissioners of said county of Davis, whose duty it 
.«hall be to record and keep the same on file in his office. 

Sec. 11. That said county of Davis shall be bounded as follows, to-wit: Beginning at 
the northeast corner of townshij) seventy north, range twelve west; thence west on the town- 
ship line dividing townships seventy and seventy-one, to range sixteen west; thence south on 
said range line to the Mis.souri State line; thence east on said line to the southwest corner of 
Van Buren county; thence north with the west line of said county of Van Buren, to the 
place of beginning; and that so much of the first section of an act entitle " An act to estab- 
lish new counties and define their boundaries," etc., approved 17th February, 1843, as con- 
flicts with this section, be and is hereby repealed. 

Sec. 12. That the commissioners to locate said seat of justice shall each receive the sum 
•of two doUai-s per day while necessarily employed in the duties enjoined upon them by this 
Act, to be paid by said county of Davis. 

Sec. 13. That the county of .■Appanoose, and the territory west of said county, be and 
the same is hereby attached to the county of Davis, for election, revenue and judicial pur- 
poses. 

Sec. 14. This act to be in force from and after its passage. 

Approved, bith Feliruary, 1844. 

At the time of the organization of this county, the Territor}' was divided 
into Military Divisions by the militia law, and this county was placed in 
the fourth division, as shown by the following: 

"An act to amend the militia law so as to form a Fourth Division." 

Section 1. Be it enacted b// the Council and House of Rcpresentaiires of the Territory of 
loua, That the counties of Davis, Appanoose, Wapello, Kishkekosh. Keokuk, Mahaska and 
Powesheik shall form the fourth division of the militia of this Territorv. 



402 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 



I 



Sec. 2. That said division shall be divided into brigades as follows, to- wit: The counties 
of Davis, Appanoose, Wapello and Kishkekosh shall form the first brigade, and the counties- 
ot Keokuk, Mahaska and Powesheik shall form the second brigade. 

Sec. 8. This act to take effect and be in force from anrl after its passage. 

Approved, 1.5th February, 1844. 

Among the early lawtjofthe Territory was "An act to encourage the des- 
truction of wolvres." As part of it refers to Davis county, we will give the 
first section of it: 

Section 1. Be it enacted b/j the Council and House of Representatives of the Terrilorij of 
Iowa, That the boards of commissioners of the several organized counties in this Territory be- 
and they are hereby authorized and required to allow and pay a reward of fifty cents to any 
person who shall kill any prairie wolf not exceeding six months old, in their respective coun- 
ties, and the sum of one dollar tor any prairie wolf over that age: and for every large black 
or grey wolf, not exceeding six months old, the sum of one dollar; and for every one over 
that age the sum of two dollars, except the counties of Keokuck, Mahaska, Wapello, Davis 
and Delaware, which shall be required to pay one-half the amount aforesaid, and as much, 
more as may be allowed by the several boards of county commissioners of said counties. 

Under the head of "Earl}' Record Events'' will be found the name of the 
great wolf hunter of Davis county. 

By an act passed by the Legislature, in May, 1845, it was left discretion- 
ary with the board of commissioners, of Davis and a few other counties, 
whether they pay any one for killing wolves. 

FIXING TKRM^i OF COUKl . 

The legislature, in fixing the times of holding the District Court, in the 
three judicial districts of the Territory, in 1846 designated for Davis county 
"The first Wednesday after tiie fourtii Monday of March, and the first 
Monday of October. 

In 1844 tiie number of voting precincts in the county were enlargeil from 
six to nine, and in 1846, when the townships were organized, there were, 
fifteen, including three in Appanoose county. 

The records fail to show who the judges and clerks of election were in 
1846, when the townships were organized and held their first election, sa 
that it cannot be determined to which townships they belong, but the fol- 
lowing gentlemen drew the iees for sei'vice as judges: Win. D. Evans, 
Wm. B. Goddard, Joel Staley, W. W. Eankin, A. PI. Putman, Abram 
Weaver, Wm. Garrettson, Andrew Vance, Andrew Mclntire. Milton J. 
French, James Curry, Aquilla Conway, Robert C. Jones, Mark Noble. 
Martin M.Jones. Jabel Dabney, J. M. Parris, Bartlow Whitlow, Jaraes 
M. V(!atfh, Elias Veatch, John Wilkinson, Fvichard Fnlkerson, Samuel 



HISTOKT OF DAYIS COUKTT. 403 

Mize, Samuel Evans, B. W. Cravens, John Patrido^e. Samuel P. Rowland, 
Tipps Williams, Ts^ Cockilrcase, Wm. Helins, David R. Wedmore, Robert 
S. Wallace, Saranel Robh, Jabez Fanght, Aaron Wilkinson, Wm. Monney, 
Ephraim Sears, Abtier Dumnn, J. K. Stratton, Jesse Buck, Richard Hard- 
esty, Dempsey Stanley-. 

And the clerks were: Josiah 1. Earhart, A. White, John J. Shelton, J. 
b. Blanckinship, Delaney Swinney, Jeremiah B. Stark, Ephraim Young, 
Elias Wood, S. A. Evans, A. G. Doom, T. B. Myers, Harrison Morgan, Al- 
ibem P. Cannon, Pembroke Gault, Elias Yeatch, G. S. Lockman, B. W. 
Redman, Hugh Abernathy, Loyd A. Nelson, James, H. Cowles, John J. 
Worrel, Thompson Riley, Samuel Caldwell, Wm. Fanght, W. G. Perry, 
Levi Lose, Reubin Riggs, James McCarroU. 

At the June session, 1847, of the county commissioners, the county was 
laid oif into three commissioner districts. 

District No. 1 commencing at the northeast corner of the county, thence 
south to the line between townships sixty-nine and seventy, thence west on 
said line to. the line of Appanoose county, thence north on said line to the 
north west corner of the county, thence east to beginning. 

District No. 2, commencing at the southeast corner of district number 
one, thence south to the line between townships sixty-eight and sixty-nine, 
thence west on said line to the line of Appanoose county, thence north to 
the southwest corner of district number one, thence east to beginning. 

District No. 3, commencing at the southeast corner of district number 
two, thence south to the Sullivan line, thence west on said line to southwest 
corner of Davis county, thence north to the southwest corner of district 
number two, thence east to beginning. 

This was done for the purpose of apportioning three county commission- 
rs to different parts of the county, so that no part of the county should be 
fible to monopolize them all. 

TEEEITORIAL EOADS IN DAVIS (OUNTY. 

The first territorial road running through Davis county was established 
by "An act to locate a territorial road, from Farmiiigton, in Yan Buren 
sounty, to Autumwa in Wapello county." 

Skction 1. Be it enacted hi) the Council and House of Representatives of the Ten-itoyi/ of 
Iowa, That Jobii Goddard and Jesse Wright, of Van Buren county, and Van Caldwell, of 
Wapello county, be and they are hereby appointed commissioners to locate and mark a terri- 
lorial road, commencing at Farmington, in Van Buren county; thence, via Hartford and 
Grreen's Mill, in said county, Woods' Mill in Davis county, to Autumwa in Wapello county. 

Sec. 2. Said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall meet at Farmington, in Van 



404 HISTORY OF UAVIS COUNTY. 

Buren county, on the first Tuesday in April next, or at some convenient time within three- 
months thereafter, and proceed to locate and mark said road as above designated. 

Sec. 3. Said commi.ssioners shall, in locating said road, take into consideration the inter- 
ests of th(! citizens on said road, as well as the general good of the public, in locating said 
road; and for their services, together with hands employed m locating said road, the compen- 
sation allowed by law for their services, to be allowed and paid out of the . county treasury 
of each county through which said road passes, in proportion to the length of said road. 

Approved, 19th December, 1848. 

Tlie next appears to be the following: 

An act to establish a Territorial road from lowaville, on the Des Moines River, to the 
Missouri line at the point where the Mormon trace crosses said line. 

Sec. 1. Be it enacted, etc.. That Robert Merchant, Levin N. English, of Davis county, 
and John Jordan, of Van Buren county, be and they are hereby appointed commissioners to 
locate a Territorial road from lowaville, on the Des Moines, ri'a the residence of Wm. Wood- 
en and L. N. Knglish, to the point on the line of the State of Missouri, where the Mormon 
trace crosses said line. 

Balance, in substance same as the preceding. Approved, 5th February^ 
1844. 

The old, original field notes and plot of the survey of this road, we found -■ 
among a lot of waste paper. It is so old that the ink has almost mouldered 
away, and the paper has to be handled with great care, to prevent it falling 
to pieces; as near as it can be made out, it reads as follows: 

A plot and notes of a Territorial road running from lowaville, in Van Buren county. L 
T., through Davis and Apenoos counties to the line of the State of Missouri where the Mor- 
mon trace crosses said line, which was received by L. N. English and Robert Merchant, of 
Davis County, and James Jorden of Van Buren county, and surveyed by F. C. Humble, of 
Davis county, giving the distances, bearings, and width of timber, streams, etc. 

The whole distance of the whole road is fifty-two miles, this plot commencing at the Davis- c 
county line. Said survey was finished on the 19th day of July 1844. \ 

Then commences four pages of notes, of which the following is the com- 
mencement : 

184 rods — 25 degrees West of South. 
81 rods 25 degrees West of South. 

55 rods 2 degrees North of West, etc. 

* * * ****** 

The hole distance in Davis county is thirty miles and 110 rods. 

James Joudan, ) 

Robert Meiichant, *• [L. S.] 
L. N. English. ) 

The next one is a Territorial road from the southern line of Davis coun- 
ty to the northern line of Wapello county. The county seats in said 
counties to be points on said road. Hugh George and John Kirkpatrick, 
of Wapello county, and Loyd A. Nelson, of Davis county, were the com- 
missioners. Approved, 12th, February, 1844. 



UISTOET OF DAVIS COUNTY. 405 

The next, is one from Keosauqua, in Van Buren county, to the western 
line of Appanoose county. The county seats of Davis and Appanoose 
counties, to be points on the line of said road. Samuel Morton, St. Clair 
GrifBn and John Arrowsmith, commissioners. Approved, 14th February, 
1844. 

The people must have forgotten that they had a road from Bloomfield to 
Otturawa, as above mentioned, as the legislature, in the winter of 1845, ap- 
pointed Loyd A. Nelson and liiley Macy, of Davis county, and Kichard 
Fisher, of Wapello county, to locate a road from Ottumwa, to Bloomfield, 
to be confined, as near as possible to the township line, between ranges thir- 
teen and fourteen. 

The report, and order of establishment, of the road from Keosauqua, 
through the center of Davis and Appanoose counties, is recorded in the 
first supervisor's record of the county, on page 34. No reports or orders, 
n regard to the other roads we mention, can be found, and even those 
that are recorded, give no idea of the route, location, or topography, and^ 
the original field notes being " non est," the only way ta locate them is by 
tradition. 

MAIL KOUTE. 

In the winter of 1843-44, the territorial legislature passed a joint 
resolution (No. 8), requesting the Iowa delegate in congress, to use his 
exertions to obtain the establishment of some weekly mail routes, among 
the number, one from Fo.x Post Office, in Van Buren county; thence to 
Davis Court House; thence to the center of Appanoose county. 

General Agustus Cffizar Dodge, was the delegate, and no doubt he 
pushed it through. 

CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION. 

At an extra session in May, 1844, the territorial legislature passed the 
following act, which gave Davis county two delegates in the constitutional 
convention, of 1844. 

An act to amend " An act to provide for the expression of the opinion of the people of the 
Territory of Iowa, upon the subject of the formation of a State Constitution for the State of 
Iowa." 

Sec. 1. Be it enacted etc., That the fifth section of the act to which this act is amenda- 
tory, be so amended as to read that said convention shall consist of seventy-three members, 
and that the counties of Davis, Wapello, and Mahaska shall each be entitled to two mem- 
bers of said convention. 

Approved, 19th June, 1844. 



406 IIISTOEY OF DAVIS COtTKTV. 

By an act calling a convention, to meet the first Monday in May, 1846, 
to adopt a State Constitution, approved, January 17tli, 1846, Davis coun- 
ty is awarded one delegate. 

There was a joint resolution passed at this extra session, to furnish Davis 
county with fifty copies of tlie session laws of the legislature, in 184-2-43. 
The county auditor has one of them now, preserved — whether there are 
any more of them left in the county is doubtful. In 1846, this county was 
allowed seventy copies. 



EARLY COURTS AND JUDGES. 

Next following the organization of a county, courts of justice are an es- 
sential element in the administration of its civic aflFairs. From the earliest 
periods of all civilizations, they have been the arbiter of human conflicts 
and human diflerences, thetriliunal which guards public and jirivate rights, 
and redresses public and private wrongs. Through them the rules and 
laws made for the regulation of human society are shielded from violation, 
and the social compacts of communities. States and Nations, are thus 
guarded and protected in tlieir grand achievements of civilization. The 
several courts heretofore, and now existing in Iowa, differ in grade and jur- 
' isdiction mainly. 

The first District Court of the United States in and for Davis county 
Iowa Territory, was held at Bloomfield on the 23rd day of September, 1844. 
Present the Hon. Charles Mason, Judge; L. D. Stockton, district prose- 
cutor; Stiles S. Carpenter, clerk, and John Leiler. deputy U. S. Marshal. 
No regular jurors being in attendance, the Sheriff was commanded to 
summon twenty-four men for a petit jury, and the following men were sum- 
moned: 

Wm. Bonebrake, Joshua Cocklerease, Wm. Maize, Frederick Atchison, 
Albert M. Hathaway, Leven English, John Ellis, James Phillpot, Fleming 
Mize, John Banta, Abraham Weaver, John Bragg, Anderson Willis, Philip 
Humble, Joseph Carter Greenberry Willis, Isaac Atterberr}', Samuel Starr, 
Wm. T. Johnson, Geo. W. Lester, Robert Merchant, and Nathaniel Ham. 

In June, 1846, Charles Mason was succeeded in the judgeship by Cj'rus 
Olney. S. S. Carpenter became district attorney and Abram Weaver be- 
came clerk. 

In September, 1851, Cyrus Olney was succeeded by Joseph C. Knapp, 
as judge, Abram Weaver remaining clerk, and S. W. McAtee, sheriff. 

In September, 1852, Joseph C. Knapp was succeeded by Wm. H. Seev- 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 407 

ers, wlio is now one of the Supreme Judges of the State. Wm. Cameron 
became clerk, McAtee remaining sheriff. 

In September, 1854, Daniel Sloan became clerk and William S. Martin 
sheriff. 

In March, J 856, Wm. H. Seevers was succeeded by Caleb Baldwin; Dan- 
iel Sloan remaining clerk, Wm. S. Ficklin being prosecuting attornej' and 
Stephen C. Crawford sheriff. 

In October, 1856, Caleb Baldwin was succeeded by H. B. Hendershott; 
Norman W. Cook, clerk; Harvey Dunlavey, prosecuting attorney; S. C. 
Crawford, sheriff. 

H. B. Hendershott held the office until the Ninth and Third judicial dis- 
tricts were united in ]S62, and made into one district, the Second. He then 
became a candidate for the judgeship of then nited district, but was defeated 
by Hon. John S. Townsend, of Albia, who had lieen the judge of the Ninth 
district. 

Judge Townsend served one year, being succeeded in January, 1863, 
by Hon. Hetiry H. Trimble, of Davis county. 

In January, 1867, Judge Trimble was succeeded by Henry Tannehill, of 
Appanoose county, who was succeeded in turn by Hon. M. J. Williams, of 
Wapello county, in January, 1871. 

In 1874 Hon. J. C. Knapp succeeded Judge Williams. 

In 1879 Hon. E. L. Burton, of Wapello county, became the judge, and 
is now the incumbent. 

The first proof of heirship is found at the March term, 1846, of the Dis- 
trict Dourt, as follows: 

In the matter of tue heirs op / 
Richard W. Owinos, deceaseb. ) 

And now comes Douglas C. Owings and Harrison Boon Owings and made proof in open 

court here of the following facts, to-wit: That Richard W. Owings was the son of George 

and Ann Owings and was born April 26th 1786 that the said Richard W. Owings married 

Hannah Creath daughter of William and Margaret Creath, March 31st 1814, that the said 

Hannah afterwards and while the wife of the said Richard W. Owings had seven children 

bom in lawful wedlock, children of the said Richard W. Owings, to-wit: Dye Owings, born 

December 25th 1814, who died on the 23d day of March, 1836, and Douglass C. Owings, who 

was born September 14th 1817, and is now living, and Nelson Owings who was bom January 

7th 1820, and died September 4th 1823, and George Ann Owings who was born June 2nd, 

1822, and died August 6th 1822, and Perry Owings, who was bom August 3rd 1823, and is 

now living, and William C. Owings who was born August 6th 182-5, who died November 23rd 

1825, and Harrison Boon Owings, who was born February 4th 1827, and is now living; and 

also made further proof in open court that the said Richard W. Owings died February 19th 

1828, and that the said Hannah wife of said Richard W. Owings died the widow of the said 

Richard W. Owings on or about August 1st 1833, and that the above named children are all 

that the said Richard W. Owing ever had. 

6 



408 HISTORY OF DA.VIS COUNTY. 



FIRST MURDER CASE. 



The first murder case in the cosintj was on February 14th, 1854, John 
W. Davis being the defendant. A change of venue was taken to Wapello, 
and dont know what became of it. 

The next murder case was the State of Iowa vs. R. E. Bonner, in Sept- 
ember, 1854, which was continued three terms and then a cliange of venue 
taken to Wapello county. 

The next indictment for murder was the State of Iowa vs. Ilinton Wil- 
liam Smith Henkle, in October, 1856. This case also went the same road, 
to Wapelo county (see criminal history). 

The next murder case is State vs. F. M. West, in May term, 1869, and 
in November changed to Van Buren county. 

FIRST DIVORCE CASE. 

The first divorce case in Davis county was John Garman vs. Caroline 
Garinan, in the United States District Court, in and for Davis county, 
Iowa Territory. Drecree rendered for plaintiff September 25th, 1845. 
The ground on which divorce was granted cannot be ascertained from 
the record. 

One of the first indictments was the United States vs. Jonathan K'ggs, 
for accepting an office from the State of Missouri, and another for exercising 
the office of sheriff without authority. This was in 1845. These cases 
were continued from term to term until October, 1847, when they were dis- 
missed, the public prosecutor refusing to prosecute them any further. 

FIRST GRAND JURY. 

The first grand jury of which any record can be found was at the June 
term of the District Court, 1847. The following are their names and the 
amount allowed for their services, and also the names of the petit jury at 
the same term: 

James Childs 15.80 

Samuel Wells. 5.32 

B. W. Craven 6.04 

Joel Fenton 5.80 

Samuel Robb 6.04 

H ngh Abernethy 5.96 

Wm. Striklin 5.48 

Adam Nutt 5.80 



HISTOKY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 409 

Josiah C. Shuck 5.72 

D. G. Maize 5.28 

George Snell 5.80 

Austin Can- 5.40 

Samuel Evans 5.40 

David Mendenhall 5.12 

Milton J. French 5.00 

Joel Staley 5.00 

Fleming Mize 5.00 

Thomas Summerlin, bailiff 5.00 

NAMES OF PETIT JUKORS. 

James Brooks, James Ware, C. M. Jennings, R. W. Davis, I. Atteberry, 
Abraham Floyd, A. D. Williamson, Samuel Swearingen, T. S. Richardson, 
Delaney Swaney, C. W. Sevier, Jolinathan Sheilds, A. Wliite, Jas. H. Par- 
ris, Alfred Colier, Thos. Bare, Nelson Morris, Evan C. Evans, G. S. Lock- 
man, Wm. Garretson, John A. White, Bartlet Whitlow, Henry C. Smith, 
John Wood, James Haskins, bailiff. 

CIRCUIT COURT. 

Davis county became part of the first circuit, of the Second judicial dis- 
trict, when Circuit Courts were first organized, and the first term was held at 
Bloomfield, February 24th, 1869. Hon. Robert Sloan, judge, presiding. 
Judge Sloan continued to hold the office, until 1881. The First and Second 
circuits were consolidated in 1872. 

In 18S1, Judge Sloan was succeeded by Hon. H. C. Traverse, of Davis 
county, who still holds the office. The first case in the Circuit Court of this 
county was, A. G. Adams vs. Chas. Ingalls, debt, in which judgment was 
rendered against defendant for $237.08, and costs $4.15. 

The Probate Court was established in Davis county by the appointment 
of Miles Tatlock as judge, in 1844. The first record of that court is as 
follows: 

Estate of Willis Forquerean. Know all men by the these presents that we Crittington 
Forquei-ean, Wm. Hendricks, John Fincher of Davis county and Territory of Iowa, are held 
and firmly bound unto Miles Tatlock, .Judge of Probate of said county, and his successor in 
office in the penal sum of one hundred and sixty dollars, good and lawful money of the Uni- 
ted States, which payment well and truly to be made, and performed, and we each of us 
bind ourselves, our heirs, executors or administrators, jointly, severally, jointly and severally 
by these presents. 

Witness our hands and seals this second day of September A. D. 1844. 

The conditions of the above obligation is such that, whereas, the above named Crittington 



410 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

rorquerean has tins day taken out letters of administration on the estate of Willis Forquer- 
ean deceased, late of said county. Now if the said Crittington Forquerean will ijiake and 
return to the Probate Court within three months a true inventory of all the real estate and all 
goods, chatties, rights and credits of the said Willis Forquerean, and which are by law to be 
administered, and which shall come to his possession or knowledge to administer according 
to law on all the goods, chatties, rights and credits, and the proceeds of all this real estate 
that may be sold for the payment of his debts which shall come unto his possession at any 
time. To render upon oath a just account of his administration within one year and at any 
time when required by the Judge of Probate, then this obligation is to be void, otherwise to re- 
main in full force and virtue in law. 

CKrTTIK(iT(;N FOKCJUEHEAN, (Seal.) 

WiLLTAM Hendrick-s, (Seal.) 
John Finch kh. (Seal.) 
Examined and approved by me this the 2nd day of September, A. D. 1844. 

MlI,ES Tatlock, 

Judge of Probate of Davis tlounty Iowa. 

The next entry, in the same record, is the appointment of Milton I 
French, as administrator of the estate of Wm. N. Morris deceased, then 
follows the bond, in form like the bond above given, with Loyd A. Nelson 
as security. Then follows tiie appointment, by Jos. C. Mendenhall, justice 
of the peace, of Westley Young, Kilely Macy and Samuel Mize, appraisers, 
to appraise the property left by said Wm. N. Morris, deceased. 

Then follows the Inventory, taken October 21st, 1844: 

"One rifle gun and powder horn $10.00 

One man's saddle 10.00 

One surveying compass, chain, Jacob Staft and case of instruments. . 57.00 

One pair saddle bags 3.50 

One lot of leather 6.00 

One lot of angers, five in number 2.50 

Three chisels 1.00 

One foot adz 2.25 

One hand saw 50 

One shaving knife 75 

One jack plane 75 

One lot horse collars and back band 1.00 

One frow (^what?) 1.00 

One scythe and cradle 2.87^ 

One bunch screws 1-00 

One pair carpenter's compass 25 

Two pad locks '. 75 

One box sheomakers tools 1.00 

Two mowing scythes and snaths 3.50 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 411 

One box of old irons 2.00 

Three old shovel plows 2.00 

One cary plow 2.25 

Iron for plow lay .... 80 

One broad shovel 1 .00 

One broad shovel .50 

One mattock 1.25 

Three old axes 1 .uO 

One grind t^tone 2.00 

One lot drawing chains 1.50 

One prairy plow 12.00 

One best log chain ,3.00 

One second best log chain 2.50 

One third best log chain , 2. .50 

One fourth best log chain 75. 

Three corn knifes ;j,7i 

One large wagon 90.00 

One pair red oxen 30.00 

One pair pided o.xen 25.00 

One pair black and brindle 27.50 

One pair brindle and red 30.00 

One pided cow 7.00 

One white cow 10.00 

One spring calf 2.00 

One spring calf 1.50 

One roan mare 40.00 

One roan colt 35.00 

One bay horse 25.00 

Two tons of hay at $2.00 per ton 4,00 

One field of corn, about eighteen acres at $3.00 54.00 

Fifteen acres of wheat more or less 30.00 

One receipt of J. B. Abbott J. P 3.28 

Account against Thomas Baer 3.28 

Account against Riley Gardener 12.56 

One cow bell 

One pitch fork 

Part of side of harness leather" , 

Jas. H. Cowles became Judge of Probate in January 1846, he being suc- 
ceeded September 23rd, 184C, by Abraham Weaver, who in turn was suc- 
ceeded in September 1847, by Josiah I. Earhart. 



412 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

Mr. Earhart held the office until it was mergod with the county judgship 
ahout September 1851, when Henry W. Briggs, being county judge, took 
charge of all probate matters. 

COUNTY COURT. 

On the 22nd day of August 1851, Henry W. Briggs, became judge of the 
first County Court, the jurisdiction of that oti"ice extending over all county 
affairs, including probate. 

Henry W. Briggs was succeeded August 31st, 1855, by Samuel A. Moore 
who lield the office until August 20th, 1857, when he was succeeded by S. 
W. McAtee, who held the office until January, 1866, when he was suc- 
ceeded by Win. Van Benthusen, who filled it until it was merged into the 
county auditorship, when he was elected to that office. 

TLe first case on the docket of the County Court is the State of Iowa vs. 
Calvin W. Phelps for bastardy, Malinda Floyd being the prosecuting wit- 
ness. Tiie defendant was convicted. 



EAELY RECORD EVENTS. 

There is not only interest in the antiquity of early record events, but also 
a curiosit}' involved in their occasion, and the rude manner in which they 
are frequently made — all illustrating that the white man was early on the 
abandoned trail of the I'ed man; and in his rapid pursuit he did not forget 
that marriage was an important step in building up homes on the frontier. 

FIRST MARRIAGE LICENSE. 

Davis County, / Decieee No. 1. 

Terkitorv of Iowa. ) ^^- March 26, 1844. 

To any Justice of the Peace or other person lawfully authorized to solemnize marriage in 

the aforesaid county: You are hereby authorized to solemnize the rites of marriage between 

Thomas King and Haubiet Downing, both of the aforesaid county, according to the laws 

of this Territory. 

In witness hereof I have hereunto atii.xed the temporary seal of my said office. 

[L. S.] Stii/KS S. Caui'ENTeii, 

Clerk D. C, D. C. 

Terhitoiiy ok Iowa, ( 

Davis County. \ ' *' 

\ I hereby certify that on the 27th day of March A. D. 1844, at the house of Mii. I^vn- 

iNG in said county, I .solemnized the rites of matrimony lietween Tiio.mas King and Hauriet 

^ DowNTNG, the former aged 24 and the latter aged 20, both of said county. Given under my 

hand this 22 day of April 1844. L. N. EKolish, .1. P. 

Keaor.led .5th .Tune 1844. Stiles S. Carpenter, 

Clerk District Court for said county. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 4:13 

The first marriage licence issued by the County Court is as follows: 

Friday morning August 22nd, 1851. County Court in session. 

Present: The Honorable Henry W. Biuggs county judge holding court. Among other 
the following proceeihngs were had. 

Lewis BuvAN | Application for 
Eleanor W.Veatch. J marriage license. 
In this case comes Lewis Bryan and makes satisfactory proof of the correctness of said 
marriage, it is ordered that said license be issued, which is done accordingly. 

For a few years after this the County Court docket was full of criminal 
cases of a nature that would indicate a very lax observance of the moral 
law. In evidence of this the records show that a certain gentleman living 
in Bloonifieid at the time, since moved away, was arrested and convicted at 
the instance of a young lady, charging him with the paternity of her un- 
born offspring. The same gentleman being elected about one month after 
his conviction to the honorable position of city councilman, in the city of 
Bloomtield. 

Marriage licences were first issued by the clerk of the United States Dis- 
trict Court, then by the judge of the County Court, and when that oiBce was 
changed to auditor the marriage records were transferred to the clerk of the 
District Court of the State, who has issued the licences ever since. 

Q0II,I> PKNS. 

The early records of the county are all written with a quill pen, and con- 
sidering the occupation of the writers their legibility is commendable. In 
October, 1850, Dr. Greenleaf was allowed by the board ''seventy five cents 
for one punch of clarified quills^ 

Wm. Cameron was clerk at this time and wrote this, and whether or not 
he intended "punch" to mean bunch, is not for me to say. 

PUBLIC WELL. 

In April, 1544, a public well was ordered dug in the square, in Bloom- 
field, five feet, si.x inches wide; and they went down about one iuindred and 
twenty feet, but couldn't find any water. It was the same way all over the 
country, no water could be found except in low places, but now, for some 
reason, water can be found at thirty and forty feet, in the same localities. 

This well in the square was dug precise!}' in the center of the square, 
and then filled up again. One of the interior walls of the new court house 
was built over the edge of where this old well used to be, and the result 
has been a slight crack in the wall, in the auditor's oflice. 



414 HISTORY OF DAVIS OOTINTT. 

WHISKEY. 

In the pioneer days of Da\is county, they had no saloons, they were called 
'■'■groceries " then; if the c were changed to g, the name would be more ap- 
propriate. They were licensed, and any one could obtain a license by paying 
into the county treasury so much money. 

On the 7th day of August, 1855, in the County Court, Henry W. Briggs 
presiding, the following order was made: 

Foi' the purpose of carrying out the intentions of the law, in reference to the sale of spir- 
ituous liquors, an order was drawn on the ti-easurer for the sum of two hundred dollars to be 1 
used in the purchase of liquors for the county by John B. Glenn, county agent, and entered ' 
upon the order book as waiTant A. 

In December, 1855, before S. A. Moore, county judge, J. B. Glenn, county 
agent, resigned, and made the following report: 

Amount of liquors purchased $ 858.88 

Salary for five months 52.65 

Amount $ 911.52 

Cash received from county 200.0C 

Liquorsold 609.761 

Liquor on hand 300.00| 

Amount $1,109.76 

This report was so mixed that he was given further time to report, an 
A. G. Doom was appointed agent, at a salary of $10.53 per month, until 
May Ist, 1856. The law authorizing this arrangement was approved Janu- 
ary 22, 1855. 

On the 1st of May, 1856, William Cameron was appointed agent, and A. 
G. Doom filed his report as follows: 

Liquors received from J. B. Glenn .$316.59 

Cash received for liquor sold 404.92 

Amount 721.51 

Cash and liquor turned over to William Cameron $578.70 

Salary 52.65 

Expense 3.00 

Amount $634.35 

Balance due Davis county 87.16 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. il5 

This balance was paid into the county treasury, and Mr. Doom was re- 
leased from his bond. 

At this point we stop, because the record is lost, as we mention in another 
place, from 1856 to 1861. It is the record of the County Court during the 
last year that S. A. Moore held the office, and the first four years it was 
held by S. W. McAtee. The county grogshop business was soon after stop- 
ped, though, by the repeal of the law authorizing it. 

TOWN LOT AGENCY. 

In the spring ot 1844, the town of Bloomtield was laid off in lots and 
blocks by John Brown, of Lee county, Thomas Wright, of Henry county, 
and Charles Price, of Van Buren county, a commission appointed by the 
Territorial Legislature, for that purpose. Brown and Wright received $18 
each, and Price $16, for their services. They laid off the northeast quarter 
of section twenty-five, township G9, range 14. This land was entered by 
James H. Cowles, and deeded by him to the county. 

After the town was laid off, Franklin Street was appointed " lot agent," 
to sell the lots, and give a bond for a deed for them, as the county had not 
yet acquired the legal title from the government. 
John Bonebrake was paid §1.50 for stakes used to mark off the town. 

In January, 1S45, Miles Tatlock was appointed town lot agent, and Miles 
Tatlock having resigned on the 16th day of October, 1845, E. G. Reeves 
was appointed in his stead. In July, 1848, E. (i. Reeves resigned, and 
Samuel Steel was appointed; and in 184!J, he was ordered not to sell lots to 
those who buy for speculation. In August, 1849, Samuel Steel was suc- 
ceeded by John R. Craig, who held the office until the county judge took 
charge of county affairs. 

The first County assessor, was Samuel Evans, who received $40.50, for as- 
sessing the (•,ount3', in the winter of 1843 and '44. 

The first road ordered to be laid off in Davis county, by the county, 
of which there is any record, was "from Bloomfield, to intersect aState road 
in Missouri at John Willis's, on the Sullivan line. 

The viewers were David jSTeweli, George W. Butt and Stiles S. Carpenter. 
A great many of the early roads would be very hard to locate now, from the 
descriptions given. Some of them run about like this: "Commencing at the 
corner of .John Smith's field, run to Soap Creek, from there to a burr oak 
stumj) in Jim Caldwells pasture." 

The first Territorial road, passing into or through the county, was located 
from Farniington, in Van Buren county, to Ottumwa, in Wapllo county. 



416 HISTORY OF DAVIS CODNTY. 

By the act of the legislature, approved December 19, 1S43, it whs enacted 
that John Godard and Jesse Wright, of Van Buren county, and Van Cald- 
well, of Wapello county, be appointed commissioners to locate and mark a 
Terrtorial road, commencing at Farmington ; thence, via Hartford & Green's 
Mill, and Wood's Mill, in Davis county, to Ottumwa, in Wapello county. 

For a description of some of the early territorial roads in Davis county, 
Bee chapter on County Organization. 

The Ferry privileges were an item in days of stage coaches, and prairie 
echooners. Early in the year 1844, a man named Van Caldwell, kept a ferry 
across the Des Moines river, at a place called "Caldwell's Ferry," where the 
old "Mormon Trace" crossed the river; and on paying $3 into the treasury, 
Davis county gave him the exclusive right to run a ferry there. His rates 
of ferriage were ordered to be the same as required by Van Buren county. 

At the same time. Job Carter for $5, was given the exclusive ferry privi- 
leges, at the place where the "Territorial Koad," from Iowa City, Iowa, to 
Jefferson Citj', Missouri, crosses the Des Moines river, and his rates for fer- 
riage were ordered to be. 

For man and horse 12^ cts. 

For man 6J cts. 

For horse 6J cts. 

For man and two-horse wagon 25 cts. 

For each head of cattle 6 cts. 

For each head of sheep and hogs 3 cts. 

The great wolf hunter of Davis county, was Joseph Carter, who was paid 
$4, for killing wolves, in 1844, receiving the first bounty paid by Davis 
county. He became quite celebrated, in those days, as a wolf and deer 
hunter. 

OFFICIAL SALARIKS. 

Salaries were small thirty and forty years ago, and the officers were com- 
pelled to have some other means of livelihood, or they would have starved 
to death. 

Franklin Street, county clerk, in 1844, received $11.13, for his services 
that year; nevertheless, there were plenty of candidates, whenever election 
time came around. 

The first road districts, were laid in April 1845, as follows: 
1st district, fractional township 67; and township 68, range 12 west. 
2nd district, township 61», range 12. 
3d district, east I township 70, range 12. 



HISTORY OF pAVIS CODNTV. ^ 417 

-1-tli district, west ^ township 70, range 12. 

5tli district, township 70, range 13. ' 

6tli district, east ^ townshi]i 70, range 14. 

7tii district, west i township 70, range 14, 

8tli district, township 70, range 16. 

9th district, township 69, range 15. 
10th district, west f township 69, range 14. 
11th district, southeast ^ township 69, range 14, and southwest I town- 

sliip 69, range 13. 
12tii district, northeast i township 69, range 14, and northwest I town- 
ship 69, range 13. 
13th district, east ^ township 69, range 13. 

14tli district, township 68, range 13, and fractional township 67, range 13. 
15tli district, township 68, range 14. 
16th district, fractional township 67, range 14. 

17th district, fractional township 67, range 15, and township 68, range 15. 
18tii district, south half of Appanoose county. 
19th district, north half of Appanoose county. 
The Spervisors appointed for the roads were: 

1st district, John Gannon: 

2nd district, Fleming Mize. 

3d district, Benjamin Tunnon. 

4th district, Samuel Clark. 

5th district, Kobert Merchant. 

6th district, J. C. Blankinship. 

7tli district, Ezra M. Kirkham. ' 

Stli district, George Moots. 

9th district, William D. Wallace. 
10th district. James Carr. 
lltli district, Stiles S. Carpenter. 
12th district, A. D. Williamson. 
13tli district, Silas Smith. 
14th district, Michael Letuer. 
15th district, James Villers. 
16tli district, Isaac Atterbery. 
17th district, John Ganlt. 
18th district, Richard W. Davis. 
19th district, Johauatlian F. Straiten. 



418 HISTORY OF D4V1S COUNTY. 



, THE FIRST JUDGMEMT. 

The iirst judgment rendered in Davis connty, was rendered on the 23d 
day of September, 1844, in the ijnited States District Court, in and tor 
Davis county, Iowa Territory, by Hon. Charles Mason, Judge. The other 
officers of the court were L. D. Stocton, district prosecutor; Stiles S. Car- 
penter, clerk, and John Leiler, deputy marslial. The judgment was as fol- 
lows: 

\Vm. Wilms. 

vs. \Be))lerin. 

Wm. Hendkicks, and Thomas Kelley. 

And now came the pai'ties herein by their attorneys and submitted the demurrer on tile- 
to the plaintiff's declaration upon argument to the court, which demurrer is sustained and 
the said plaintiff has leave to amend his declaration, and then came the parties and formed 
issue on a plea of not guilty, whereupon came a jury, to- wit: Abram Weaver, Robert 
Merchant, John W. Ellis, John Banta, G. W. Lester, M. D. Ham, James I'hilpot, Wm. T. 
Johnson, Jas. Carter, Albert M. Hathaway, Samuel Starr. John Dennison, who, being duly 
elected, tried and sworn to try the issue joined, on their oaths do say, we, the jury, find the 
defendant Wm. Hendricks guilty, and assess the plaintiff's damages at one cent, and the said 
defendant. Thomas Kelley, go hence without day; and that said plaintiflF recover of the said 
defendant, Wm. Hendricks, the said sum of one cent damages and his costs in this case ex- 
pended, and that he have execution therefor. 

Garret Hough, a native of Germany, was naturalized at this term, being 
the iirst foreigner naturalized in this county. 

The first deed ever recorded in Davis county was dated September :2dy 
184:4:, as follows: 

Know all men by these presents, that I, Noble Barron, of the county of Davis, in the 
Territory of Iowa, for and ni consideration of the sura of two thousand dollars, to me in- 
hand paid, or secured to be paid, by James Philpot, of the county of Davis and J'erritory 
aforesaid, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, have granted, bargained, sold, remised 
and quit-claimed, and by these presents do grant, bargain, sell, remise and quit-claim unto the 
said James Philpot and to his heirs and assigns forever, all that tract or parcel of land lying 
and being in the town of Bloomfield, in the county of Davis, Iowa Territory, and known, as 
blocks No. (84) thirty-four, and (,te) thirty-five, containing sixteen lots, together with the 
dwelling now occupied by said Barron, m Franklin Street, together with a stable builton the 
premises and dwelling house thereon, to be built by said Barron, together with all and singu- 
lar the appurtenances thereto belonging, or m any wise appurtaining, and the reversions, re- 
mainders, rents, issues and protfits thereof, the estate, right, title, interest, claim, or demand 
whatsoever of me the said Noble Barron, either in law or equity of, in and to the above bargained 
premises, to have and to hold the same to the said James Philphot, and to his- heirs and 
assigns forever. 

In witness whereof 1, the said Noble Barron, have hereunto set my hand and seal the 
2d flay of September, in the year of our liOrd one thous-and eight hundred and forty-four. 

Noble B.\kron, (i.. s.). 

Signed, sealed and delivered in the presence of Cdi.onv Pou.v Bauhon. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 419 

Teuritokt of Iowa, / 
Davis County, S ^^■ 

Personally appeared the within named Noble Barron lieforc me the undersigned, Clerk 
•of the District Court of the aforesaid county, and acknowledged the signing and sealing of 
the within instrument to be his own free act iind deed, for the uses and purposes therein ex- 
pressed. 

Tn witness whereof 1 have hereunto set my . hand, with the temporary seal of the 
District Court hereto affixed at Bloomfield. this 2«th day of September, A. D. 1844. 

Stii.es S. Carpektek, 
Clerk of thf) District Court for said Coiiiiti/. 

The t'oUowiiig is the first Town Lot Deed recorded: 

The Board of County Commissioners of the county of Davis, Iowa Territory, acknowl- 
■edge themselves indebted to Noble Barron, in the sum of four hundred dollars. The above 
obligation to be void ui)on condition that the said of County Commissioners shall make or 
cause to be made to the said Barron, or his heirs or assigns, a good warranty deed to blocks 
thirty-four and thirty-five, in the town of Bloomfield, in said county, except lot one and lot 
«ight, in block thirty-four, when a certain note of even date herewith for nine dollars and 
thirty-seven cents, and due one day after date, is paid, and the said Board shall obtain the 
title to the said lots from the United States. 

Witness the temporary seal of the said board hereunto attixed by me, their agent for the 
sale of lots in the town aforesaid, this 10th day of Jaimary, A. D. 1845. 

[seal.] Mii.es Tati.ock, Ayeiil. 

Attest, 3. H. Cowels. 

For value received 1 hereby assign the within Bond to .Tohnathan Riggs, this 8th day of 
February, A. D. 1845. Witness my hand and seal. 

Nom.K Barron, (l. s.) 

Filed Feljruary lOtli, 1845, 8 o'clock, a. m. 

FIRST CHATTEL MORTGAGE. 

Know all men by these presents that I, Fkedkr[ck Atchison, of the county of Davis 
and Territory of Iowa, for and in consideration of the sum of fifty dollars to me paid in hand 
the receipt whereof 1 hereby acknowledge, have bar-gained and sold and by these presents do 
bargain sell and convey unto Stiles S. Carpenter of the aforesaid county and Territory 
and to his heirs and assigns forever, all my right interest and claim. 

Dated this 6th day of May 1844. 

One broyn stable horse 4 years old, one red cow, two yearling steers and two yearling heif- 
fers, to have and to hold the above described horse and cattle unto the said Carpenter for- 
ever. Now the condition of the above obhgation is such that if the said Atchison shall 
well and truly pay or cause to be paid unto the said Carpenter one certain promissory note, 
bearing even date with this instrument, for thirty dollars, for value received, payable ten days 
after date, then this obligation to be void, otherwise to be and remain iu full force. 

Frederick Atchison, [L. S.] 

Signed, sealed and delivered in presence of us. 
David Newell, Noble Barron. 

I, David Newell, a justice of the peace of the county of Davis and Territory of Iowa, 
do certify that the above named Frederick Atchison personally appeared before me and 



420 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

acknowledged the above instrument to be his own free act and deed, for the uses and pur- 
poses tlierein mentioned. 

Given under my hand and seal this 7th day of May A. D. 1844. 

David Newell, J. P. 

Filed May 8th, 1844. 

riEST EEAL ESTATE MORTliAGE. 

Know all men by these presents, that I, H.vkdin D. Parris, of the county of Davis and 
Territory of Iowa, have this day for and in consideration of the sum of one hundred dollars to- 
me in hand paid by Jon-A-Th.^n Riggs, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, sold 
and conveyed unto the said Riggs his heirs and assigns forever, to- wit: the farm that ]s.\ac 
Riggs lives on and appurtenances that are thereon. To have and to hold the same forever 
to his proper use and benefit. 

Now the conditions of the above obligation are such that whereas the said Jonathan 
Riggs stands bound to the board of county commissioners of the county and Territory afore- 
said in the sum of one hundred dollars on a bond as security for the said Hardin D. Par- 
ris and James Arnet, the condition of which bond is that the said Parris and Arnet would 
keep an orderly house and pennit no unlawful gaming or riotous conduct about their house, 
which bond was dated on or about the 6th of August 1844. Now should the said Parris hold 
and keep the said Riggs harmless so that he, the said Riggs, shall not sustain any damage by i 
reason of a breach of the said bond in any way whatever, then this obligation shall be void, | 
otherwise remain in full force and virtue. 

In testimony whereof I hereunto set ray hand and affix my seal this '24th March A. D. 184.5. 

H. D. Parris, [Seal.] 

Signed in presence of, attest, S. Riggs. 

Territory op Iowa, | 

Davis Countv. )" ^^ 

Personally came before me Hardin D. Parris, whose name appears to the within instru- J 

ment and acknowledged the signing sealing and delivery thereof to be his own free and vol- 1 

untary act and deed for the uses and purposes therein expressed 

Given under my hand and the temporary seal of the Probate Court of Davis county, towa \ 

Territory, this 24th day of March A. D. 1845. 

Miles Tatlock, 

Judge Probate District Court. 

Filed for record March ■2-5th, A. D. 1845, at 8 o'clock a. m. 

Neither of these raortgai^es appear ever to have been canceled. 

CEMETERY. 

Almost immediately after the organization of the county, in October, 
1844, the county commissioners set apart and donated block number one, 
in Bloomfield, for a cemetery. This order was rescinded at the January 
term, 1845, and lots one, two, seven and eight in block forty-three set apart 
for tliat purpose, and used until about 1850, wlien the present cemetery 
south of town was laid off, and bodies were removed from block forty-three 
and reinterred there. 



HISTORY OK DAVIS COUNTY. 421 



CO U NTT (_:OMMISSIONERS. 



The lirst board of commissioners in tiie county, were elected in the fall 
of 1843. They were Abrani "Weaver, Samuel McAtee and William D. Ev- 
ans. The first officers of the county, who came into office at the same time, 
were 

Gabriel S. Lockman, county surveyor. 

Kobert Mize, George W. Brown, William Hendri.x, John Garman, Pem- 
broke Gault, constables. 

Israel Kister, recorder. 

Green berry Willis, assessor, who immediately resigned, and Samuel Evans 
was appointed his successor. 

In tlie fall of 1844, another election was had, and William Walker, Willis 
Faught and Ezra M. Kirkham were elected commissioners. In 1845, 
Isaac Atterbery succeeded E. M. Kirkham. 

James H. Cowles was the first clerk of the board, and continued until 
1846, when he was succeeded by I. Kister, commissioners being, in 1817, 
Isaac Atterbery, Willis Faught, and Riley Macy. 

In 1848 — Isaac Atterbery, Willis Faught, and Daniel Frullinger. Clerk, 
William Cameron. 

In 2849 — William Duffield, Tyre Dabney, and Thomas Lockman. 

In 1850— The same. 

In 1851 — William Duffield, Tyre Dabney, and Henry W. Briggs. 

In July, 1851, this board adjourned as a board, and in a few days after 
convened again as a court, and adjourned again. 

On the 22d of August, 1851, Henry W. Briggs, having been elected 
county judge, to take the place of the board of county commissioners, opened 
court, and held it open, according to law, until August, 1855, when he was 
succeeded by Samuel A. Moore, who served two years, being succeeded in 
August, 1857, by S. W. McAtee, who held the office until January, 1866 
being succeeded by William Van Benthusen, who served as county judge 
until the office was abolished in 1869, when he was elected auditor, which 
office took the place of the county judgeship. 

On the first day of January, 1861, the county afliiirs were transfered from 
the county judge to a board of supervisors, composed of one member from 
€ach township. The first board were: 
y-J. D. Dunlavy, from Lick Creek township. 

*Wm. Van Benthusen, from Soap Creek township. 

*Henry Hudgens, from Marion township. 

*James Hamilton, from Fo.x; River township. 



422 HISTOKY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

John H. Drake, from Drakeville township. 
George Dnffield, from Bloomfield township, 
■*David Ferguson, from Perry township. 
J. I. Earliart, from Union township. 
■*Hngh Abernethy, from Prairie township. 
*W. E. Browni, from Itoscoe township. 
Wm. Fortune, from Grove township. 
Win. Evans, from Wycondah township. 
'"Joim Newton, from Fabins township. 
J. M. Sloan, from Salt Creek township. 
Those marked with an * drew the long term, two years, by lot, the others 
to serve only one year. 

Geo. Duffield was elected chairman and N. W. Cook was appointed 
lerk. 
In January, 1862, the one year members were succeeded by— 
"J. D. Dunlavy, reelected from Lick Creek township. 
Thomas Lockman, from Drakeville township. 
D. P. Palmer, from Bloomfield township. 
John Edwards, from Union township. 
Wm. Fortune, reelected from Grove township. 
Wm. Evans, reelected from Wyacondah township. 
J. M. Sloan, reelected from Salt Creek townsliip. 

In January, 1863, the following became members — 
James Kinsler, from Fox River township. 
Z. B. Booker, from Roscoe township. 
Aaron Burgher, from Fabins township. 
S. D. Wells, from Perry township. 
Hugh Abernethy, reelected from Prairie township. 
Elijah Putnam, reelected from Soap Creek township. 
John L. Moots, from Marion townshi]^, and H. A. Wonn elected to fill^ 
vacancy caused by the death of Elijah Putnam, of Soap Creek township. j 

In January, 1864, the following became members — - 
J. M. Sloan, reelected from Salt Creek township. 
'^"" J. D. Dunlavy, reelected from Lick Creek township. 
Joshua Patterson, from Fox River township. 
B. Noel, from Union township. 
Wm. Evans, reelected from Wyacondah township. 
Wm. J. Law, from Bloomfield township. 
Geo. W. Parsons, from Drakeville township. 
(This leaves Grove without any member?) 





■■"v. 




^u^t^Z^:^^^^ 



PfflNCIPAi HIGH SCHOOL 



HISTORY OF UAVIf? COUNTY. 425 



In Jannarj-, 1865, the following became mernbere — 
Allen Sawyers, from Fox River township. 
B. Adkins, froiu Roscoe township. 

A. Bnrgher, from Fabius township. 
H. Williamson, from Perry township. 

B. W. Cravens, from Prairie township. 

H. A. Wonn, reelected from Soap Creek township. 
Jonathan Chagan, from Marion township. 

In January, 1860, the following became members — 
Peter Hendricks, from Salt Creek township. 

A. Dunn, from Lick Creek township. 

O. M. Hurliss, from Drakeville township. 
D. Gibson, from Grove township. 

D. W. Hutchinson, from Wyacondah township. 
Geo. DufKeld, from Bloomlield township. 

M. H. Jones, from Bloomfield township. 

In January, 1867, the following became members— 
H. A. Wonn, reelected from Soap Creek township. 
W. L. Fletcher, from Marion township. 

E. B. Townsend, from Fox River township. 
W. S. Monroe, from Perry township. 

J. J. Plank, from Prairie township. 

B. Adkins, from Roscoe township. 
A. Burgher, from Fabius township. 

M. II. Jones, from Bloomfield township. 

In January, 1S6S, the following members came in — 

Wm. O. Jackson, from Salt Creek township. 

John McCaully, from Lick Creek township. 

T. M. Samson, from Drakeville township. 

H. G. Phelps, from Union township. 

D. W. Hutchinson, from Wyacondah township. 

D. Gibson, from Grove township. 

In January, 1869, the following became members — 
H. A. Wonn, reelected from Soap Creek township. 
D. L. Hannah, from Marion township. 
S. B. Downing, from Fox River township. 
Joseph McGowen, from Bloomfield township. 
Stanley Hathaway, from Perry township. 



426 HISTOKY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

James Craven, from Prairie township. 

Frank Pinnell, from Koscoe township. 

Dempson Hill, from Wyacondah township. 

James Kinsler, frotn Fabins township. H. A. Wonn elected president, 

\ In January, 1870, tlie following new members were sworn in — 
\ John M. Sloan, from Salt Creek township. 
^Harvey Dunlavy, from Lick Creek township. 
D. M. Hurliss, from Drakeville township. 
Asa Wilson, from Bloonifield township. 
Wm. D. Evans, from Union township. 
T. F. Collins, from Grove township. 
Dempsey Hill, from Wyacondah township. 
C. M. Hurliss, elected president. 

In January, 1871, the new law, requiring only three members on the 
board of supervisors, went into eifect. 

The first three members were J. P. Fortune, John Edwards, and W. S. 
Monroe, chairman. 

It was determined by lot, that J. P. Fortune serve three years, John Ed- 
wards two years, and W. S. Monroe, one year. 

W. S. Monroe was reelected in the fall of 1871, to serve three years, and 
elected chairman. 

Peter Runkle succeeded John Edwards in January, 1873, and J. P. For- 
tune was elected chairman. 

J. P. Fortune was reelected in 1873, making the board, in 1874, as fol- 
lows: J. P. Fortune, chairman, W. S. Monroe, and Peter Runkle. 

1875, J. P. Fortune, chairman, Peter Runkle, H. H. Cramer. 

1876, J. P. Fortune, chairman, H. H. Cramer, resigned, D. J. McConnell. 

1877, D. J. McConnell, chairman, R. Eggleston, vice Cramer, Samuel 
Russell. 

1878, D. J. McConnell, chairman, Samuel Russell, John C. Leach. 

1879, Samuel Russell, chairman, John C. Leach, David Baer. 

1880, John C. Leach, chairman, David Baer, G. W. McCullough, 

1881, David Baer, chairman, G. W. McCullough, Al. Power. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 427 



TOWNSHIP OEGANIZATIONS. 

The township s^'stem is a very old sub-division of a county. It origin- 
ated in Massaciiusetts as far back as 1635. " Tiie first legal enactment con- 
cerning this system," says Mr. E. M. Haines, in Iiis comprehensive work on 
'township organization,' ''provided that, ' whereas, particular towns have 
many tilings which concern only themselves, and the ordering of their own 
affairs, and disposing of business in their own town,' therefore, 'the freemen 
of every town, or the majority part of them, shall only have power to dis- 
pose of their own lands and woods, with all the appurtenances of said town, 
to grant lots, and to make such orders as may concern the well-ordering of 
their own towns, not repugnant to the laws and orders established by the 
general court.' 

"They might also," says Mr. Haines, " impose fines of not more than 
twenty shillings, and " choose their own particular otHcers, as constables, sur- 
veyors for the highways, and the like." Evidently this enactment relieved 
the general court of a mass of municipal details, without any danger to the 
power of that body in controlling general measures of public policy. Pi'ob- 
ably also a demand from the freemen of the towns was felt for the control 
of tiieir own home concerns." 

Wherever New England people settled, or their system extended in the 
early period of new states, its township system of managing local affairs 
has prevailed, and more especially so, as the populations of states and coun- 
ties became more dense. The coiinty system alone becomes too unwieldy, 
too distant from the people; and often endangers "equal and exact justice" 
by the densely populated sections, including towns, overcoming the sparsely 
settled sections, in elections, improvements, as well as in other similar mat- 
ters. In many of the older and thickly settled states, township organiza- 
tions are as independent of the county, as the county is of the State. They 
collect their own revenue; provide for their own schools; take care of their 
own poor; make, and keep in repair their own highways and bridges. And 
thus it will be in the newer states of the great west, as fast as their popula- 
tion becomes dense enough, and uniformly distributed throughout their do- 
main. 

The first move made by the board of county commissioners toward or- 
ganizing the townships of Davis county, was January 7, 1846, being the 
January session, when, 

By order of the board, the county of Davis, Iowa Territory, is divided into twelve town- 
ships, and the same are established and organized in the manner following; to- wit, 



428 HISTOKY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

SALT CKEEK TOWNSHIP. 

Ordered — Tlnit congressional township seventy north, range twelve west, be organized 
and called " Salt Creek Township," and that the residence of Richard Cave be appointed as 
the place for the first meeting of the electors of said township. 

LICK CREEK TOWNSHIP. 

Ordered — That congressional township seventy nortli, i-ange thirteen west, be organized 
as a township, and that the same be called " Lick Creek Township," and that the house of 
Roljert Merchant be appointed as the place lor the first meeting of tlie electors thereof. 

SOAP CKEEK TOWNsnii'. 

Ordered — That congressional townsliip seventy north, range fourteen west, be constituted 
and organized as a township, and called " Soap Creek Township," and that the house of A. H. 
Putman be appointed as the place for tlie first meeting of the electors thereof. 

MAKION TOWNSHIP. 

Ordered — That township seventy north, range fifteen west, be constituted and organized 
as a township, and called " Marion Township," and that the houseof Alexander Downing be 
appointed as the place for the fii'st meeting of the electors of the same. 

FOX KIVER TOWNSHIP. 

Ordered— Th&t congressional township sixty-nine north, and range fifteen west, be con- 
stituted and organized as a township, and called " Fox River Township," and that the house 
of Robert Jones bo appointed as the place for the first meeting of the electors thereof. 

BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP. 

Ordered — That congressional township sixty-nine north, range fourteen west, be consti- 
tuted and organized as a township, and that the same be called " Bloorafield Township," and 
that the court-house in Bloomfield be appointed tlie place tor the first meeting of the electora 
of the same. 

PKREV TOWNSHIP. 

Ordered — That congressional township sixty-nine nortli, range thirteen west, be consti- 
tuted and established an organized township, to be called " Perry Township, " and that the 
house of Samuel Evans, Sr., be appointed as the place for the first meeting of the electora 
thereof. 

UNION TOWNSHIP. 

Ordered — That congressional township sixty-nine north, range twelve, together with one 
mile off the north side of township sixty-eight, range twelve, be constituted an organized 
township, to be called " Union Township," and that the house of Richard Goddard be ap- 
pouited as the place for holding the first meeting of the electors thereof. 

PRAIRIE TOWNSHIP. 

Ordered — That congi'essional township sixty-eight, range twelve west, except one mile 
otf the north side of the same, and fractional township sixty-seven, range twelve west, be or- 
ganized and established as a township, to be called " Prairie Township," and that the houso 
of Samuel Mondy be appointed for the place of the first meeting of the electors thereof. 



HISTOKY OF DAVIS COUNTT. 429 

GROVE TOWNSHIP. 

Ordered— 'rha.t congressional township sixty-eiglit, and fractional township sixty-seven, 
range thirteen, be organized and established as a township, to be called " Grove township," 
and that the house of Aquilla Conway be appointed as the place for holding the first meeting 
of the voters thereof. 

WYACONDAII TOWNSHIP. 

Ordered — That congressional township sixty-eight, and fractional township sixty seven, 
range fourteen west, be organized and established as a township, to be called " Wyacondah 
Township," and that the house of James M. Parris be appointed as the place for holding the. 
first meeting of the electors thereof. 

' FABIUS TOWNSHIP. 

Ordered-~'Vha,t congressional township sixty-eight, and fractional township si.xty-seven 
north, range fifteen west, be established and organized as a township, to be called "Fa- 
bius Township," and that the house of Elias Veatch be appointed as the place for the first 
meeting of the electors thereof. 

In JamiaiT lS4(i, when Bloomfield townsliip was organized, it was si.x 
miles square, being townships sixty-nine north, and range fourteen west. 
In 1848, a part of Perry township was added to Bloonilield township, being 
all that part lying west of the line dividing sections thirty-two and thirty- 
three, and as far north as Fox River. In 1852, sections twenty-eight and 
thirty-three, in Perry township were added to Bloomfield. And in October, 
1852, on the ])etition of E. Young, T. Sonierlin, and others, sections 1, 2, 
3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 1(>, U, 12 and 15, of township 68, north of range 13, west, 
was added to Bloomfield township for election purposes. In September, 
1878, on tiie )>etition of J. P. Fortune, iind others, the east half of section 
17, the iiurthwest quarter, and tlie nortliwest of the southwest, of section 
16, in township 68 north, range 13 west, was taken from Globe township, 
and added to Bloomfield township, for election purposes. 

In April 1874, when West Grove township was organized, sections 30, 
31, 32 and the southwest quarter of 29, township 69, range 14, Bloomfield 
township, were taken from Bloomfield, and given to West Grove. Wiien 
Drakesville township was organized, it also took away twelve sections in 
the northwest corner of Bloomfield township, being sections 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 
9, 10, 15, 16, 17 and 18. And what is left, and what has been added, now 
forms a very irregular shaped, door-key kind of a townsliip. A singular 
thing connected with the additions to Bloomfield, is the fact that no one 
knew tliat section 15, of Grove township, was added to Bloomfield town- 
ship, and it has not l)een recognized as a part of Bloomfield, although no 
record can be found of it ever being given back to Grove. According to 
the records it forms a part of Bloomfield townsliip for election purposes. 



4:30 HISTOEY^OF DAVIS COUNTY. 



DEAKEVILLE TOWNSHIP. 

]n the County Court, March 4, 1852, Henry W. Brings, County Judge, presiding: 
A petition was received from John A Drake, S. B. McGrew, and a large number of others, 
citizens of Bloonifieid township, asking that sections 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, lo, 16, 17 and 18, 
should be set off and organized into a new township to be called " Drakeville," and the 
court considering the public convenience required such a subdivison, it is ordered that the 
above specified sections of the congressional township No. 69 north, and 14 west, be consti- 
tuted a township for all purposes, and notice was given accordingly. 

A part of Section 31, in Soap Creek township, has since been added to 
Drakeville township, being the southwest quarter, the south half, north- 
west quarter, the southwest quarter of tiie northeast quarter, and the west 
half of tlie soutlieast quarter. < 

KOSCOE TOWNSHIP. 

County Court, March 15, 18-54; Henry W. Briggs, County Judge, presiding: 
In the matter of the applicaton of various citizens for a division of Prairie township, set for 
hearing this day, there having been no remonstrance presented, and the coui-t being satisfied 
that the notice required by this court had been given, and that the citizens in said township 
are generally anxious for said division — 

It is ordered that said Prairie township be divided by a line running east and west through 
the center of sections No. 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30. Township 68 north, range 12 west, and 
that the south half of said sections No. 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30, and all of sections 31, 32, 
33, 34, 35 and 36, in said township No. 68, north of range No. 12 west, and all of fractional 
township No. 67, north of range 12 west, be erected into a new township, to be called Rosooe 
township, which township shall hold their election at the school-house in the town of Roscoe 
on the first Monday of April next, and notice to that effect was issued to John Garnon and 0. 
Hawkins, constables. 

WEST GKOVE TOWNSHIP. 

At the April session of the Board of Supervisors, in the year 1874 — the petition of numer- 
ous citizens of Fox River, Pabius, Wyacondah and Bloonifieid townships praying for a new 
township bounded as follows; to- wit, — 

Commencing at the southwest corner of the northwest quarter, northwest quarter of sec- 
tion 19, township 68, i-ange 15. Running thence east six miles, to the southeast corner of the 
northeast quarter northeast quarter section 24, township 68, range 15, thence north one- 
fourth of one mile; thence east two miles, to the southeast corner of section 17, town- 
ship 68, range 14; thence north four miles, to the northeast corner of section 32, town- 
ship 69, range 14; thence west one-half mile to the southeast corner of southwest quarter 
section 29, township 69, range 14; thence north one-half mile to the northeast corner of 
southwest quarter section 29, township 69, range 14; thence west four and one-half mileS' 
to the northwest corner, southwest quarter of section 27, township 69, i-ange 15; thence 
Bouth one-fourth of one mile, to the northeast corner, southeast quarter southeast quarter 
section 28, township 69, range 15; thence west three miles, to the county line between Ap- 
panoose and Davis counties; thence south on said county line four and one-half miles to 



HISTOET OF DAVIS COUNTY. 431 

the place of beginning. And after due consideration the new township was established as 
prayed for. The name of the new township to be West Grove. Approved, 

J. B. Fortune, President. 

The board appointed D. L. Heywood, W. C. Ewing and John Rawlings, the first trustees, 
and D. J. HoUopeter, the first clerk. 

With tliese changes and additions, there are now fifteen townships in 
Davis connty, and their material development, as well as their early history, 
will appear farther on in this work, in the chapter on township history. 



COUNTY INSTITUTIONS. 

The institutions belonging to and maintained by the county, are not 
mimerous, but are important in their relation to society and humanity, in- 
asmuch as the evil-doer and the poor exist in all co\intriesto a greater or less 
■e.xtent. As already noted in the chapter on "county organization," the first 
piiblic building constructed in the county, was 

"the OLD LOG COUKT-IIOUSE." 

The history of the first court-house is almost co-extensive with the history 
of the county. The contract was awarded to J. J. Selman for $Ui4, at the 
July session of the Board of Commissioners, 1844. On his bond were 
John Bauta and Wm. J. Hawley, as sureties. It was on lot one block 
thirty-one, and was built of hewn logs about 24x40 feet, two stories. In 
November 1844, the contract for furnishing lumber for the floors, windows, 
stairs and doors, and for sash, glass and putty for the windows, for framing 
and casing the windows and door, making the door, laying the floors and 
running the stairs, was let to Andrew Taylor for $175, he giving bond in 
the sum of §350. Miles Tatlock had some kind of a job on the court-house 
at this time, also, for which he received $35. 

This log house when completed seemed to be satisfactory until August, 
1846, when the building was "underpinned and thereof let down by cutting 
■off the window frames and running a "petition" in the loft, dividing it in two 
rooms, tiie division running north and south." In July 1847, Willis Faught 
repaired the institution $25 worth. In May 1848, Samuel liiggs was au- 
thorized to go to work and repair the institution some more. In October 
I. Kister and II. B. Horn were allowed $20 each for work on the institution 
In April 1849, some window shutters were added at a cost of $10, and in 
Jnly a stove pipe. In 1851 the old institution became unfit for use and the 
county judge rented offices on lot six, block twenty-six. Some time after 
this rooms were rented of Wm. S. Stevens as a court room, etc., and in 1855 



432 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

a contract was made with Calvin Taylor for a court room for four years, afe 
$100 per annum. 

The record, from 1856 to 1861, is lost. The writer, with the assistance 
of county othcials, made a thorough search but failed to find any trace of it. 
In 1861 the Baptist church was rented for a court room for one term, for 
$20. At the January session of the board it was resolved to submit to the 
people a proposition to build a court-house at a cost not to exceed $150,000^ 
This year the county offices were in rooms belonging to J. W. Ellis, at 
$100 per year. It is to be supposed that the proposition to build a court- 
house was defeated as no more is heard of it. In 1803 the Methodist church 
was rented as a court room. A proposition to build a $6,000 jail was sub- 
mitted to the jieople in 1863, and that is the last heard of it. In Septem- 
ber 1866, another proposition to build a court-house was submitted to the- 
people, to cost $24,000. The county offices were moved into a building on 
lot eight, block 19, belonging to J. B. Glenn and E. T. Cole. The propositiott 
to build the court-house was lost, and in June 1867 a contract was made 
with the Bloomfield Town Hall Association for the use of a court room and 
county offices, in a building to be erected by the association and the county 
as a kind of a joint stock company. This contract must have fell through 
as no further notice was taken of it, and in 1868 another contract was made 
for renting rooms. The building rented was owned by Moore, Hogan and- 
Walton. 

In November the new offices and court room were fitted up for use. The 
rent of the building for 1869 was $300. In November 1872, another prop- 
osition was submitted to the people to build a courthouse and jail on the 
public square in the city of Bloomneld, and that a tax be levied of five 
mills on the dollar for three years and for that purpose, commencing in 
1873. After the election it was discovered that the poeople didn't want it 
just yet. The result was: For, 598; against, 1702. 

So the same building was rented again, and continued in use, being 
rented for three years at a time, better known as the Phoenix Block, on the 
east side of the square. The rent was six hundred dollars a year, in ad- 
vance. 

At the October election 1874, the board ordered that the court-house 
question be submitted again; this time it was a $25,000.00 one. But it is 
presumed, the people had got tired of voting on that question so much, as. 
only two townships voted upon it, Fox liiver giving six votes for and 44: 
against, and West Grove giving fifty for and ninety-seven against. Total 
for, 56; against, 141. 

So the question was defeated again, but the board, with a persistency- 



HISTOET OF DAVIS COUNTS. 435 

worthy of the reverence of future generations, determined, at the June ses- 
sion, 1S75, to submit it again at the next general election. The cost not to 
exceed $50,000, and the people to determine whether it should be on th* 
public square in Bloomfield or not. 

The election resulted in 1404 votes for the tax, 1133 votes against the tax, 
and 1464 for the public square, to 182 against the public square. 

The people of Bloomfield had, on the 13th day of May 1872, at an elec- 
tion then held, authorized the use of the square for that purpose, and in 
November 1S76, the ground in the center of the square was cleared oif to 
prepare for the erection of the court house. The plans ofT. J. Tolan & 
Sons, architects, were adopted, and at a special session of the board in June 
1877, the bids for building the court house were opened; the following were 
the bids: — 

O. J. King, Corning, Iowa — 

Brick $48,500.00 

Pressed brick 45,000.00 

Stone 51,000.00 

N. C. Terrill, Kankakee, Illinois — 

Brick $42,364.00 

Pressed brick 43,964.00 

Stone 49,864.00 

J. W. Hinckley, Indianapolis, Indiana — 

Brick $39,110.00 

Pressed brick ; . .- 42,360.00 

Stone ....'. 45,610.00 

Valentine Jobst, Peoria, Illinois — 

Brick $42,972.00 

Pressed brick 45,272.00 

Stone 48,572.00 

W. H. Myers, Fort Wayne, Indiana — 

Brick ". $44,862.76 

Pressed brick 49,841.00 

Stone 51,862.76 

Larkworthy & Menke, Quincy, Illinois — 

Brick $39,985.00 

Pressed brick 41,445.00 

Stone 45,201.00 

S. J. Stauber & Co., Knoxville, Iowa — 

Brick $11,700.00 

Pressed brick 44,050.00 



434 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY 

Palmer, Lane & Co., Bloomfield, Iowa — 

Brick $43,500.00 

Pressed brick 45,672.00 

Stone 47,660.00 

After examining the bids, the board at first determined to have pressed 
brick, and then changed and awarded the contract to Larkworthy & Menke, 
ot'Qiiincy, Illinois, for stone, at $45,201.00, and John Lane was appointed 
local superintendent of the work. 

In March, 1878, bids for steam heating the conrt-honse, were examined. 
Tlie following were the bids: J. N. Manning & Co., Chicago, $2,672.77; 
Robt. Ogden, Fort Wayne, Indiana, $4,490.00; Haxton Steam Heater Co., 
Kewannee, Illinois, $2,675.00; Larkworthy & Bnrge, Chicago, $2,840.00. 
The contract was awarded to the Haxton Steam .Heater Company. 

In September the county officers were authorized to sell all the old furn- 
iture, stoves, etc., belonging to the county at private sale. In October A. 
L. Hoyt was employed as the first janitor of the new court-house at a sal- 
ary of $20 per month, and was continued in that official position without 
decreasing his salary until he died in 18S0, when he was succeeded by C. 
A. Rockafellow, the present janitor. In September 1879, a chain was or 
<3cred put up around the square. 

At the January session 1880 the new court-house was insured for $35,- 
000, being $3,500 in each of the following companies: The Fire Associa- 
tion, of Philadelpliia; Insurance Company of North America; Springfield 
Fire and Marine; Hartford; Home; ^Etna; North British and Mercan- 
tile; Glen's Falls; Pliojuix, of Hartford, and American, for five years. 

In June, 1881, a contract was made with the Cleveland "Wrought Iron 
Fence Company to put an iron fence around the square at $2,23 7-11 per 
lineal foot. 

The dimensions of tlie court-house basement are 97^x87^- feet and the jail 
occupies about one half of this space and the furnace, coal vault and water 
closet the other half. The jail is on the east end, in which there are three 
steel clad cells. 

The court-house proper is two stories high with mansard roof and a beau- 
tiful belfry on tlie center, with a clock face on each side. The belfry is sur- 
mounted by a life-sized statue of the blind goddess, with the scales in one 
band and a sword in the other. In the belfry is the complicated clock ma- 
ciiinery whicli keeps old father time from going to sleep, and strikes the 
bell each hour of tlie year, day and night. Tlie court house clock is the first 
thing noticed by strangers on entering the city. The court-house proper is 



i 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 435 

entered on the east and west by a flight of nine stone steps, entering a ves- 
tibule ten feet wide running through the building east and west. From 
this vestibule opening on either side are tlie count}' offices. Entering from 
tlie east the stairway to the court room commences just inside, and on the 
left is the Recorder's office, on the right the Treasurer's ofHce, and next on 
the left is the Clerk's office, and on the right the Auditor's office, next on 
the left is the Sherifl's office, and on the right the janitor's room; the next 
door is the stairway leading into tiie basement. The court room, County 
Superintendent's office and jury rooms occupy the next floor. 

This building is one the people can look upon with pride, as a fitting 
emblem of their prosperity. As we write this, the statue, 130 feet from 
the basement, is draped in mourning for our dead president, and as a coin- 
cidence, she has dropped the sword and stands merely holding the scales of 
justice. 

For the benefit of future generations, we will say that the old court-house, 
the "Institution," was sold in January, 1855, to D. C. Van Duyn and he 
moved it out on his farm, four miles southeast of Bloomlield, where it now 
stands, used as a dwelling, by J. T. Norris, who now owns the farm. The 
price paid by Van Duyn for it was $50. 

THE JAIL. 

The first jail was built in 1848; the board of commissioners, in January 
of that year, ordered that a jail be built on lot seven, block seventeen, in the 
town of Bloomfield. This jail was built of hewed logs, was about sixteen 
feet square, two story, the lower story having a double wall of logs, the space 
between the walls, about six inches, being filled with stone; there was no 
■door in the lower story, and the only means of entrance was by 
a stairway on the outside, and a trap door in the center of the floor 
in the upper story. Prisioners used to be sent down into this dungeon 
on a ladder, the ladder being then drawn up. No doubt the criminals 
all enjoyed this arrangement, as there is no record that they ever made any 
complaint. This institution did service as a place of criminal detention, 
with the aid of occasional repairs, until about the year 1877, when it was 
burnt down. Some time before it burnt a door had been cut in the wall of 
the lower floor, and during the winter, the prisoners had been trying to 
burn the door off its hinges with a red hot iron poker, and at the time it 
burnt down William Barton was confined in it for horse stealing, and tried 
the same experiment when the fire got beyond his Control, and he came very 
near losing his life. After some lively work with " Dennison's key," he 
was taken out in an unconscious condition. 



436 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

"Dennison's key" was a big fence rail, used as a battering ram. It was 
invented by a man named Dennison, who busted in a school-bouse door with 
this wonderful instrument, some years before, in Bloomlield. 

This old log jail was built by Willis Feagans, at a cost of something over 
$400. During the last few years of its existence, it was seldom used, on ac- 
count of its dampness and stinkativeness. And after it was burnt down, 
the prisoners of State were kept in the Ottumvva and Centreville jails, until 
the present court-house and jail were completed. The history of .the new- 
jail is identical with the court-house, and will be found under that head. 

COUNTY POOE-HOUSE AND FARM. 

The first record of any one becoming a county charge is found in the 
proceedings of the Board of County Commissioners at the October session 
1845, as follows:— 

Ordered, that Samuel Riggs be appointed as agent of the board to let out to the lowest 
and most suitable bidder the keeping of Sarah Bane, who has become a county charge, for 
the term of not more than six nor less than three months. That said Riggs give public no- 
tice agreeable to law of the time ami place when he will receive such proposals for keeping 
said Sarah Bane, and that on such day he receive slich proposals as may be made and let out 
the same to the lowest and most suitable person. 

And at tiie April session, 1846, is found the following entry: — 

Ordered, that Joseph B, McCoy be allowed twenty-three dollars and sixty-three cents for 
keeping and furnishing clothing to Sarah Bane, a county charge, as per account this day filed. 

The ne.xt poor account is the following: — 
April session, 1848. 

Ordered, that John Allen be appointed agent for the county to furnish George Titus and 
Sarah his wife, with such articles of clothing and provision as in his discretion he may 
think actually necessary and present his bill for the same to this board for allowance at their 
regular terms until countermanded by the board. 

This order was countermanded at the July session following. At th& 
Januai-y session 1850, is found the following entry: — 

It having been satisfactoi-ily proved that Elizabeth Mathew, a daughter of Wm. Mafehew, 
is a deaf and dumb person of the age of sixteen years, residing in the county; it is therefore 
ordered thnt, the clerk of this Board report said Elizabeth Mathew to the Superintendent of 
Public Instruction according to law. 

At the April session 1850: — 

Ordered by the Board that Matthew Fountain be allowed twelve dollars for keeping George 
Titus, a pan per. ■ 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 437 



At the same session : 



Ordered, that Matthew Fountain be allowed twenty-two dollars for keep George Titus, a 
pauper, from 19th of January up to the 6th April, 1850. 

At tlie July session 1S50: — 

Ordered, that Matthew Fountain be allowed twenty-six dollars for boarding Geo. Titus, a 
pauper. 

At the October session 1850: — 

Ordered, that Prudence Pickens be allowed thirteen dollars for boarding and taking care 
■of Margraret Bolder, a pauper. Payment up to this date. 

At same session: — 

Ordered, that Mutthew Fountain be allowed thirty-one dollars and sixty cents for boarding 
and clothing George Titus, a pauper. 

At same session: — / 

Ordered that Pardnn Kiown be allowed fifty-four dollars and sixty cents for keeping An- 
■drew Brown, pauper. Payment up to this date. 

The foregoing are some of the tirst items of pauper expenses to the county. 
It was not until 1861 that tlic county made a move to purchase a poor 
farm, as shown by supervisor's record November term 186-i, when it was, 

Renolred, That the board proceed at once to purchase a farm for a poor farm for Davis 
•county, Iowa, and that a committee be appointed to receive propositions and report at next 
meeting, and they be authorized to borrow money enough to buy the farm and to erect suit- 
able buildings thereon, not to exceed $4,000, at not more than ten per cent interest for said 
money, and that the committee be authorized to contract for said farm, subject to the ap- 
proval of this board. Said committee consists of M. H. Jones, William Evans and J. D. Dun- 
la vy. 

At tlie January term 1865:— 

On motion, the committee on the poor farm is authorized to buy the farm of David Shearer, 
containing 276 acres, at eleven <lollars per acre. 

On motion, one thousand dollars is to be transferred from the county funds to make the 
first payment on said farm. 

On motion, Hesolred by the Board, the committee on the poor fiirm, M. H. Jones, William 
Evans and J. B. Dunla vy, having bought a farm for three thousand and thirty-six dollars, 
and paid one tlwusand dollars on the same, they are authorized to l.iorrow two thousand and 
thirty-six dollars to pay the balance on said farm, according to contract, the interest not to 
exceed ten per cent. 

H. A. Wonn, G. W. Parsons and A. W. Sawyers, were appointed a committee to superin- 
tend the building of the poor-house. 

On motion, five hundred dollars was allowed for building the poor-house, and the com- 
mittee is authorized to draw on the treasurer for said five hundred dollars, and the treasurer 
is authorized to transfer said five hundred dollars from the county funds to the poor-house 
funds. And one thousand dollars was also changed to the poor-house fund to make the first 
payment on the farm. 



438 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

The following is the amount of the relief fund expended in 1844, by townships, as reported 
by the committee: 

Fox River township 1270.00 

Lick Creek township 270.00 

Grove township 83.00 

Salt Creek township 98.00 

Union township 33-5.00 

Soap Creek township 209.00 

Drakeville township 76.00 

Fabius township 200.50 

Prairie township 132.00 

Roscoe township 30.00 

Marion township 100.00 

Wyacondah township 408.00 

Perry township 60.00 

Bloomfield township • 246.90 

On motion, the following abstract of title was to be placed on record: 

United States to Jesse Fresh, December 20, 1847, e hf, ne qr section 15, township 69,. 
range 15. 

Jesse Fresh to John Brown, February 18, 1848, e hf, ne qr section 15, township 69, range 15. 

John Brown to David Shearer, August 4, 1854, ne qr section 1."), township 69, range 15, w 
hf ne qr section 22, township 69, range 15. 

United States to John Brown, February 5, 1849, w hf ne qr section 15, township 69, range- 
13, w hf ne qr section 22, township 69, range 15. 

John Brown to David Shearer, August 4, 1854, ne qr section 15, township 69, range 15, vr 
hf ne qr section 15, township 69, range 15. 

United States to David Shearer, November 4, 1851, ne qr se qr section 15, township 69^ 
range 15. 

David Shearer to Mark Noble, beginning se corner of ne qr se qr section 15, township 69, 
range 15; thence n 20 poles, w 32 poles, s 20 poles, e to beginning, containing four acres. 

There is now no incumbrance of any kind on the above tract of land, and the tax of 1865> 
is to be deducted from the purchase price. 

^^5^^^^^ M. H. Jones, 

j. d. dunlavy, 
William Evans, 

Committee. 

At the April session 1865, report of committee to conract buildmg on poor-farm, was ap- 
proved and placed on file. 

At same session, the committee appointed to purchase the poor-farm and to settle with 
David Shearer in reference to the same report that "we have paid to the said Shearer since the- 
last session of this board, the sum of two thousand and thirty-six dollars, of which sum we- 
borrowed from 

Sarah Hardy $ 500.00 

Sarah Hardy, guardian 500.00 

J. W. Ellis. 1,016.00 

Deducted for tax 20.00 

Total $2,036.00 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 439- 

" We also report that the loan from Ellis was only for a few days, and to be refunded at this 
session of the board. We have made arrangements with Mary Weir, for a loan of one thou- 
sand dollars, for one year (or such smaller sum as the board may require)." 

This report was referred to a committee, who recommended as follows, which on motion 
adopted : 

" We recommend that the county borrow five hundred dollars for one year, and that the sum 
of five hundred dollars be transferred by the treasurer from the county to the poor farm fund, 
and the clerk issue an order on said fund for five hundred and sixteen dollars, in favor of J. 
W. Ellis, on loan made from him." 

The deed for the ])oor-farm was executed by David Sliearer and wife to 
Davis county, February 17, 1875. 

DEED OF THE I'OOE-FARM. 

This indenture made and entered into on this 17th day of February, in the year of our 
Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, by and between David Shearer and Eliza- 
beth Shearer as grrantors, and Davis county, Iowa as grantee, witnesseth that the said grant- 
ors, for the consideration of three thousand and thirty-six dollars, to them in hand paid, do 
hereby sell and convey to Davis county, Iowa, the following property, to-wit; 

The northeast quarter of section fifteen, the west half of the northeast quarter of section 
twenty-two, and the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section fifteen, except four 
acres out of the last tract, described as follows : beginning at the southeast corner of the same 
and running thence north twenty poles, thence west thirty-two poles, thence south twenty 
poles, thence east to the place of beginning. All of said land being in township sixty-nine, 
north of range fifteen west, in Davis county Iowa, and the whole tract containing two hun- 
dred and seventy-six acres more ov less, in the county of Davis and State of Iowa, and the 
said David Shearer warrants the title against all persons whomsoever, except against taxes 
to accrue for the year 1865. In witness whereof we have hereunto signed our names this date 
above written. David Sheakek, 

her 

Elizabeth X Shearer. 

mark. 

State op Iowa, ) 
Davi.s County, f ^^' 

Be it remembered that on this 17th day of February, A. D. 1875, before me N. P. Reynolds 
a justice of the peace in and for said county, personally appeared David Shearer and Eliza- 
beth Shearer his wife, who are personally known to me to be the identical persons whose 
names are affixed to the above deed as grantors, and acknowledged the same to be their vol- 
untary act and deed for the uses and purposes therein written. In testimony whereof I have 
hereunto set my hand, N. P. Reynolds, the day and date above written. 

Attest: A. A. Hill, Recorder. 
Witness--S. G. Boyer. 
Aakon 0<5den, 

The contract for building house on poor-farm was approved by the board 
ftnd H. A. Wonn, G. W. Parsons and Allen Sawyers were a committee to 
rent poor farm on such terms as they may deem best, and also to contract 
for keeping paupers on said farm as soon as the building is completed. 



440 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

At the June session 1865, the committee on poor-farm was aiitiiorized to 
borrow money enough to complete the building in course of erection, and 
to harvest the crop or otiiervvise dispose of it. At the September session 
four hundred dollars was appropriated to pay for furniture and farming im- 
plements for tlie farm. It seems at tliis time the county was poor and had 
to give due bills drawing interest in payment of claims as shown by the fol- 
lowing: — 

October Session, 1865. 
On motion, Darko & Co. was allowed $301,97 for material furnished for poor-house and 
for cash advanced, 

$100.00 draw 10 per cent interest from September 20, 1865. 
42.25 draw 10 per cent interest from October 12, 1865. 
36.70 draw 10 per cent interest from September 13, 1865. 
122.52 draw 10 per cent intere.st from October 16, 1865. 
H. A. Wonn allowed for same, $121.65, to draw 10 per cent interest from October 1865. 

Three liundred dollars more was appropriated at this session to procure 
provisions for tlie poor-house, and it was ordered that no more temporary 
relief be granted to paupers by township trustees, except upon the approval 
of the supervisor residing in that township. 

On the 1st of October, the county contracted with George W; Parson, to 
take charge of the poor farm on the 1st of January, 1866. 

In January, 1866, H. A. Wonn was authorized to draw and expend $600 
. of the poor-house fund. 

In April, 1866, CI. W. Parsons was allowed $250 for keeping the poor 
farm for the quarter ending December 31, 1865. 

At the same session $300 more was appropriated from the poor-house 
fund, to be drawn and expended by H. A. Wonn, director. 

In June, G. W. Parsons was allowed $250, as salary for quarter ending 
March 81, 1866. And H. A. Wonn authorized to draw and expend $300 
out of the poor-house fund for the use of the same. 

In September, H. A. Wonn was authorized to draw and expend $375 on re- 
pairs and current expenses of the poor-house. And $-125 was appropriated on 
outstanding debt for the farm, and $250 to pay salary of G. W. Parsons for 
quarter ending March 31, 1866. 

In October, H. A. Wonn was authorized to draw and«expend $300 of the 
poor-house fund, for current expenses. He was also appointed a commit- 
tee to receive bids for letting the poor farm for 1S67, to be run on tlie same 
plan as heretofore; and to have the buildings insured in some good com- 
pany. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 441 

In Jauuarj', 1SC7, H. A. AVoiin was allowed $25 for services as director 
of the poor farm. 

The farm was let to John M. Wilkins for the year 1867; and George 
"W. Parsons was allowed $2.50 on the last quarter of his term. 

Seventy-five dollars was appropriated to buy sheep for the farm, under the 
direction of H. A. Wonn. 

H. A. Wonn resigned as poor house director, and $400 was appropriated 
for current expenses of the farm for 1867. 

C. M. llurless and E. B. Townsend were appointed poor house directors 
at the April session. At this session George W. Parsons was allowed $120 
for keeping poor house, and was also allowed $104.24 for same. 

Kooms were fitted up at this time in the poor house for insane patients. 

In June, 1S67, the poor farm directors were authorized to dispense with 
the services of Dr. Ilali, for said farm, and procure a better one. 

The first official visit of the board to the poor farm was made at the Sep- 
tember session, 1867. 

In October 1867, John AViikins was allowed his salary as Steward, up to 
the time he was notified to quit. II. A. Wonn was again appointed di- 
rector. 

In January, 1868, the poor farm director was authorized to contract let- 
ting the poor farm for the year, at not more than $400, tenant to live on 
and work the tarm as the director orders, and leave on the arbitrary order 
of said director. And $200 was appropriated for expenses. 
"^ A. Downing was contracted with as steward for the year, and in April 
$100 more was allowed as contingent expense for the farm. 

In June, $100 more was allowed for contingent expenses. 

In September $200 was appropriated for contingent expenses, and suita- 
ble buildings were ordered to keep insane patients in. Satmjel Downing 
was chosen director for the year 1869, vice Wonn. 

In November, $200 was allowed as contingent expenses. In January, 
1869, $300 was appropriated to erect new building on poor farm, and in 
April A^. Do\viiing was allowed $300 salary as steward, and $300 allowed as 
■contingent expanses, and in June $300 more for contingent. 

In September $200 from poor house fund allowed to pay claim of Drake 
■&Lockmari, and $500 allowed to fix up buildings. In October $50 allowed 
A. Downing, steward, and $200 contingent fund. A. Downing was re- 
tained as poor farm steward for 1870, at $600 per year. In January 1870 
S. B. Downing, poor farm director, reported for the year 1869, cash received 

8 



4i2 niSTOKY OF DAVIS C0T7NTY. 

$900.00; cash disbursed $779.85. This is the first report that can be found) 
of receipts and disbursements. 

lu April $500 of the poor farm debt was paid, and $300 allowed for con- 
tingent expenses. In October, 1870, W. Ewiug, Asa Wilson, and Wni. D, 
Evans, were ap])ointed acomniittee to sell the poor farm and purchase an- 
other nearer the city of Bloomfield, not more than 40 acres, and erect the 
necessary buildings. They were required to give bond in the sum of 
$10,000. 

:=:;, Alex Downing was employed as steward for the year 1871, and the poor 
farm director was ordered to find suitable homes for all the children in the 
poor house, and an appropriation of $300 was made for contingent expenses.. 

Peter Kunkle was appointed poor farm director (?) for this year. In June 
the Auditor was instructed to get S. S. Uarruthers to try and sell the poor 
farm. At the January session 1872 of the board Peter Kunkle was allowed 
$35as steward(?). E. B. Townsend was engaged as steward for the year 1872' 
at $750 a year. i 

Peter Kunkle was appointed poor farm directer for the year 1872, and in " 
June $150 was allowed for contingent expenses. In September $150 more 
allowed for contingent, and Peter Kunkle was appointed poor farm director 
for the year 1873. 

The following is the report of Peter Kunkle, poor farm director, for the 
year 1873, tiled January 5th 1874:— 

Eeceived of County Treasurer $200.00 

Disbursemen ts 264.00 

Amount of stock and produce on hand: 2 horses, 7 cattle, 20 sheep, 73- 
hogs, 10 bushels beans, 1^ barrels pickles, 4^ barrels molasses, 70 bushels- 
potatoes, 1,000 bushels corn, 175 bushels oats, 150 bushels wheat. Present 
number of paupers 18. Average number during the year 20. 

E. B. Townsend was appointed steward for 1874, and Peter Kunkle, di- 
rector. 

In September, three acres adjoining poor farm were bought of R. P- 
Coons, for $40. No report can be found of the year 1874. 

E. B. Townsend was continued as steward for the year 1875, and Peter 
Kunkle as director. A new building was ordered on the farm this year, at 
an expense of $150. 

It seems that during this year, the steward, E. B. Townsend, had some- 
trouble with a patient named Morrow, in which he shot Morrow in the leg. 
The board censured him for it, but continued him as steward. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUKTY. 44:3 

Eeport of poor farm for the year 1875: — 

Received of treasurer $290. 00 

Disbursements 291.60 

Four hundred and fourteen dollars and forty cents worth of produce was 
sold, and the proceeds expended for contingent expenses. 

Stock and produce on the farm December 31, 1875: 2 horses, 42 hogs, 
17 cattle, 41 sheep, 400 bushels corn, 200 bushels oats, 50 bushels potatoes. 
Number of inmates, 22. 

D. J. McConnell was elected director of poor farm for 1876, and E. B. 
Townsend, steward. No report can be found for this year. 

The stewardship was awarded to W. L. Minear for the year 1877. 

Report for the year 1877: — 

Total expended $797.47 

Total income 59.68 

Another report says: 

Cr $354.15 

Dr 354.15 

Samuel Russell, director, and John Gordon, Jr., awarded the stewardship 
for $300 for the year 1878. 
Report for the year 1878: — 

Number of inmates 21 

Deaths during the year 2 

Average cost of keeping paupers per week $1.20 

Average number of inmates for the year 15 

John Gordon continued as steward for the year 1879, and Samuel Russell 
director. 

Report for the year 1879:^ 

The farm contains 279 acres of second rate land, 190 acres fenced, 150 
acres in cultivation, and the balance brush and timber. 

Products for the year 1879: 1400 bushels of corn, 205 bushels of wheat, 
669 bushels of oats, 12 tons of hay, 125 bushels of potatoes, 50 bushels of 
turnips, 3,000 pounds of pork, 300 head of cabbage. 

Live stock on farm, 2 mules, 10 cows, 1 bull, 16 calves, 91 sheep, 34 hogs. 

Number of paupers , 14 

Number of deaths 2 

Value of products sold $319.86 

Average expense of keeping paupers, per week 1.00 



44-i HISTORY OK DAVIS COUNTY. 

No account filed of expenditures, in full. 

J. M. Roland was employed as steward for the year 1880, at $290 per 
year, and David Eaer was appointed director. 
Report for the year 1S80: — 

Total number of inmates 28 

Average nnmher of inmates 15 

Present number of inmates 16 

Deaths 3 

Births 1 

Total receipts for the year ^-v^. ,$ 787.52 

Total expenditures for the year 1,015.09 

J. M. Roland was continued as steward, at $330 per year, for the year 
1881. 

Thus concludes an account of the institutions established and maintained 
by Davis county. They are the promoters and purifiers of society — one, 
the arbiter of justice and order; another, the means by which the violators 
of law and order are held in subjection; and the other, an asylum of human- 
ity, for the care of the indigent, which society in all lands has in its midst. 



POLITICAL RECORD. 

The political history of iJavis county dates from the first election in April 
1844.j_ Our readers can appreciate the task, and understand many omissions 
wlieii we state that we had to obtain our information, solely from the origi- 
nal, musty, dusty, election returns, when they could be found at all, of all 

the early elections, for a great many years no record having been made of 
them. 

Stiles S. Carpenter was appointed clerk of the District Court, in and for 
Davis county, February 21, 18i4, by Hon. Chas. Mason judge. 

The following record signed by Stiles S. Carpenter, clerk of the District 
Court of Davis county, and dated March 11th, 1844, defines the election pre- 
cincts into which the county was divided for the first election: 



5 

Appanoose. 


2 

Dav 


1 

is. 


« 


3 


4 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 



445 



Precinct No. 1. election to be lield at the house of Benjatiiin Brooks: 
appointed Benjamin Brooks, Samuel Evans and Dooly Williamson, judges. 
Precinct No. 2. election to beheld at the bouse of Wm. J. Hawley: ap- 
pointed Francis C. Purnel, J. C. Roll, and Loyd A. Nelson judges. Pre- 
cinct No. 3, election to beheld at the house of Archibald Toombs: ap- 
pointed Jesse Dooly, Seaman Arterberry, and Joel Fenton, Esq's, judges. 
Precinct No. 4, election to be held at the house of Joseph Woodys, ap- 
pointed Bushrod W. (Jravcns, William Walker, and Hugh Abernathy 
judges. Precinct No. 5, election to be held at tlie house of Johnatlian F. 
Stratton: appointed Wm. Mooney, J. F. Strattoii, and Jas. Wright judges. 
Precinct No. 6, election to be held at the house of Norinon Scovells: ap- 
pointed Richard W. Davis, Josiah B. Packard, and James Wells judges. 

Election ordered to be held according to law on the first day of April, A. 
D. 1844. Election notices and notices to judges dated eleventh day of 
March, A. D. 1844. Stiles S. Carpenter, 

Clerk District Court, Davis county. 

First election held in Davis county, April 1, 1844; compiled from the 
original returns by precincts. 



CommisKtoner. 

E. M. Kirkham 

Wm. Evans 

Wm. Williv.mson 

Abratn Weaver 

F. Atchison 

Jos. McCoy 

W. W. Rankin 

Sam'l McAttee 

Jud<ie (if Probate Court, 

Miles Tatloclc 

Sam'l Mize 

W. Terril 

Treasurer. 

D, T. Pittman 



Calvi 



Lay; 



E. Chiwson 

County Caminissioners' Clerk. 
Jno. Banta 



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HISTOKY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 



Recorder. 

J. C. Rail 

Israel Ivister 

E. L. Eriggs. 

Sni'veyar. 

G. is. Lockman 

J.W.Ellis 

Assessor. 

S. B. Kirkham 

H. R. Taylor 

Saiu'l Evans 

Green Willis 

Sherif. 

Fortiinatns C. Hninble. 

W. I.. Hawley 

Sani'l Riggs 

A. i'lielps \ . 

Coroner. / 

Hirain English , 
=^Wm. McCorniicl/. 

Geo. Brnce 

Ins. of ^Y. and M. 

Geo. Titus 

A. S. Evans 



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1 





103 
132 

87 

159 
154 

80 
54 
93 

82 

106 
631 

88 
80| 

271 

109I 
361 

130 
13 



Tlie question of having a territorial convention for the purpose of adopt- 
ing a constitution, and applying for admission into the Union as a State, was 
voted on at this election, 216 votes being cast for the convention, and 135 
votes against it, in Davis county. (Convention assembled October 7, 1844.) 

AUGUST ELECTION, 1844. 

Delegatis to Constitutional Conven- County Commissioners. 

Hon. Willis Faught 189 

L. II. English 73 Wm. Gad dam 127 

J. H. Cowles 168 Wm. Walker 254 

Jesse C. Blankenshi]> 213 Abram Weaver 40 

Samuel H. McAttee 175 Seman Attenheny 104 

Wm. Faught 163 E. M. Kirkham 161 

J. F. Stratton 108 

Geo. Fitzgerald 51 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTl'. 



447 



Sherif. 

F. 0. Humble 34 

Loyd A. Nelson 87 

Fleming Mize / 78 

Daniel McCollum. ./. 51 

Wm. J. Hawley ./ 38 

" Wm. McCormick. 7 

Samuel Riggs 109 

County Recorder. 

Calvin Taylor 166 

Israel Kister 198 

Cleric of County Commissioneis. 

Franklin Street . . 237 

Elias L. Briggs 135 

No record of any further elections 



County Surveyor. 

Gabriel S. Lockman ... 197 

Cyrus Lafever 159 

Inspector of Weights and Measures. 

Wm. Shiekls 196 

Charles M. Jennings 133 

Coro7ier. 

Samuel Swearingin 6 

Riley Macy 120 

James Paris 12 

HVm. McCormick 9 

/ Judge of Probate Court. 

Miles Tatlock 231 

David Ileniell 82 

can be found until 1847. 



AUGUST ?:lkction, 1847. 



Board of Puhlic Works. 

H.W. Sample 

Geo. Wilson 

Paul Brattain 

P. B. Fagan 

Charles Corkery 



M. Dagger 



Congress — 1st District. 

Wm. Thompson 

J esse B. Brown 



Sheriff. 



R. Wilkinson , 
L. A. Nelson. , 
J. Q. Shelton . , 



Probate Judge. 

J. J. Earhart 

H. B. Horn 



332 
343 
361 
315 
345 
325 

370 
307 



290 
337 

28 



354 
291 



Prosecuting Attorney. 

S. S. Carpenter 

Pow. Ritchey 

County Commissioner. 

D. Wullinger 

Wm.Day 

Treasurer and Recorder. 

C. M. Jennings 

W. S. Stevens 

Clerk of District Court. 

Wm. Cameron 

R. W. Stuts 

Surveyor. 

J. W.Ellis 

G. S. Lockman 

Coroner. 

S. Evans 

R. Macy 



327 

258 

330 
323 

254 
394 

427 
227 

368 
265 

348 
312 



448 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 



AUGUST ELECTION, 1849. 



Probate Judge. 

J. J. Earhart 462 

II. B. Horn 289 

S. G. McAchren 345 

Sherif. 

Sanniel McAttee 454 

P. P. Herotl 321 

County Commissioner. 

Wm. Dnffield 399 

Isaiah Lowe 371 

Clerk of County Commissioners. 
Wm. Cameron 493 



4or 

345. 



Surveyor. 

John W. Ellis 

Gabrel S. Lockman . ...... 

Coroner. 

Abram H. Putman 420 

Wm. T. Johnson 334 

County Treasurer and Recorder. 
Wm. S. Stevens 355 

Sealer of Weights and Measui'es. 

Calvin W. Phelps 359 

James M. Paris 11& 



X 



APRIL ELECTION, 1850. 

School Fund Commissioners. 
Harvey A. Sloan 371 Harvey Dunlavey 345 

AUGUST ELECTION, 1851. 

County Judge. County Supervisor. 

H. W. Briggs 523 John Allen 417' 

S. S. Carpenter 462 W. Yonng 351 

A. H. East 140 W. Faiight 213 

Sherijf. Treasurer and Recorder. 

Samuel McAttee 732 W.S. Stevens 68» 

A. Phelps 363 Coroner. 

Surveyor. I. Atterberry 643: 

J. W. Ellis 533 A. Hopkins 432 

W. H. Cheever 484 



APRIL ELECTION, 1852. 

School Fund Commissioner. 

Harvey Dnulavey 317 George W. Lester. 

John K. Craig 146 

Jefferson Easly 134 



98 

George Britlgefarmer 8& 

Michael Rorainger 45 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 



U» 



AUGUST ELECTION, 1852. 



/State Senator. 

David P. Palmer 607 

Samuel G. McAchren 635 

Representative. 

Albert K. Duckworth 641 

John A. Drake 634 

Greenville Hazlewood 545 

Francis Eell 540 

A. H. East 100 

State Senator — District Composed 
of Davis, Appanoose, Wayne a7id 
Decatur counties. 

Amos Harris 1118 

James Wright 1010 



Representative — Same District. 

Abram H. Putnam 1091 

Manning Somers 98$ 

Clerk of District Court. 

William Cameron 660' 

Abram Weaver 244 

Lloyd A. Nelson 331 

Prosecuting Attorney. 

H. H. Trimble 630 

M. H. Jones 50* 

I. H. Grider 76 

Coroner. 

E. G. Reeves 84^ 



John Lang 6 

AUGUST ELECTION, 1853. 

Sherif. 
Samuel Kiggs 404 



William S. Martin 447 

James Kinsler 194 

Recorder and Treasurer. 

William S. Stevens 780 

David R. AV'ayland 151 

AUGUST ELECTION, 1855. 



Surveyor. 

Perrie C. Haynes 562 

Charles A. Clark 420 



Coroner. 

George W. Zeigler 485 

E. G. Reeves 445 



Cotmty Judge. 

S. A. Moore 1024 

s,H. Dnnlavey 377 

Sheriff. 

S. C. Crawford 970 

M. Snody 532 

J. Hopkins 38 



Treasurer and Recorder. 
George Duilleld . . 



926 



William Cameron 50* 

Count g Surveyor. 

Thomas Dnffield 1013 

G. 8. Lockman 371 



Coroner. 



J. H. Clark . 



961 



APRIL ELECTION, 1S56. 

Ditrict Judge. ' School Fund Commissioner. 

Caleb Baldwin 677 Stepiien Greenleaf 933 

H. B. Hendershott 669 — J. H. Dickeroff 496 



450 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 



Secretary of State. 

George Snyder 931 

Elijah Tello 844 

Auditor of State. 

James Pollard 945 

John Pattee 835 



Treasurer of State. 

George Paul 922 

M. L. Morris 846 

Attorney General. 

James Baker 937 

Samuel A. Kice 838 

Memher of Congress. 

August Hall 938 

John J. Selman 353 

Samuel R. Curtis 426 



AUGUST ELECTION, 1856. 

State Senator. 

H. H. Trimble 

John A. Drake 

Representative. 

David Mendenhall 

Barnet Miliser 

William Van Benthusen 

J. G. Philips 

Cleric of District Coiirt. 

Norman W. Cook 

Abram Weaver 

Prosecuting Attorney. 

Harvey Dunlavey 

M. H. Jones 

For Constitutional Convention . 
Aeainst Constitutional Con. . . 
For new court-house 



962 
825 

945 
913 

873 
864 

914 
903 



/ 



Against new court-house . 



896 
863 

561 
953 

471 
963 



PEESIDENTIAL ELECTION, NOVEMBER, 1856. 



Electors at Large. 
For Buchanan and Breckenridge, 

J. C. Hall 1014 

James C.Grant 1014 

For Fremont and Dayton, 

Williams. GraflF 753 

John P. Cook 753 

For Filmore, 

Daniel F. Miller 201 

Henry O'Conner 201 

District Electors— 1st District. 

D. O. Finch 1014 

G. G. McAchren 748 

William M. Stone 201 



District Electors— M District. 

A. H. Palmer 1013 

Isaiah Boothe '^51 

Samuel A. Russell 201 

William D. Evans 1 

Delegate to Constitutional Conven- 
tion. 

David P. Palmer 1025 

S. G. McAchren '^^^ 

W. D. Evans l^^ 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 



451 



APRIL ELECTION, 1857. 

Commiiisiojier Des Moines River 
im/provement. 



■Gideon S. Bailey 770 

Edwin Manning 431 



Register State Land Office. 

T. S. Parviu 781 

Wm. H. Holmes 412 

Superintendent Public Instruction. 

Matiirin L. Fisher 790 

L. II. Bnebee 402 



AUGUST ELECTION, 1857. 

County Judge. 

S. W. McAttee 978 

S. A. Moore 870 

Sheriff. 

R.Wilkinson 936 

S. Van Buskirk 811 

E. W. Grinstead Ill 

Treasurer and Recorder. 

Henry H. Cramer 996 

Wm. S. Stevens 872 

County Surveyor. 

O. S. Willey 1001 

A. Weaver 836 



Coroner. 

Lewis Ilendrix 1015 

F. West 828 

Ne^o Consiittition — Policy. 

For the Constitution 574 

Against the Constitution 1202 

For License 869 

Against License 677 

For striking " white " from Con- 
stitution 82 

Against striking " white " from 
the Constitution 1206 



OCTOBER ELECTION, 1857. 



Governor. 

Ben. M. Samuels 687 

R. P. Lowe 250 

John F. Henry 413 

Lieutenant Governor. 

G. W. Gillaspy 680 

Oran Faville 237 

Easton Morris 428 



Representative. 

Barnett Milliser 656 

J. C. Ruleman 176 

J ames Baker 541 

Floating Representative — Davis, 
Appanoose and Wayne Counties. 

Alonzo Sharpe 681 

Hiram Evans 587 



APRIL ELECTION, 1858. 

L County Superintendent of Schools. 

Harvey Dunlavey 680 O. D. Tisdale 159 

11. B. Horn 278 Wm. Cameron 5 

T. O. Norris S44 J. J. Shelton 3 



452 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 



SPECIAL ELECTION, JUNE 27, 1858. 

For State Bank of Iowa 588 For General Banking Law 399- 

Against State Bank of Iowa. . . 57 Against General Banking Law. 189' 

OCTOBER ELECTION, 1858. 

Clerk of District Court. 
Norman W. Cook 1051 Abram Weaver 761 



OCTOBER ELEi 

Governor. 

A.C.Dodge 1142 

S.J. Kirkwood 717 

Lieutenant Governor. 

L. W. Babbitt 1141 

N.J. Rusch 603 

■Judges of Supreme Court. 

Charles Mason 1146 

T. S. Wilson 1140 

C. C. Cole 1134 

R. P. Lowe 704 

L. D. Stockton 706 

Caleb Baldwin 711 

State Senator. 

C. Bussey 1085 

S. A. Moore 802 

Representatives. 

M. Hotchkiss 1111 

'H. Dunlavej 1087 

S. T. Caldwell 787 

Andrew Colliver 720 



CTioN, 1859. 

County Judge. 

S. W. McAttee 123T 

S. A. Snyder 63Qv, 

Treastirer and Recorder. 

PL H. Cramer 117()j 

R. T. Peake 72^1 

Sheriff. 

Thomas Bare 10331 

II. A. Spencer 789 

County Superintendent of Schools. 

Amos Steckel 1083 

Joseph McCarty 797 

County Swmeyor. 

G. S. Lockman 1115- 

J. A. Duckworth 755 

Coroner. 

C. A. Clark 1123: 

James A. Songer 74^ 

Drainage Commissioner. 

Win. O. Jackson 1133 

M.H.Jones 737 



NOVEMBER ELECTION, 1860. 



Electors at large. 
For Douglas and Johnson. 

Henry Clay Dean 1424 

Lincoln Clark 1424 

For Lincoln and Hamlin. 
Fitz Henrv Warren 843 



Joseph A. Chaplin 843 

Wm. II. Henderson . 226 

M. D. McHenry 226 

Gilbert C. R. Mitchell 25- 

Thomas S. Espy 25. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTV. 



453 



Elector— 1st District. 

M. B. Bennett 14^5 

M. L. McPherson 843 

C. W. Buyers 226 

James D. Test 25 

Elector— M District. 

Lejjfrand Bjington 1424 

Charles Pomeroy 843 

J.J. Lindley 226 

Jolin F. Duncomb 25 

Secretary of State. 

John M. Corse 1506 

Elijah Sells 826 

Auditor of State. 

G. W. Maxfield 1493 

J. W. Cattell S63 



Treasurer of State. 

J. W.Ellis 1591 

J. W. Jones 814 

Register of State Land Office. 

Patrick Robb 1498 

A. B. Miller 864 

Attorney Oe7ieral. 

Win. McClintock 1498 

0. C. JSTourse 875 

Judge Supreme Court. 

G. G. Wright 859 

D. F.Miller 729 

Member of Congress — Ltt District, 

C. C. Cole 1538 

S. E. Curtis '897 

Clerk of District Coxirt. 
N. W. Cook 1482 

D. C. Thomas 939 



V 



OOTOBEK EL 

State Senator. 

James Pollard 1214 

O. D. Tisdale 859 

Representatives. 

Harvey Dimlavey 1180 

David Ferguson 1235 

Wm. J.Hamilton 936 

Samuel Murdock 964 

County Judge. 

S. W. McAttee 1287 

J. H. Drake 889 

Sheriff. 

Henry C. Benge 1213 

Wm . J. Law 954 



ECTION, 1861. 

Clerk of District Court. 

Amos Steckel 1226 

S. S. Caruthers 947 

Treasurer and Recorder. 

H. Kelsy 1216 

J. B. Orlera 953 

County Suj>erlntende?it of Schools. 

J. B. Wright 1209 

Granville Battcrton 967 

County Surveyor. 

G. S. Lockman 1209 

O. S. Willey 967 

Coroner. 

George Clark 1198 

John Van Boskirk 947 



45i 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY 



SPECIAL ELECTION, FEBRUARY 4, 1862. 

State Senator. 



James Pollard 912 

O. D.Tisdale 18 

William Wilson 1 

William Morgan 8 

J. Russell 1 

" Gray, the butcher" 1 

Andrew Leach 1 

OCTOBER ELI 

Secretary of State. 

Rickard H. Sylvester 1208 

James Wright 701 

Atiditor of State. 

John Brown 1209 

J. Cattell 703 

Treasurer of State. 

Samuel L. Lorah 1208 

W. H. Holmes 697 

iRegister of State Land Office. 

Frederick Gottchalk 1207 

A. Harvey 698 

Attorney General. 

Benton J. Hall 1205 

C. 0. Nourse 703 

Meinber of Congress. 

Joseph K. Hornish 1207 

James F. Wilson 703 



B. Milliser. . . . 
A. B. Myers . . . 
"JefiF. Davis" . 
" Beauregard " . 
Richard Moore. 
A.T.Riley.... 
J. Mullinix 



2 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 



3CTI0N, 1862. 

District Judge. 

H. H. Trimble 125C 

H. Tannehill 652 

District Attorney. 

Amos Harris 1166 

M. H.Jones 738 

Member Board Education. 
Samuel M.Moore 658 

Clerk of District Court. 

William Cameron 1287 

J. J. Shelton 634 

Williams. Stevens 144 

County Superintendent Schools. 

Samuel T. Ballard 1201 

D. Russell 774 



OCTOBER ELECTION, 1863. 



/ 



State Senator. 

Samuel A. Moore 1357 

Harvey Dunlavey 1244 



Representative. 

Samuel T. Ballard 1295 

F. H. Carey 1331 

D. A. Hurst 1330 

J. M.Garrett 131S 



HISTORY OF DAVIS CODNTT. 



455 



Cotinty Judge. Coxmiy Superintendent Schools. 

Samnel W. McAttee 1345 Amos Steckel 1330 

"William S. Stevens 12S2 John Snoddy 1277 

Treasurer and Recorder. County Surveyor. 

H. Kcllej* 1317 George P. Clark 132G 

Samuel Fonts 1322 Z. B. Eooker 1300' 

^''^'-'ff- Coroner. 

11. C. Benge 1341 Howard Wiley 1334 

William Wishand 1268 



PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, NOVEMBER, 1864. 



Pi'esident. 

Abraham Lincoln . . . 1021 

George B. McClellan 968 

Vice President. 

Andrew Johnson 1022 

George H. Peddleton 968 

Secretary of State. 

James Wright 1023 

John H. Wallace 970 

Auditor of State. 

John A. Elliott 1023 

E.G. Hendershott 970 

Treasurer of State. 

William H. Holmes 1023 

J. B. Lash 970 

Register State Land Office. 

J. A.Harvey 1023 

B. D. Holbrook 970 



Attorney General. 

I. L. Allen 1023 

C. M. Dunbar 970 

Judge of Swpreme Court. 

C.C.Cole 1019 

T. M. Monroe 969 

Member of Congress. 

J. F. Wilson 1023 

J. K. Hornish 971 

State Senator. 

S. A. Moore 1009 

N. W. Cook 973 

Clerk District Court. 

William J. Law 1013 

H. H. Cramer 981 

County Recorder. 

A. H.Hill 1024 

Israel Jenkins 971 



*Mr. Kelley gave notice that he woukl contest the election of Samuel Fonts as Treasurer. 
The clay set for trial was March 16, 1864. The Board of Supervisors ordered that no cer- 
tificate be issued until the contest was decided. The case was never tried. Mr. Kelley 
was the prior incumbent and held over until October 17, 1864, when he tui-ned the office 
over to Mr. Fonts, although there is no record that a certificate was given to him. 



45« 



HISTORY OF DAVIS OOUNTr. 



OCTOBKE ELECTION, 1865. 

Governor. 

Wm. M. Stone 1185 

Thomas H. Benton, Jr 1072 

Lieutenant Governor. J 



B. F. Gne 1194'' 

W. W. Hamilton 1062 

Judge of Supreme Court. 

O. G. Wright 1194 

H.H.Trimble 1060 

/Superintendent of Public Instruc- 
tion. 

Oran Faville 1200 

J. W. Sennett 1060 

Hepresentutivefi — 3d District. 

J. M. Garrett 1207 

H. C.Traverse 1202 

Wm. A. Duckworth 1050 

James C. Ewing 1058 

County Judge. 

Wm. Van Bentluisen 1191 

Samuel W. McAttee 1070 



County Treasurer— full term. 

li. T. Peak 1210 

James Dunlavej 1055 

County Treasurer — vacancy. 



K. T. Peak 1211 

J ames D unlavey 1055 

Sherif. 

John W. Scott 1200 

S. J. Woodson 1050 

County Surveyor. 

J. M. Hughes 1201 

O. W. G. Avery 1062 

County Superintendent of Schools. 

Samuel Dysart 1205 

G. Batterton 1058 

Coroner. 

H. M. York. 1200 

Jolin S. Morgan 1063 



OCTOBER ELECTION, 1866. 

Secretary of State. Register State Land Office. 



Edward Wright 1402 

S. G. Vauanda 1124 

Auditor of State. 

John A. Elliott 1401 

K. W.Cross 1125 

Treasurer of State. 

Samuel E. Kankin 1401 

George A. Stone 1125 

Attorney General. 

F. E. Bissell 1401 

Web. Ballinger 1125 



C. C. Carpenter 1402 

L. P. McKiuney 1125 

Reporter of Supreme Court. 

E. H. Stiles 1400 

A. Stoddard 1125 

Clerk of Supreme Court. 
C. L. Linderman 1402 

F. Gottschalk 1125 

Member of Congress. 

James F. Wilson , 1401 

Fitz Henry Warren 1117 





.0 



•5^:. 



^0/i^i^juj^ (^jiu,4d.£^^£^. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 



457 



District Judge. Clerh of District Court. 

H. Tiinnehill 1374 E. W. Tatlock 1366 

H. H. Trimble 1146 John M. Swan 1136 

District Attorney. County Recorder. 

J. B. Weaver 13S9 A. H. Hill 1406 

A. Harris 1129 

GENERAL ELECTION, 1867. 



Governor. 

Samuel Merrill 1327 

Charles Mason 1219 

JLieutenant Governor. 

John Scott 1327 

D. M.Harris 1222 

Judge of Supreme Court. 

J. M. Beck 1326 

John H. Craig 1221 

Superintendent of Public Instruc- 
tion — vacancy. 

D. F. Wells 1327 

M. L. Fisher 1223 

Superinte7ident of Puhlic Instruc- 
tion—full tei'tn. 

D. F.Wells 1327 

M. L. Fisher 1223 

State Senator. 

■R C. Traverse' 1269 

John M.Sloan .• 1235 



Representatives. 

W. G. Wilson 1315 

J. M. Garrett 1317 

Freeman Bell 1228 

Thomas Bare 1223 

County Judge. 

Wm. Van Benthusen 1315 

Andrew Dunn 1214 

County Treasurer. 

H. Nulton 1281 

H. H.Cramer 1259 

Sherif. 

Dau'l Bradbury 1302 

Sam'l Cowen 1229 

County Superintendent of Schools. 

J. W.Young 1319 

Israel Jenkins 1246 

Surveyor. 

J. E. Patterson 1322 

G. P. Clark 1214 

Coroner. 

Edward Grinstead 1318 

H. C. Benge 1216 



PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, 1868. 

President. Secretary of State. 

U.S. Grant 1520 Ed Wright 1520 

Jloratio Seymour 1410 David Hammer 1410 



9 



458 



HISTOKT OF DAVIS COUNTY. 



Auditor of State. 

John A. Elliott 1520 

H. Duiilavey 1381 

Treasurer of State. 

S. E. Rankin 1520 

L. McCarty 1110 

Register of State Land Office. 

C. C. Carpenter 1520 

A. D. Anderson 1110 

A ttorn ey Genera I. 

Henry O'Connor 1520 

J. E. Williamson 1110 



Member of Congress. 

Geo. W. McCrary 1518 

Thomas W. Claggett 1412 

Judge of Circuit Court. 

Robert Sloan 1507 

E. L. Burton 1423 

H.H.Trimble 1 

Clerk of Coxirts. 

A. PI. Hill 1519 

Israel Jenkins 1411 

County Recorder. 

H.M.York 1521 

Martin Snoddy 140& 



There were five amendments to strike the word " white " out of the con- 
stitution of Iowa, submitted to the people at this election, on each of whic' 
the vote in this county was, for the amendments, 1278; against the amend 
ments, 1542. 

OCTOBEE ELECTION, 1869. ' 



I 

1 



Goveriior. 

Samuel Merrill 1320 

George Gillaspy 1195 

Lieutenant Governor. 

M. M. Walden 1319 

A. P. Richardson 1196 

Judge Supreme Court. 

JohnF. Dillon 1320 

William F. Brannon 1196 

Superintendent Puhlic Instruction 
— fill vacancy. 

A. S. Kissel 1319 

H. O. Dayton 1196 

Superintendent Puhlic Instruction 
— full term. 

A. S. Kissell ... 1319 

H. O. Dayton 1196 

Representative — 1th District. 

T. O. Norris 1305 

H. A. Wonn 1211 



County A^iditor. 

William Van Benthusen 1307 

F. S. Wilson 118T 

County Treasurer. 

Henry Nulton 1337 

H. Kelsey 1170 

Sherif. 

Daniel Bradbury 1292 

J. W. Gore 1196 

County Superintendent Schools. 

A. M. Post 1223. 

Moses Downing 1255 

Surveyor. 

Thomas Duffield 1335- 

T. D. Brown 1178 

Coroner. 

T. C. Chapman 131G 

H. C. Benge 1194 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 



459 



OCTOBER ELECTION, 1870. 



Judge Supreme Court. 

C. C. Cole 1261 

S. C. Kiiapp 1301 

Judge Supreme Court — Dillon va- 
cancy. 

William E. Miller 1308 

Reuben Noble. 1272 

Judge Suj)reme Court — Wright vk- 
cancij. - 

James G. Day 1307 

Henry P. Smyth 1271 

Secretary of State. 

Ed Wright 1309 

Charles Doer 1270 

Auditor of State. 

John Eussell 1308 

W. W. Garrett 1271 

Treasurer of State. 

Samuel E. Rankin 1308 

William C. James 1270 

Register State Land Office. 

Aaron Brown 1 308 

D.F.Ellsworth 1270 

Attorney General. 

Henry O'Connor 1307 

Hugh M. Martin 1272 



Reporter Sxipreme Court. 

E. H. Stiles 2211 

C. II. Bane 1161 

J. L. Sheahan 40 

Clerh Supreme Court. 

Charles H. Linderman 1308 

William M'Clenan 1256 

Convention. 
For Constitutional Convention. 177 
Against Constitutional Con 1402 

Meviber of Congress. 

George W. McCrary 1310 

Edmond Jager 1271 

Henry Clay Dean 1 

Judge of District Court. 

M. J. Williams 1316 

B. Millison 4 

District Attorney. 

M. H. Jones ... 1202 

Amos Harris 1336 

Clerk of the Coxirts. 

A. H. Hill 1322 

David Baer 1259 

County Recorder. 

H. H. Jones 1218 

H. Willey 1289 



OCTOBER ELECTION, 1871. 



Governor. 

C. C. Carpenter 1406 

J. C. Knapp 1389 

Lieutenant Governor. 

H.C.Bulis 1409 

M. M.Ham 1389 



Judge Supreme Court. 

J. G. Day 1424 

J. F.Duncombe 1396 

Superintendent Puhlic Instruction. 

A. Abernethy 1411 

E. M. Mumm 1395 



400 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY^ 



State Senator'. 

T. 0. Norris 1383 

H. A. Woim.... 1413 

RejM'esentative. 

James II. Lucas 1 386 

IsaacBlakely UOO 

County Auditor. 

"William Van Beiitbusen 1402 

Moses Downing 1380 

Comity Treasurer. 

Henry Nulton 1421 

Samuel Cowen 1367 

Sheriff. 

E. B. Townsend 1350 

John McKibbon 1442 



County Superintendent Schools. 

E. J. Turner 1320 

Israel Jenkins 1468 

Member Board of County Supervi- 
sor a. 

W. S. Monroe 1409 

Aaron Burgher 1393 

County Sxtrveyor. 

Thomas Duffield 1449 

J. H. Henson , 1348 

Coroner. 

C. D. Chajiman 1401 

C. A. Clark 1387 



PKESIDENTIAL ELECTION, NOVEMBER, 1872. 



President. 

U.S.Grant.. 1582 

Horace Greeley 1255 

Secretary of State. 

Josiah T. Young 1585 

S. A. Gnilbert 1388 

Treasurer of State. 

William Christy 1585 

M.J. Eholfs 1388 

Audior of State. 

John Kussell 158'6 

J. P. Cassady 1388 

Register State Land Office. 

Aaron Brown 1585 

Jacob Butler 1388 

Attorney General. 

M. E. Cutts 1585 

A. G. Case 1390 

Attorney General — to fill vacancy. 
M. E. Cutts 913 



Member of Congress. 

William Longhbridge 1451 

H. H.Trimble 1484 

Jiidge Circuit Court. 

Kobert Sloan 1595 

E. L. Burton 1383 

Clerk of Courts. 

A.H. Hill 1584 

J.E.Wallace 1391 

County Record-er. 

William Yotaw 1559 

Howard Willey 1365 

Member Board of Supervisors. 

Peter Kunkle 1526 

John Edwards 1453 

Court House. 

For Court-House Tax.. 598 

Against Court-House Tax 1842 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 



461 



OCTOBER ELECTION, 1873. 



Governor. 

C. C. Carpenter 1222 

J.G. Vale ; 1252 

Bill Allen 1 

Lieutenant Governor. 

Joseph Dysart 1231 

C.E. Whiting 1246 

Judge Supreme Cour't. 

J. M. Beck 1226 

B. J. Hall 1263 

Superintendent Public Instruction. 

A. Abernethy 1238 

F. W. Prindle 1242 

Representative. 

W.S.Monroe 1246 

A. B. Lewis 1223 

Member Board of Supervisors. 

J. P. Fortune 1267 

Irwin Swinnev 1195 



County Treasurer. 

H. Nuiton 1269 

A. B.Collins 1210 

County Auditor. 

C. S. Lowe 1230 

J. W. Clayton 1247 

Sheriff. 

J. M. Lain 1120 

John McKil)bon 1368 

County Superintendent Schools. 

S. Swartzeiidrover 966 

I. Jenkins 1519 

County Surveyor. 

Thomas Duffield 1439 

John Henson 9 

Coroner. 

D.Hill 1214 

P. W. Tost 1281 



OCTORER ELECTION, 1874. 

Secretary of State. Register of State Land Office. 



J. T. Young 1207 

David Morgan 1178 

Auditar of State. 
B. E. Sherman 1208 



David Secor 1208 

R. H. Rodearmel 1174 

Clerk of Sujyreme Court. 
E. J.Holmes 1207 



J. M.King 1174 G. W. Ball 1177 



Treasiirer of State. 

^"^m. Cliristj 1207 

^H. C. Hargis 1174 

Attorney General. 

M. E. Cntts 1207 

J. M. Keatley ....1175 



Reporter of Supreme Court. 

J. S. Rnnnells 1208 

J. M. Weurt 1176 

Member of Congress. 

E. S. Sampson 1160 

E. N. Gates 1202 



462 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 



Judge of District Court. 

M. J. Williams 1128 

J. C. Knapp 1265 

District Attorney. 

T. M. Fee ...: 1131 

J. C. Mitchell 1116 

Clerk of the Courts. 

A. H. Hill 1208 

J. H. Hensen 1189 



County Recorder. 

Will. Yotaw 1251 

Jasper Eniraley 1121 

Member of Board of Supervisors. 

C. Harward .1146 

H. H. Cramer. 1244 



OCTOBEK ELECTION, 1875. 



Governor. 

Samuel J. Kirkwood 1485 

Shepherd Leffler 1584 

Lieutenant Governor. 

J. G. Newbold 1492 

E. B. Woodward 1581 

Superintendent Puhiic Instruction. 

A. Aberriethy 1492 

Isaiah Doanc 1582 

Judg Supreme Court. 

A. Adams 1492 

J. W. Knight 1583 

Sheriff. 

John McKibbon 1755 

J. K. Warrington 1346 

County Superintendent of Schools. 

I. F. Jenkins 1699 

M. M. Bojer 1325 

County Sup)ervisor. 

D. J. McConnell 1558 

P. CoUiver 1501 

Coi'oner. 

J. M. Duffield 1514 

S. S. Garruthers 63 



State Senator. 

H. A. Wonn 1596 

J. B. Weaver 1459 

Representative. 

L. D. Hotchkiss 1576 

Albert Powers 1469 

County Auditor. 

J. W.Clayton 1630 

W. T. Deupree 1423 

County Treasurer. 

J. M. Sloan 1564 

Win. S. Stevens 1508 



Surveyor. 
Thomas Dnffield 



,1650 



Court House. 

For Court House tax 1404 

Against Court House tax 1133 

For Court House on Public 

Square 1464 

Against Court House on Pub- 
lic Square 182 



HISTORY OV DAVIS COUNTY. 



463 



PEESIDENTIAL ELECTION, NOVEMBER, 1876. 



President. 

R. B. Hayes 1587 

S. J. Tilden 1031 

Peter Cooper 138 

Moiiber of Congress. 
H. B. Hendershott 1657 

E. S. Sampson 1555 

D. M. Conley 182 

Judge CircMit Court. 
Eobert Sloan 1735 

Clerh of the Courts. 

W.H.Taylor 1692 

Jolin Elliott 1551 

F. W. Moore 107 



County Recorder. 

Wm. Votaw 1622 

A. C. Lester 1624 

Wm. Davison 114 

County Supervisor— full term. 

Samnel Russell 1681 

J. W. Milligan 1547, 

County Supervisor — short term. 

H. A. Spencer 116 

W. A. Duckworth 1535 

Robert Eggleston 1710 



OCTOBER ELECTION, 1877. 



<Governor. 

John H. Gear 893 

John P.Irish 1231 

Daniel P. Stubbs 803 

Elias Jessup 12 

Lieutenant Governor. 

Frank T. Campbell 924 

W. C. James 1230 

A. M'Credy 788 

Judge Supreme Court. 

H. E. J. Boardman 1231 

James G. Day 924 

John Porter 788 

Superintendent Public Instruction. 
G. W. Cullison.... 1219 

C. W. Von Coelon 902 

S. T. Ballard 805 

Representative. 

L. D. Hotchkiss 1221 

H. C. Traverse 980 

D. P. Palmer 729 



County Auditor. 

H. Kelsey 1242 

William Yotaw 1074 

J. W. Hotchkiss 615 

County Treasurer. 

J.M.Sloan 1339 

J. B. Sheatfer 863 

J. E. Reed 730 

Sheriff. 

John McKibbon 1399 

L. G. Turner 942 

H. A. Spencer 590 

County Superintendent Schools. 

I.F.Jenkins 1310 

A. J.Devault 917 

Samuel Kinsinger 662 

Coroner. 

W.S.Kinney 1234 

J. D. Earhart 921 

S. W. Lakin 783 



464 



HISTORY OF DAV IS COUNTY. 



County Supervisor. 

J. C. Leach 1216 

Eobert Eggleston 1003 

J. M. Hatch 718 



Surveyor. 

D.B. Blosser ..1249'i 

Thomas Duffield 1046 



OCTOBEK ELECTION, 1878. 

Secretary of State. 

E. M. Farnsworth 1566 

J. A. T. Hull 924 

T.O.Walker 85 



Reporter Hupreme Court. 

John B. Elliott 

John S. Kunnells 



Aditor of State. 

Joseph Eiboeck 2066 

Baren R. Sherman 875 

Treasurer of State. 

M. L. Devin 1585 

George W. Bemis 883 

E. D. Feun 6 

Register State Land Ofice. 

M. Farrington 1561 

J. K. Powers 892 

T. S. Bardwell 5 

Attorney General. 

John Gibbons 2075 

John McJunkin 872 

Judge Supu'eme Court. 

J.C. Knapp 2076 

J. H. Rothrock 888 

Cleric Supreme Court. 

Alexander Runyon 1577 

E. J.Holmes 882 

M. V. Gannon 6 



Member of Congress. 

James B. Weaver 

E. S. Sampson 

Judge District Coiirt. 

E. L. Burton 

T. M. Fee 



. 2086'. 
. 875- 

,157T 
. 947 



District Attorney. 

R. B. Townsend 

W. H. Tedford 



Clerk of the Courts. 

W.H.Taylor 

C. W. Stephenson 

W. A. Davison 



County Supervisor. 

David Baer 

C. J. Martin 

E. Tonne: 



Co^mty Recorder. 

A. C. Lester 

G. B. Beveridge 

H. CEthell 



.2116 
. 85& 

.2103 

. 885 

.1417 
. 664 
. 971 

.1222 
. 67» 
.1141 

.1426 
. 630 
. 98& 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 



465- 



OCTOBER ELECTION, 1879. 



Governor. 

John II. Gear 980 

11. H. Trimble Iu84 

Daniel Campbell 1172 

D. K. Duugan ^2 

Lieutenant Governor. 

Frank T. Campbell 997 

J. A. O. Yeoman 1106 

M. H.Moore 1172 

Judge Supreme Court. 

J. M. Beck 990 

Eeuben Noble 1110 

M. H. Jones.. 1165 

Superintendent Pullic Instruction. 

C. W. von Coellin 996 

Erwin Baker 1118 

J. A.Nash 1169 

State Senator. 

H. C.Traverse 1054 

T. O. Walker 1102 

W. A. George.... 1110 

Representative. 

J. P. Fortune 955 

G. M. Swain 1140 

\S. B. Downing 1172 



? 



County Auditor. 

John Elliott 962 

H.Kelsey 1125 

W. S. Stevens 1193 



County Treasurer. 

S. M. Eppley 114» 

J. M. Sloan 1077 

J.E. Sheaffer 1056 

Sherif. 

T. D. Doke 1006 

John Davis 1190 

B. F. Wilson.... 1088 

County Stoperintendent Schools. 

William K. Gibson 975 

K. W. Anderson 1197 

S. T. Ballard 1083 

County Surveyor. 

Thomas Duffield 1058 

D. B. Blosser 1124 

John H. Freeman 1099 

Coi'oner. 

E. B. Townsend 999 

J. S. Selman 1123 

Dempson Hill 1155 

County Supervisor. 

W. S. Monroe 980 

A. King 1141 

G. W. McCnllongh 1161 



466 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 



PRESIDENTIAL KLECTION, NOVEMBER, 1880. 

President. Attorney General. 

James A. Garfield 11*3 gmitli McPlierson 1145 

W. S. Hancock 1207 W. A. Spurrier 1213 

J.B. Weaver .....1215 c. A. Clark 1210 

Member of Congress. Judge Circuit Court. 

M.E. Cutts 1167 H.C.Traverse 1231 

J.C. Cook 2358 d h. Payne 965 

T. O.Walker.. 1 J. W. Freeland 1363 

Secretary of State. Clerk of the Courts. 

J. A. T. Hull 1155 D. Duffield 1131 

G. M. Walker 1206 J. B. Welch 1149 

A.B. Keith 1203 W. H. Taylor 1279 

Auditor of State. 



W. V. Lucas 1146 

G. y. Swearingen 1213 

C. I. Barker 1210 

Treasurer of State. 

E.H. Conger 1145 

M. Farrington 1214 Maggie L. Smith 1056 



County Supermsor. 

Jeremiah Miller 1122 

Al. Power 1230 

Levi Beauchamp 1214 



M. Blim 

Register State Land Office. 

J. K Powers... 1146 

Thomas Hooker 1218 

Daniel Dougherty 1210 



County Recorder. 

L. Smith 

1210 ^^^^- -^^"2 "'■^^^ 



A. C.Lester 1297 



HISTOEY OF DAVIS CODNTT. 



467 



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468 HISTOEY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

FINANCIAL REVIEW. 

The financial history of Davis county is, in the main, creditable to it* 
people and officials. In the early days, the public business covered so little 
ground, but little attention was required to keep the records, compared with 
its complicated character of to-day; yet, owing to the scarcity of rightly- 
made books, it was no small task for the officers to manage their affairs as 
they should do, and keep connectedly and consecutively, clear records of 
everything so as to be understood by posterity, when the makers thereof 
had gone where such records are not kept. The early-day officials, too often 
trusted to memory, or made scrap memorandums, not now easily distin- 
guished. And now, too, many of these papers appertaining to the early 
business are known to be lost, no regularity and system having been ob- 
served in their care and preservation. Some excuse can be offered in behalf 
of the first officials, many of whom had no previous training in public busi- 
ness, and, as said before, they had no books, and generally affairs were in an 
embryotic state. 

In those days the office of treasurer was combined with that of recorder 
and collector. He had not only a business headquarters, and the custody of 
the public funds, hut it was also a ])art of his duty to call upon delinquent 
tax-payers, in order to secure tlieir assessments. Coupled with these onerous 
duties was rather inadequate remuneration, and but few men sought the 
places, perhaps because theemoluments tliereof were not sufficient to warrant 
any energetic effort. It was reserved for another generation to seek office for 
the spoils. In the early days salaries were meagre, and the temptation to )ise 
the public funds — the guards thrown around and the methods of examina- 
tion not being equal to those now existing — was stronger oftimes than the 
determination to do right. Witliout desiring to make any invidious com- 
parisons between the past and the present, it may not be improper to say, 
that the county treasury contributed more often to the funds of private in- 
dividuals, than the reverse. Altliough enterprise has impelled the expendi- 
ture of man}' thousands of dollars for county buildings, seiiool-houses, 
bridges, etc., yet every dollar of county obligations has been met at matur- 
ity, and the county has no debt. Davis county warrants are worth one hun- 
dred cents on the dollar, a fact which but few western counties can announce 
to the world. 

In this connection it may not be uninteresting to give some generali 
observations and f^icts concerning taxation, and the process by which various 
countries succeed in obtaining revenue from willing, but more often un- 
willing subjects. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 469 

"What are taxes? Cooley, in his work on the " Law of Taxation," says: 

Taxes are the enforced proportional contribution of persons and property, levied by the 
a,uthority of the State for the support of the government and for all the public needs. * * 
The citizen and property owner owes to the government the duty to pay taxes, that the gov- 
ernment may be able to perform its functions, and he is supposed to receive his proper and 
fiiU compensation in the protection which the government affords to his life, liljerty and pi'op- 
•erty, and in the increase to the value of his possessions by the use to which the money con- 
tributed is applied. 

Adam Smith's well-known maxims — foui- in number — are indorsed by a 
majority of inodern writers on the principles of taxation. John Stuart 
Mill, in a preface to tiiis quotation, says " they are classical," and are "gen- 
erally concurred in by subsequent writers." The four famous utterances 
have been condensed, in substance, as follows: 

First. — The subjects of every State ought to contribute to the support of the government, 
ae nearly as possible, in proportion to the revenue which they enjoy under the protection of 
■the State. 

Second. — The tax which each subject should pay, ought to be certain, and not arbitrary. 
The time, manner of payment, and the amount ought to be thoroughly understood by the con- 
stitution, and by everybody else. When this is not the case, every person subject to the tax 
is more or less in the power of the assessor, or tax gatherer, who can either aggravate the 
itax upon any obnoxious contributor, or extort by the teiTor of such aggravation some pres- 
ent or perquisite for himself. The uncertainty of taxation encourajfes the insolence, 
.and favors the corruption of an order of men who are naturally unpopular, even where 
they are neither insolent nor corrupt. The certainty of what each man ought to pay, is a 
matter of so great importance, that a small degree of uncertainty is a greater evil than a 
■considerable degree of inequality. 

Third. — Every tax ought to be collected at the time, or in tlie manner, most likely to be 
most convenient to the contributor. A tax on lands should be collected at the time when rents 
are usually paid. 

Fourth. — Every tax ought to be so continued, as both to take out and keep out of the pock- 
ets of collectors as little as possible over and above what it brings into the public treasury. 
There are four ways in which the tax-payers can pay more money than the State receives. 
•One of these is to be found in a complex and cumbersome system of collection, whereby a 
large amount of machinery may be employed whose cost of running may involve a consid- 
erable amount of the taxes received. In the second place it is calculated to divert a portion 
•of the labor and capitiJ of the community from a more to a less productive employment. In 
the third instance, those who incur forfeitures by attempting to evade are frequently ruined, 
and thereby, the community is deprived of the advantage which would result from the em- 
ployment of their capital. And again, in this case, an injudicious tax creates great tempta- 
tions to smuggling. The fourth manner in which more may be taken out of the tax- 
payer's pockets than gets into the public treasury, is to be found in the frequent visits and 
■odious examinations of revenue agents, which are not only expensive and vexatious, but they 
have the tendency, by their restrictive character, to oppose obstacles to improvements in the 
processes of manufacture. 

It may be said that all taxation in civilized countries is founded upon 



470 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTT. 

these maxims,^ith little, if any variation. There can be no dispute as to- 
the value of the principles involved in them; it is only in their interpreta- 
tion and application that there have arisen differences. These differences 
apply more especially to the tirst maxim, and involve the methods of secur- 
ing the equality of taxation, and which is, at this time, the problem which 
statesmen and economic writers are trying to solve. In fact, every system 
is an attempt to secure a revenue through some system which will produce 
the smallest degree of inequality. To secure this, there have been tried a 
thousand and one forms of taxation. 

The people of the United States, of Iowa, of Davis county, know but 
little of the burdens of taxation. Here the taxes are merely local, so far 
as the great majority of the people is concerned; the levy being confined 
to real estate and personal property. The people of this country contribute 
little or no tax toward the support of the national government, unless they 
indulge in the use of spirituous and malt beverages and tobacco. From 
these unnecessary luxuries, and other things not absolutely necessary to the 
needs and comfOrts of the masses, the national government derives the 
o-reater part of its revenue. We frequently hear a great many platiudes 
and theories concerning the burdens of taxation imposed by the American 
system of protection. We read in the free-trade journals about taxes upon 
every acticle which enters into the mouth, or covers the back, or is placed 
under the feet — taxes upon everything which is pleasant to see, hear, feel, 
smell, or taste — taxes upon warmth, light, locomotion — taxes on everything 
on earth, and everything under the earth — on everything that comes from 
abroad, or is produced at home — taxes on raw material — taxes on every 
fresh value that is added to the world by the industry of man — taxes on the 
sauce which tempts man's appetite, and the drug that restores him to health 
— on the coat worn by the judge, and the rope which hangs the criminal — 
on the poor man's salt and the rich man's spice — on the nails of the coffin 
and the ribbons of the bride, and so on, ad nauseum. Even startling lists- 
of articles and figures are given, until one is almost lead to believe that the 
government really devours the substance of its subjects. But how unreal 
-the picture! No country under the shining sun is more prosperous than 
ours; indeed, in no land does an equal degree of prosperity exist among the' 
entire people, as in the United States. Our space forbids a comparison be- 
tween the American people and those of other countries; sufiice it, how- 
ever, to say that every steamship from foreign lands bears to our shores 
those who seek, and here obtain, the liberty and happiness they fail to secure 
on their native soil. 

But in relation to the question of how to make all bear an equal share in 



a 



■HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 471 

their contributions to tlie governmental supjD^rt. The general assembly of 
Iowa wrestles with the question at every session. The late auditor of State 
— Mr. Sherman — in his official report to the eighteenth general assembly, and 
in contributions to the press, presented clearly and forcibly, the inequalities of 
the present assessment laws of the State. The problem of just how to frame 
them with justice to all, is as yet, in process of solution. This is because 
it is not settled. There are as many systems of taxations in existence, as 
there are governments having the power to tax. Scarcely any two States 
in the American Nation have precisely the same methods, and there is about 
as much dissimilarity in the processes of the various governments of the 
world. Each raises a revenue which is entirely unlike. Not only are there 
a great varietj' of methods of thus getting money, but there are multitudes 
of theories clamoring for trial in this regard. Kight here, however, it may 
be said that most countries are agreed upon one principle of taxation, which 
is formulated, by Amasa "Walker, in these words: "The heaviest taxes 
should be imposed on those commodities, the consumption of which is pre- 
judicial to the interests of the peo])le." 

Yolumes have been written upon this question, and every page of this 
history might be tilled, and not decide upon the value of any of the theo- 
ries of taxation. It would be curious, as well as instructive, to present the 
salient featr.res of the systems in vogue in the various countres in Christen- 
dom ; but, \^e can only glance at the continental groups: Europe offers 
much worthy of study and imitation, and more which it is equally desirable 
to avoid. Nearly every European nation is greatly in debt, and many have 
an annual deficit. The raising of money to meet the increasing indebted- 
ness forms the chief problem in the mathematics of European statesman- 
ship. Could all the debts accumulated by wars be wiped out, and the an- 
nual expenditures for standing armies be disposed of, two-thirds of all 
national indentedness and taxation would disappear. It is the savage ele- 
ments in man, his desire for blood and conquest, which inflicts upon the 
human race its greatest financial burdens. 

In looking over the sources of revenue of various countries, no conceiv- 
able method of raising money has been overlooked. Each European coun- 
try grinds its subjects in a variety of ways — by direct taxes, custom duties, 
by stamps, by combination with subjects in building railroads, canals, tele- 
graphs; or in running whisky, tobacco, or gunpowder factories, or lottery 
establishments; through fees in every imaginable form, by taxing the money 
one loans, and again the one who borrows it. In Europe, Russia and Turkey 
are the two countries not particular how they get money. Taxes are there 
apportioned among the various towns and districts, and the money must be 



472 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTV. 

forthcoming, no matter who pays it, nor liow unequally. One cannot travel 
far enoiigii to avoid the tax-gatherer. He precedes the missionary, and is 
found wherever people exist, and there is a power to tax, and money to collect. 
Africa knows him as well as the citizens of Paris, London, New York, or 
Davis county. Except as to his existence, there is not much to be learned 
as to his proceedings in Afric's sunny land. Excepting in Liberia, and in 
the colonies, taxation is simply downright robbery. Asia being the oldest 
civilization in existence, ought to furnish the world some valuable ideas how 
to secure the largest amount of revenue from the fewest sources — with the 
fewest inequalities; but it does nothing of the kind. Every manner of tax 
is levied in the'semi-civilized countries; while China presents the novelty 
of taxing exports, rather than imports. The financial condition of Asian 
countries, is more a matter of guess work than of certainty. The govern- 
ments in some of these countries, as in some of those of Africa, send out 
-the military to gather their revenue without the formality and delay of as- 
sessments, equalizations, and other elements of the civilized system. The 
island continent of Australia presents nothing new in methods; nor does 
South America, except some few hints might be gathered as to new things 
which might be taxed. The chronic revolutionary condition of aifairs in the 
quasi-republics of Central and South America, renders anything like a correct 
statement of their iiuances and methods an impossibility. A study of 
financial aflPairs in our Southern sister countries will show how enormous 
debts are piled up, and immense revenues obtained by resorting to every 
possible form of taxation; and yet nothing comes of it except social dis- 
order and bankruptcy. Li the United States, the government income is de- 
rived from duties upon imports, and internal revenue; the latter including 
indirect taxes upon spirits and tobacco, and in addition, bank taxes, public 
land sales, fines and penalties, and consular, and other fees. The people of 
Davis county, however, contribute very little, if anything, to the national 
revenue, except as they indulge in luxuries. Our taxes are principally State 
•county, and municipal. No country on the round globe is as free from op- 
pression in every form, as the United States, and no State in this grand 
Nation of ours, has a better financial record, and lighter taxes, than Iowa. 
And, too, not one of her ninety-nine counties, can exhibit a higher, and bet- 
ter financial condition than can Davis in this year of 18S1. 

An examination of the condition of things in ever}' other land than this, 
must lead the most discontented to soon become content — to become sat- 
isfied that the dwellers within this great commonwealth, which is washed on 
either limit by the two great rivers of the continent, the Mississippi and 
the Missouri, have cast their lives in pleasant places. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 473 

We now return from our general observations, to a review of the finan- 
cial affairs of the county, showing the number of acres assessed, and the 
assessed value of the lands and town lots, and personal property, together 
with the amount and kind of taxes levied, covering a period of thirty years 
— from 1844, to 1882, as far as can be gleaned from the records. 

The financial history of the county will not be found in very good shape, 
for the reason that no record has been made of any of it, and what we have 
succeeded in gathering together has been gleaned from the old original as- 
sessor's books (^where they could be found), and from old papers stowed 
away in the auditor's office. These old books and papers have never been 
taken care of, and a great manj' of them are lost. 

1845 — Levies: For county purposes, live mills on the dollar. For Terri- 
torial purposes, one-half of one mill per cent, and a poll tax of fifty cents 
for count}' purposes. 

1846 — Levies : For county purposes, five mills, and a poll tax of fift}' cents. 
For Territorial purposes, three-quarters of a mill per cent, and for school 
purposes, a tax t'f one mill on the dollar. 

1847 — Levies: For county purposes, four mills on the dollar, and a poll 
tax of fifty cents. For State purposes, two mills on the dollar, and for 
school purposes, one mill on the dollar. 

1848 — Levies: For county purposes, four mills on the dollar, and a poll 
tax of fifty cents. For State purposes, two and a half mills on the dollar, 
and for school purposes, one-half of one mill per cent. 

lS49^Levies: Fur county purjioses, four mills on the dollar, and a poll 
tax of fifty cents. For State purposes, two and one-half mills on the dol- 
lar, and for school purposes, one-half of one mill per cent. 

1850 — Levies: For county purposes, four mills on the dollar, and a poll 
tax of fifty cents. For State purposes, two and one-half mills on the dol- 
lar, and for school purposes, one half of one mill per cent. 

1851 — Levies: For county purposes, four mills on the dollar, and a poll 
tax of fifty cents. For State purposes, three mills on the dollar, and for 
school purposes, one-half of one mill per cent. 

Whole amount of tax collected $3,070.59 

Solvent delinquent tax 499.65 

Total expenses for the year ending July 1, 1852 2,123.40 

Excess of revenue over expenses 1,446.84 

1852 — Levies: For county purposes, four mills on the dollar, and a poll 
tax of fifty cents. For State purposes, one and one-half mills on the dollar, 

10 



474 HISTORY OF DAVIS COTINTT. 

and for school purposes, one-half mill per cent, and for road purposes, one 
mill on the dollar. 

Whole amount of tax collected $4,273. 85' | 

Whole amount paid out 4,273.85 

Amount of overplus of warrants 200.46 

Whole amount to be canceled 4,407.80 

1853 — Levies: For county purposes three and one-half mills on the dol- 
lar, and a poll tax of fifty cents. For State purposes, one and a quarter 
mills on the dollar, and for school purposes, one-half mill per cent, and for 
road purposes, three mills on the dollar, and for bridge purposes, one-half 
mill on the dollar. 

The population of the county this year, as returned by the assessors, wa& 
9,784. 

1854 — Levies: For county purposes, three mills on the dollar, and a poll 
tax of fifty cents. For State purposes, one and one-fourth mills on the dol- 
lar, and for school purposes, one-half-mill per cent; bridge, one-half mill,, 
and road, three mills. Personal property assessed, $820,899. 

1855 — Levies for county purposes, two mills on the dollar, and a poll tax 
of fifty cents; for State purposes, one and a quarter mills on the dollar; 
school, one-half mill; road, three mills; bridge, one-half mill. 

The report of the treasurer in July, 1856, is as follows:— 

Amount of county revenue received $4,576.02' 

Paid out on warants 4,492.93 

Balance in treasury $ 83.09 

Delinquent tax of 1855 438.60 

Delinquent tax of 1853 and 1854 600.00 

Of this, estimated solvent 319.30 

State revenue collected 2,481.54 

Paid State Treasurer 2,467.05 

Balance in treasury $ 14.49 

Bridge fund collected 1,239.15 

Paid on warrants 394.64 

Balance in treasury $ 844.51 

School fund collected 807.59 

Paid school fund commissioner , 523.96 

Balance in treasury $ 283.63 



HISTORY OF DAVIS CODNTT. 475 

Cash road fund collected 1,100.50 

Paid tovvnshi]) clerks 889.92 



Balance in treasury $ 210.58 

Certificates of labor received in payment of road tax, $6,300.64. 

This is the first report that can be found, in anything like decent shape. 

1856 — This year is found the first rtS«^?'«c^ of assessment of Davis county: 

No. acres of land 270,378 value $1,008,302 

No. town lots 451 value 10,772 

Horses 4,006 value 226,961 

Mules 171 value 7,905 

Cattle 11,964.... value 144,758 

Sheep 13,347 value 13,722 

Hogs 22,664 value 32,364 

Merchandise value 28,350 

Manufactures value 2,100 

Carriages and vehicles 1,516. . . .value 140,487 

Additional personalty value 48,733 

No. polls 2,200 value 75,118 



Total $1,739,572 

1857— Assessment: County fund, $7,943.45; poll, $1,182.50; State, $7,- 
943.45; school, $1,985.85; bridge, $1,985.85. 

1858 — Assessment, personal property, $809,407. Levies: County fund, 
$7,206.58; poll, $1,249.00; State, $5,404.94; school, $5,404.94. 

Tax collected for county revenue $6,961.49 

Tax collected for State revenue 6,114.58 

Tax collected for bridge revenue 1,525.02 

Tax collected for school revenue 1,527.13 

Tax collected for road revenue 873.22 

1859 — Reports can only be obtained I'lis year of Grove, Perry, Union, 
Fabius,"Wyacondah,Marion,Fox River, Drakeville and Bloomfield townships, 
which show a total of acres assessed, 217,971; valued at $1,428,237; town 
of Drakesville, value of lots, $12,495; personal, $42,688; Fox River, per- 
sonal, $66,852; Grove, personal, $48,952. Levies: County revenue, $5,638.15; 
poll, $1,200.00; State, $4,228.00; school, $2,819.00. 

I860— Levies: County fund and poll, $6,655.08; State, $3,409.42; school 
12,727.54. 

1861 — For this year only part of the assessment can be found, that of 



( 



476 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

Soap Creek, Fabiiis, Grove, Union and P'ox River townships, showing a to- 
tal of acres assessed, 125,390, vahied at §045,19?.; persunal, $268,594. 
Levies: County revenue and poll, $3,534.27; State, $4,868.54; school, 
$2,434.27; bridge, $1,217.14. 

1802 — Total assessment of personal property, for the whole county, 1 
$060,045. Levies: County revenue and poll, $3,3-29.00; State, $4,657.00; 
school, $2,329.00; bridge, $1,740.00. 

1803 — Acres assessed, 338,686; value of land, $l,ln4,952; town lots, 
$76,707; personal, $717,809; total, $1,899,468. Levies: County revenue 
and poll, $7,.S48.31; State, $4,580.59; school, $2,490.29; bridge, $622.57. 

1804 — Personal property assessed, $821,196. Levies: County fund, 
$6,476.90; State, $5,183.35; school, $2,591.14; bridge, $2,591.14; relief 
fund, $12,955.92; and $2,000.00 was transferred from county to poor farm 
fund. 

186.5 — Acres assessed, 306,157; value of lands, $1,515,181; town lots, 
$68,697; personal, $1,079,177; total value, $2,664,055. Levies: County 
fund, $8,532.18; State, $5,688.12; school, $2,844.06; bridge, $1,422.03; 
relief fund, $5,688.12; poor house fund, $4,260.09. 

1866 — Personal property assessed, $725,925. Levies: County fund, 
$9,071.49; State, $7,559.57; school, $3,023.83; bridge, $6,047.66; poor 
farm fund, $4,535.74; $4,095.70 transferred from relief fund, and $446.53 
from county fund to insane fund. 

1867 — Part of the assessor's books can't be found, those found, Salt Creek, 
Fabius, Lick Creek, Marion, Perry, Soap Creek, Drakeville and Fox River, 
report, acres assessed, 150,169; value, $702,628; personal property, $417,- 
973; total, $1,120,601. Levies: County fund, $10,370.43; State, $7,407.45; 
school, $2,962.98; bridge, $4,444.45; poor farm, $2,962.98; $1,133.53 trans- 
ferred from county fund to insane fund. 

1868 — Assessment of personal property, $1,052,843. Levies: County 
fund, $10,580.27; State, $7,557.34; school, $3,022.94; bridge, $4,534.39; 
poor farm, $3,022.94; Bloomfield and Drakeville come in with tax collected, 
but no levy appears. 

1869 — Acres assessed, about, 315,533; value of land, $1,777,249; town 
lots, $129,731; personal property, $1,128,006; total, $3,034,986. Levies: 
County fund, $15,446.98; State, $6,998.49; school, $3,499.24; bridge, 
$10,497.93; poor farm, $3,499.24. 

1870 — Personal property assessed, $1,302,040. Levies: County fund, 
$12,307.79; State, $7,10.52; school, $3,582.20; bridge, $3,582.20, and 5 
per cent tax for B. & S. W. R. R. on Bloomfield township, amounting to 
$38,142.09. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 477 

1871— Levies: County fund, 111,530.89; State, $7,950.31; school, $3,- 
975.15; bridge, 83,975.15. 

. 1872— Levies: County fund, $11,982.03; State, $10,355.53; school, $4,- 
142.48; bridge, $4,142.48; poor tarm, $2.07L24. 

1873— Acres assessed, 312,472; value of lands, $2,419,497; town lots, 
$202,670; personal, $1,227,510; total, $3,849,677. Levies: County fund, 
$10,193.85; State, $8,155.08; school, $4,077.54; bridge, $2,038.77; poor 
farm, $2,038.77. 

1874— Acres assessed, 312,472; value of lands, $2,419,497; town lots, 
$202,670; personal, $1,101,045; railroad property, $195,348; total value, 
$3,955,072. Levies: County fund, $13,516.21; State, $7,910.14; school, 
$3,955.07; bridge, $1,977.53; poor farm, $1,977.53. 

1875— Acres assessed, 315,140; value of lands, $2,414,483; town lots, 
$260,513; personal, $1,319,070; total, $3,994,066. After changes by the 
board of equalization, the total foots up $4,332,690. Levies: County fund, 
$18,933.76; State, $8,665.38; school, $4,332.69; bridge, $12,99s.07; poor 
farm, $2,166.35. 

1876 — Acres assessed, 315,140; value of lands, $2,518,979; town lots, 
$258,935; personal, $1,278,773; railroad property, $210,376; total value, 
$4,267,063. Levies: County fund, $17,068.25; State, $8,534.13; poor house, 
$2,133.53; insane fund, $2,133.53; court house, $17,068.25. 

1S77 — Acres assessed,- 316,238; value of lands, $2,321,735; town lots, 
$234,738; personal, $1,061,005; railroad property, $211,720; total value, 
$3,529,198. Levies: County fund, $15,828.08; State, $7,914.04; school, 
$3,657.02; bridge, $7,914.04; poor liouse, $5,935.53; insane, $3,959.02. 

1878— Acres assessed, $316,238; value of lands, $2,321,735; town lots, 
$234,738; personal, $920,610; railroad property, $199,568; total value, 
$3,673,816. Levies: County fund, $14,706.60; State, $7,353.30; school, 
$3,676.65 ;ibridge, $5,514.97; poor house, $1,838.33; insane, $3,676.65; court 
house, $18,383.25. 

1879— Acres assessed, 314,318; value of lands, $2,296,074; town lots, 
$267,766; personal, $975,605; railroad property, $233,057; total value, 
$3,772,502. Levies: County fund, $16,254.24; State, $7,288.62; school, 
$3,644.31; bridge, $10,011.85; poor, $1,821.15; court house, $4,555.39. 

1880— Acres assessed, 314,318; value of lands, $2,296,074; town lots, 
$267,766; personal, $926,851; total value, $3,723,758, including railroad 
property, valued at $233.07. Levies: County fund, $16,081.21; State, $7,- 
168.86; school, $3,584,93; bridge, $10,754.79; poor, $2,688.70; insane, $1,- 
792.46; war and defense fund, $1,792.46. 



478 HISTORY OF DAVIS CODNTr. 

ABSTRACT OF ASSESSMENT FOR 1881. 

Lands exclusive of town property, 323,653 acres $2,262,739 

Town property. Value. 

Floris $ 5,210 

Belknap 2,660 

Drakesville 21,148 

Bloomfield 219,476 

Troy 7,269 

Pulaski 6,995 

Stiles 2,008 

Savannah and Springville 842 

Monterey 601 

West Grove 5,941 



Total $272,150 272,150 

Exemption for trees planted, $455. 

Live stock assessed. Value. 

Cattle 17,891 $230,390 

Horses 7,433 228,670 

Mules 725 25,063 

Sheep 15,543 30,774 

Svine 18,007 61,791 



Total $576,696 576,696 

Other personal property 443,191 

Railroad property 238,264 

Total valuation of the county $3,793,040 

Levies: County fund, $15,172.16; State, $7,586.08; school, $3,793.04; 
bridge, $11,379.12; poor, $2,844.78; insane, $948.26; total, $41,723.44. 

SWAMP ANn SALIXE LANDS. 

The swamp land grant was created by an act of Congress, approved March 
28, 1850. This act gave to the various States tlie swamp and overflowed 
lands lying within their bounds, then remaining unsold, for the ostensible 
purpose of reclaiming tliein for agricultural uses. In pursuance of the act 
of Congress making these donations, the legislature of Iowa passed an act 
accepting the grant made to it, and provided for reducing these lands to the 
possession and ownership of the various counties in wliicii they were found 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 479 

to exist. This act was passed and approved February 2, 1853, and author- 
ized the County Court to cause such lands to be selected and surveyed, and a 
return thereof made to the General Land Office at Washington City for ap- 
proval and confirmation. The total number of acres of swamp land claimed 
by the State under this grant, were about four million, much less than in 
many other western States, which shows that Iowa has comparatively but 
little land that is not arable. 

This swamp land grant has afforded opportunity for the perpetration of 
unconscionable frauds, not onhMipon the general government in the selection 
of the lands, but frequently upon the counties, to whom they were given by 
the State, through individual schemes. They have caused the State and 
the counties no little trouble and expense jn their selection and disposition, 
by i^asilroad companies, speculators, and others. 

Davis count}' having more or less swamp and overflowed land within her 
borders, took steps in lSo3 to select them, as shown by the record of the 
County Court of that, and subsequent years. As more or less difficulty, 
litigation and delay were caused by the swamp land affairs of the county, 
it is well to give the record as a verification to a comprehensive understand- 
dng of them. 

On the 12th of October, 1853, Abram Weaver was appointed swampland 
agent of the county, as follows: — 

State of Iowa, / 
Davis Countv. \ ^^^ 

To alt whom these presents sholl come gi-eetiiig : Know ye, that whereas, by an act of the 
legislature of the State of Iowa, which took effect on the 2d day of February, 1853, entitled, 
■"an act to dispose of the swamp and overfowed lands within the State, and to pay the ex- 
penses of selecting and surveying the same," it is made the duty of the County Court, section 
3 of said act, " to appoint some competent person" to examine said lands and make due re- 
port, and plats, etc., etc. To the end, therefore, that the provisions of said act may be car- 
ried out, and the e.\amination of said swiunp and overflowed hinds may be made in the coun- 
ty of Davis, and State aforesaid, by an authorized agent of said county, the County Court having 
■confidence in the ability and integrity of Abram Weaver, has this day appointed him agent 
for said county, hereby fully empowering him to do all acts now or hereafter necessary to a 
full and eifective discharge of the duties devolving upon him by law, as agent of said county 
ior the selection of swamp or overflowed lands within the limits of said county, as contem- 
plated by the act of the legislature of the State of Iowa, authorizing the appointment of said 

agent. 

.,ry o 1 Witness my official signature and the seal of said court, affixed at Bloomfield 

this 12th day of October, 1853. S. A. Mooue, County Judge. 

State op Iowa, { 
Davis County, )^ ' 

1, Abram Weaver do solemnly swear that I will faithfully discharge the duties devolving 
upon me by law, as agent for the county of Davis, for the selection of ''swamp and over- 
flowed lands" in said county, to the best of my ability. So help me God. 

Abuam Weaver. 

Sworn to and subscribed before me this r2th day of October, A. D. 1855. 

S. A. Moore, County Judge. 



4:80 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTr. 

The next paper appearing of record, is Mr. Weaver's bill for services, as. 
follows: 

The county of Davis, Iowa, to Abram Weaver, Dr., for services as locating agent, appoint- 
eil by the County Court of Davis county, to survey and locate the swamp and overflowed, 
lands of said county, to make plats of the same, and to make a report accompanied by the 
survey plats and amount of acres selected, have reported the same to the Register of the State 
Land office, in amount 11,776.13 acres, for which service a charge of ten cents per acre is- 
here presented to the County Court, making the sum of $1,177.61, which sum I now ask may- 
be paid him out of the county treasury. ABn.\M We.wer, Agent. 

Ocfoher 15. 7.S57. 

This bill the County Court declined to allow, because of its exorbitancy,, 
whereupon Mr. Weaver submitted his claim for arbitration by agreement of 
parties, S. A. Moore, George DufKeld and , being the arbitrators. 

The following is his case: 

A. We.web, 1 

S. W. McAtee, \ ^''"■"■'"' '■" ^^ '■b">-"l'on. 

Count!/ Judge, etc. J 

The plaintift' claims of the defendant eleven hundred and seventy-,seven dollars and sixty- 
one cents, as justly due hira'from the defendant, and Davis County, Iowa, and for cause of 
said claim says, that he was legally appointed by the county judge of said county to locate- 
the swamp and overflowed lauds in said county, on the 12th day of October, 1853; and the- 
plaintiff further says, that he did in pursuance of said appointment proceed and locate said 
land to wit.: eleven thousand seven hundred and seventy-six acres and that he duly made out 
his report to the proper authorities of the State of Iowa, and county of Davis, as required by- 
law, which reports were accepted. Plaintift' further says that he was employed in the locat- 
ing of said lands one hundred and fifty-two days, and that he was employed in making out 
diagrams of said surveys twenty-four days, and that he was employed in making out blotters 
and maps to survey by, six days, and that he had to employ horses and teams to the number 
of twenty-seven days. Plaintift' further says that said sum above mentioned is still due and' 
unpaid, all of which he says is true, and verifies the same under oath; and plaintiff" hereby- 
asks that the defendant may be compelled to answer, under oath, the foregoing petition. 

A. Weaver. 

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 11th day of November, 1857. 

N. W. Cook, Clerk. 

The hearing being had before the arbitrators, they returned a judgment 
of $400 in favor of Mr. Weaver, froni which the county appealed to the 
District Court, where it was retried, before a jury, at the October term, 
1858. 

The following extract from the instructions of Judge Hendershott, then 
on the district bench, to the jury in the case, gives a clear exposition of the 
claims of both parties. 

The plaintiff' claims to have been appointed agent for Davis county to select the swamp 
and overflowed lands in said county. That he discharged said duties, and was engaged 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 481 

therein a hundred and eighty-two days, and that he had a horse in use while engaged in 
making selections for twenty-seven days; that during said time he selected 11,776.13 acres 
of swamp lands, for which he claims to recover ten cents per acre. 

To this claim the defendant says it is not true that plaintiff was legally appointed such 
agent, that he did not perform the number of days" services as claimed, and that the county 
is not indebted to plaintiff in any sum. You will first enquire, gentlemen, whether the said 
plaintiff was duly appointed by the county judge of Davis county, as claimed; if so, did he 
enter upon the duties of his appointment or office, and how much, if anything, is he entitled 
to for any services rendered to the county. He is entitled, if he has rendered any services to 
the county by virtue of his employment, to such compensation as his services are reasonably 
worth. Although you may find that plaintiff did not, in all things, fully and completely dis- 
charge all his duties, under and by virtue of his office or agency, yet, if he has performed ser- 
vices for the county, of which the county has received the benefit, it is responsible to plaint- 
iff for reasonable compensation for such services received, deducting therefrom any damages 
the county may have sustained by reason of his failui-e to completely discharge his duties un- 
der his appointment. 

Following tills, the jury, November 2, 1858, returned a verdict for the 
plaintiff in the sum of $230, upon wlilch judgment was entered. 

On the 4rth of November, 18.58, H. B. Horn, as assignee of the above 
judgment received the amount thereof in full. Thus ended the first chap- 
ter in the swamp land affairs of Davis county; and thus they remained un- 
til 1870, when their consideration was renewed by the board of supervisors. 
Meantime, however, all the swamp land in the county had been entei'ed by 
individuals as government land, which ended any farther contention over 
them. While agent Weaver had selected 11,776 acres as swamp and over- 
flowed land, and reported the same with maps and plats thereof, yet the 
county had failed, through negligence, to report them to the General Land 
Office at Washington, with proof that such were swamp and overflowed 
lands within the terms of the swamp land act; hence, had received no pay 
therefor, in lieu of the lands whlcii had been sold, as already noted. 

At the June session of the board of supervisors, in 1870, the following: 
action was taken to secure to the county indemnity for its swamp lands: 

Uesolred. by the board of supervisors of Davis county, that M. H. Jones and J. B. Weaver 
be, and are hereby, recommended and nominated as special agents to settle and adjust the 
swamp land account of said county, with the commissioner of the General Land Office, and 
Secretary of the Interior, with full power to act in behalf of said county; provided, that saiiJ 
Jones and Weaver shall not receive anything in compensation for their services unless they 
are successful in recovering the swamp land funds due said county, in which last event they 
shall receive for their services the sum of two thousand dollars, if they collect for ll,776.1iJ 
acres; and if not, in proportion to the amount collected at same rates; and it is understood 
that said agents shall defray their own e.\penses. 

These new agents at once gave their attention to the work assigned them 
in behalf of the county, and in 1874 and 1875 secured the appointment of a 



482 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

special commissioner by the General Land Office, who came upon the ground, 
examined the field, and took testimony in relation to tlie character of the 
lands which had been selected Tiie result was, that the new agents on the 
part of the county could only prove about three thousand acres, out of the 
former selection, to be swamp and overflowed lands. For this quantity the 
general governnieut, in 1875, paid Davis county the sum of $2,278.62, 
in cash, and about $1,209 in United States land warrants. The land war- 
rants, it is said, still remain at the General Land Otfice, never having been 
•called for in behalf of the county. Thus ended the history of the swamp 
lands in Davis county. 

SALINE LANDS. 

The general government, several years ago, conceded the right of the 
States to the ownership of the public lands within their limits upon which 
salt springs existed. By act of Congress, approved May 27, 1852, the United 
■States granted the land upon which these springs were found to the State in 
fee simple, together witli six sections of land lying adjacent to such springs, 
to be disposed of as the legislature of the State might direct. However, 
long prior to this act, Congress granted to the States the right to ^ise the 
-salt springs found upon any of the public lands within their borders, not 
exceeding twelve in number. This act of Congress was approved March 3, 
1845. 

The saline lands of the State being under the control of the legislature, it 
passed some eight or nine acts before it made a final disposition of them. 
The final act was that of February 24, 1857, directing the manner of their 
selection. The second act, approved February 5, 1851, provides that the 
Uegister of the Des Moines River Improvement should sell these lands, and 
the proceeds arising therefrom should constitute a fund for the founding and 
supporting of a State lunatic asylum. The third act, approved January 23, 
1853, provided that these lands should be sold by the officer having charge 
of the public school lands of the State, and the proceeds arising therefrom 
should be paid into the State treasury. Tiie fourth act of the legislature, 
•concerning the saline lands, approved January 21, 1855, provided for their 
sale in connection with the school and State University lands by the per- 
sons in cliarge of these respective grants. The act also provided for the 
transfer to the treasurer of tlie State University, all moneys, books, notes, 
and other papers in the hands of the State treasurer, belonging to the Uni- 
versity or saline funds. Again, by tlie act of tlie legislature, approved July 
14, 1856 (extra session), the proceeds of the saline lands were appropriated 
for the second time, to the State Insane Asylum. This act was repealed, 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 483 

March 23,1858. The seventh act of the legislature, approved March 26, 
1860, conferred upon the county judge and treasurer the same authority to 
sell the saline lands that had been vested in the school fund commissioner. 
The next, and crowning act of the legislature, approved April 2, I860, ap 
propriated the saline lands and funds to the State University. 

■It will thus be seen that there has been a vast amount of legislation con- 
cerning the saline lands of the State, from first to last,* resulting in no little 
■confusion and conflict. In consequence of this, embarrassments arose be- 
tween the State Land Office and the State University in relation to the ad- 
ministration of the saline grant, which caused the legislature, by act, ap- 
proved March 2.5, 1864-, to modify its act of April 2, 1860, and authorizing 
the trustees of the State University to sell the saline lands. The act also 
places the lands, and proceeds of the same, together with all the notes, con- 
ti'acts, and other securities therefor, under the complete control of the board 
of trustees of the University. The quantit}' of saline land thus secured to 
the State University, by the foregoing legislation is 46,101 acres. Of this, 
640 acres lies in the northern part of Davis county. 

THE RAILEOADS IN THE COUNTY. 

What a wonderful advancement the railroads make in the material devel- 
opment and general prosperity of a county. State or nation. As the pio- 
neers look back to the early days of their settlements, they are amazed at 
the changes which these internal projects have wrought in their surround- 
ings. 

The anxiety for railroad communication in this county in its earlier days 
was earnest by those who foresaw the great advantages of them as instru- 
mentalities in developing the population and material prosperity of their 
new county. 

The first move made in this county, of which there is any record, to se- 
cure a railroad communication with the outer-world, was made on the 24th 
of December, 1853, as shown by the following record in the County Court. 

Application was made by pi'tition of H. Dunlavey, S. L. Carpenter, Allen Sawyer, J. I. 
Earliart, and others, and also other applications by means of resolutions of large and respec- 
table meetings of citizens, setting forth that the interests of the county and the citizens there- 
of, require that the county judge should order an election specially for the purpose of vot- 
ing "for" or "against" the county of Davis taking stock in the "Fort Madison, West Point, 
Keosauqua, and Bloomfield Railroad, " and the extension of the North Missouri Railroad from 
the State line to Bloomfield, for the purpose of aiding in constructing of said roads within 
the county; and after due consideration of the matter, it is ordered that an election be held 
in each township in said county, at the usual places of holding elections therein, on the 4th 



484: HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY 

day of February next, for the purpose of voting for or ag-ainst the following propositions, to- 
wit: 

That the county of Davis, in the State of Iowa, will aid in the construction of the Fort 
Madison, West Point, Keosauqua and Bloomfield Railroad, and in the extension of the North 
Missouri road from the State line to Bloomfield, by subscribing the sum of $150,000 to the 
capital stock of said roads, to be divided as the county judge may deem expedient to a speedy 
completion of said roads to Bloomfield. 

That county bonds to said amount shall issue, bearing seven per cent interest, payable 
semi-annually, the county to pay no interest until the roads are completed. Bonds to be is- 
sued when the county judge is satisfied that the building of the road is secured. The county 
judge is to represent the stock of the county in the company. The ballots to be "for the 
county subscription," or "against the county subscription." The rules of the general election 
are to govern, all of which is more fully set forth in the proclamation issued therefor. Notice 
issued accordingly. Henry W. Briggs, County Judge. 

The propositions were voted upon at tlie time, and in the manner pro- 
vided in the foregoing order of the County Cnnrt, and were carried by a 
majority of three hundred and ninety-three votes, as shown by the following 
canvass and return of said vote: 

The returns of an especial election held in Davis county, Iowa, for the purpose of vot- 
ing upon the following propositions, to wit.: That the county of Davis, State of Iowa, will 
aid within the limits of said county, in the construction of the Fort Madison, West Point, 
Keosauqua and Bloomfield Railroad, and in the extension of the North Missouri Railroad to a 
junction of said roads at Bloomfield, in said county, by subscribing the sum of one hundred 
and fifty thousand dollars to the capital stock of the companies organized for the purpose of 
building said roads, said sum to be applied in such proportions as shall appear to the county 
judge of said county best calculated to eftect a speedy completion of said roads to 
the point of junction. That county bonds for said sum ($150,000) be issued by the county 
judge of said county, payable within twenty years from the date thereof, and bearing inter- 
est at the rate of seven per cent per annum, payable semi-annually; provided, that said county 
shall not pay any interest on said bonds until said road shall be in running order to said point 
of junction. That said county bonds shall be issued whenever the county judge of said 
county is satisfied that the said companies have secured said subscription to their capital 
stock as will enable them to contract with •competent parties for the speedy completion of 
said roads. That, for the purpose of liquidating the principal and interest of said bonds, an 
annual tax, not exceedingone per cent upon the county valuation, may be levied in addition 
to the usual taxes, to be continued from year to year, so long as the same shall be required; 
proeided, that no such tax shall be levied, unless it is found that said principal and interest 
cannot be paid by dividends from said stock or the sale thereof. That the county judge of 
said county aforesaid, shall, in person, or by proxy, represent the stock taken by said county 
in the company, or companies aforesaid. 

Said election was held on Saturday, the 4th day of February, 1854, in conformity with a 
proclamation issued on the 26th day of December, 1853, and regularly posted in each town- 
ship according to law: and at said election there were 1,271 ballots cast as follows; to-wit.,. 
"For the county subscription," 832 votes; "Against the county subscription," 439 votes. 
Said votes being this day fairly canvassed by Martin Snoddy and William S. Ficklin, justi- 
ces of the peace, iind the county judge, as county canvassers; it is found that there is a ma- 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 485 

jority of :59.'i "for the subscription;" and it is considered that all the foregoing propositions 
are adopted, and it is ordered that notice be given accordingly. 

There is a history connected with tiiis roih-oad project, which the tax-pay- 
ing people of this county should never forget. It was the first project of 
the kind ever inaugurated, and tlie result of it seems to indicate that it was 
a scheme, conceived as such. What are the facts? After this stock subscrip- 
tion was voted by the people, and before any other step had been taken. 
Col. Samuel A. Moore came to the helm of county affairs, as county judge. 
He was a young man, a farmer, unschooled in the arts of schemes, and none 
other than a determined zeal for the right, governed him in his relations 
with the affairs of the people. As soon as Judge Moore was installed in his 
new official position, the directory of the new Fort Madison railroad pro- 
ject, together with its officers and attorneys, came to Bloomfield, and pre- 
sented to the judge the proposition, that inasmuch as the North Missouri 
road was a weakly, unreliable project, and theirs was "a dead sure thing," 
it was to the interest of the county, and hence his duty, to subscribe $149,- 
9t>0 to their road, and §100 to the North Missouri road. To secure the con- 
summation of this proposition, the Fort Madison directory labored three or 
four days with Judge Moore, but to no avail. He finally told them that as soon 
as they completed their road up to the line of Davis county, he would then 
help them build it from that ]ioint to the town of Bloomfield; assuring them 
in unmistakable terms, that he did not propose that the people of his county 
should be taxed to build a railroad in Lee and Yaii Buren counties. This 
closed the interview, and the Fort Madison directory (on paper) returned 
home wiser, but not richer than when they came to consummate their scheme. 
This was the last of the " Fort Madison, West Point, Keosauqua and Bloom- 
field Railroad and its company. 

The tax-paying people of Davis county are under a debt of gratitude to 
their ex-county judge, in thus shielding them from such an unwelcome bur- 
den, especially where the consideration for it was so chimerical and uncer- 
tain. 

THE NOKTH MISSOURI 

Road came, however, through individual enterprise. No aid was extended 
it by the county, though it was the recipient of about $100,000 secured by 
private individual subscriptions; and it traverses the county from south to 
north through its county seat, and has contributed largely to the develop- 
ment of the county. It was finished to Bloomfield in February, 1869, and 
to the north line of the county and Ottumwa in the year 1870. 

The North Missouri, afterwards called the Kansas City, St. Louis & North- 



486 eisTOKT OF davis county. 

ern, and now known as the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific, has 25.38 miles of 
road in Davis county, of the value in 1872 of $4,000 per mile, and of the 
total value of $101,520. 

THE BDELINGTON AND SOUTHWESTERN ROAD 

Extends from Burlington, by way of Fort Madison to Bloomfield, crossing 
the St. Louis and Northern road at this point. To aid this road through 
Davis county, the township of Bloomfield voted, on the third of September, 
1870, a five per cent tax on its assessed valuation, which produced $44,- 
449.55. The road was completed to Bloomfield in 1S71, and is now com- 
pleted and operating to Cameron in Missouri. It enters this county in the 
southeast corner of Prairie township, and leaves near the southwest cor- 
ner of West Grove township. It thus extends 15.42 miles in Davis 
county, and in 1872 its value per mile was $2,700, and its total value in thi» 
county was $41,634. 

THE CHICAGO AND SOUTHWESTERN. 

In January, 1870, the county resolved to quitclaim the public square, on 
which the court-house now stands, to the city of Bloomfield, to be divided 
into lots, the proceeds of their sale to be given to the Chicago and South- 
western Railway Company, if they would build their road to Bloomfield, 
the amount to be given to the railway company not to exceed $40,000 
J. W. Ellis, J. R. Sheaffer and William J. Law were appointed, and gave 
bond as trustees (in the penal sum of $80,000), for the sale of the lots above 
mentioned. 

But the company concluded not to come to Bloomfield, but went through 
the county five miles north, and thus secured no aid from this source. Where- 
upon the trustees quitclaimed the public square back to the county. This 
company, in the early part of 1871, laid its track through the county, de- 
pending on private subscription mainly for any aid they received, which 
amounted in the aggregate to quite a large sum. It enters the county in 
the northwest corner of Salt Creek township, and runs southwest, through 
Salt Creek, Lick Creek, Soap Creek, Drakesville, and Fox River townships, 
and leaves the county in the northwest corner of Fox River township. It 
has three stations in this county, Floris, in Lick Creek township, Belknap, 
in Soap Creek township, and Drakeville, in Drakeville township. The length 
of the road in this county, as reported by the Secretary of State in 1872 
was 22.73 miles; of the value per mile of $3,409. Total value in the county, 
$77,280. 



HISTOKY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 487" 



DES MOINES VALLEY EAILEOAD. 

4 



This road runs diagonally, northwest and southeast, across the northeast 
quarter of section one, in Salt Creek townsliip. The entire length of the 
road in this county being only three quarters of a mile, and having no sta- 
tion in the county, it can hardly be called one of the railroads of the county. 
It was one of the first roads ever built in the State; its length in this county, 
being reported by the secretary of state, in 1872, to be 75-100 of a mile, 
and valued at §5,000 per mile, .making a total valuation in the county of 
$3,750. 

The length and valuation of these railroads, as reported by the executive 
council, on the first day of January, 18S1, differs slightly from that of 1872, 
as will be seen by comparing. 

LENGTH AND VALUATION, JANUARY 1, 1881. 

Burlington and Southwestern, length in the county, 15.40 miles; value 
per mile, $2,500; total value, $38,509. Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific, 
length in the county, 22.73 miles; value per mile, $6,075; total value, $138,- 
085. Keokuk and Des Moines, length in the county, 0.75 of a mile; value 
per mile, $3,500; total value in the county, $2,625. St. Louis, Ottumwa and 
Cedar Rapids, number of miles in the county, 26.246; value per mile, 
$2,250; total value in the county, $59,054. This road is now a part of the 
Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific, and a feeder for Gould's great Southwestern 
trunk lines. 

The total length of railroads in this county is 65.126 miles; the average 
valuation per mile is $3,581.25; and the total valuation in the county i& 
$238,264. 

THE PRESS OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

The newspaper has arisen in this busy age to a position second to no 
other interest. It is the best and most valuable of libraries. Its cheap- 
ness is one strong point in its favor. It finds an entrance into homes, no 
matter how moderate — goes, as a rule, where books rarely do. It comes 
daily and weekly. It is read and loaned; caught up and read for a mo- 
ment, giving knowledge to the reader; a single item frequently giving 
what pages of book-bound matter would have to be waded through to 
learn. 

The newspaper, with the present facilities for almost instantly learning 
what is happening in every portion of the habitable globe, is the reflec- 



488 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

tion of the hour equally as much as of ]iast ages. By it, the north and the 
south, the east and the west, are brought together. We know of the 
crashing of the ice and of the curling heat of the sun; of the massing of 
snow, and of the rushing of great waters; we are with the daring explorer 
seeking for the north pole; travel through the jungles of Africa; have a 
bird's eye view of great battles; sail over every sea; dive with the whale 
in its fabulous depths; are present in the parliament ot nations; listen 
to the last words of a dying potentate, and take by the hand his suc- 
cessor. ■ 

A wonderful, concise, most skillfully painted panorama of the affairs of 
the world, is the newspaper; a map of its busy life; a faithful reproduction 
of all its lights and shadows, and at the most nominal cost; at the merest 
bagatelle to books, even in these days of exceptional cheapness. Week 
after week, the paper comes filled with all that is rare, new, interesting 
and instructive. It is a history of nations in fifty-two volumes; an ever- 
continued encyclopedia of trade, science, biography, agriculture and the] 
arts; is the " boiling down" of all books in so minute a form, that the mindi 
can grasp at a single glance, and be saved the trouble of wading through 
ponderous volumes of uninteresting detail — to the great saving of time. It 
is', in fact, the grandest of all circulating libraries, at only a penny fee; the 
throwing open to the public of all the costly and exclusive archives of the 
world. The newspaper of to-day is a perfect omnium gatherum. Noth- 
ing escapes its notice. Every event of importance is instantly photo- 
graphed upon its pages. The whispers breathed in every clime are 
caught and fixed. It is a marvel of inteligence; is the stereotype of everj' 
mind. We look back in wonder at the days when it was not, and human 
intelligence shudders to think of the barbarism and ignorance and super- 
stition that would follow the blotting out of this, the sun of the solar sys- 
tem. 

Much is said of the power of the press, of the privileges of the press, 
of the prerogatives of the press, and of the perfection of the press through 
a long catalogue of virtues. To earn these positions, the press has duties 
to perform. One is, to give the news, and to comment intelligently there- 
on. Second, to be truthful and unprejudiced. Newspapers have ceased to 
be private enterprises merely. The power they have attained makes them 
amenable to the same general laws as railroads and telegraphs. When the 
newspaper steps outside of its pro])er functions, and for personal spite, or 
greed, attaints the character, life or service of any citizen, or assaults any 
interest of the community, it should be held to strict accountability bylaw, 
as well as by an enlightened public sentiment. Third, to suggest that which 






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^ii;*!!?^: 



4^^ 




SUPT. 



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HISTOIiY OF DAVIS COUNTV. 489 

followed out will make news. For instance, tlioiigijts concerning the devel- 
opment of business possibilities, the starting of factories, the building of 
railroads, the beautifying of the town, the improvement of schools, the bet- 
tea'ing of public manners, and, if need be, of morals, also; the relief 
of the ]wor; as well as scores of other questions, in all the ramifications of 
■events, political, industrial, commercial, social, religious and moral. It is 
not necessary that political events should come first (in a campaign sense) 
in a local paper. The term political should mean just criticisms or coin- 
imendations of the government of the county and towns. 

Next, to the newspaper's duty of looking after, urging and defending 
;good, civil government, law and order, is that of showing up the moral and 
religious influence of the community — noting church doings, not merely 
puffs of festivals and picnics, but reports of special services, sketches of 
sermons, containing moreof love than wrath; of the clearing away of church 
debts, the prompt payment of the preachers, and of the growth, attendance 
and special doings of the Sunday-schools. The church plays an important 
part, as a teacher, in every community, and its work should have its proper 
place in the chroniclings of the local paper. 

Then, too, the schools should receive attention. The editor should take 
his own advice, and visit the schools, and extend to the teachers and pupils 
kindly words of encouragement in their work, encourage them in new ef- 
forts with the knowledge that the editorial eye is upon them, and would tell 
fche world of the progress made by them. Besides thus noting the general 
progress, the newspaper should give reports of examinations, exhibitions, 
the closing exercises, tempering criticisms with a spirit of kindness and sug- 
gestions; commend faithful and efficient teachers, earnest scholars and worthy 
directors, and properly expose wrong and reckless doings regardless of where 
the guilt belongs. Reports, too, from the county superintendent concerning 
th-e schools in all parts of the county; of the interest manifested by teacher, 
pupil and parent; and last, but not least, concerning the financial man- 
agement of the schools, the receipts and expenditures of the public money 
in this great work of educating the rising generations. This is of vital 
interest to the people who maintain this grand educational system of the 
State. 

The doings of the social world demands impartial reports by the county 
press. The exercises of literary or debating societies, library and lecture 
associations, reading clubs, musical or other entertainments, and all other 
social gatherings for mutual improvement, should receive appropriate men- 
tion. 

The people look to the newspaper in its making of the history of the 
11 



490 HISTOKY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

day or week, for tlie repord of births, marriages and deaths; tlie transac- 
tions in real estate; the doings of the county and town officials; and the 
doings and decisions of the courts of law. Tiien, too, the industrial and' 
commercial interests of the county demand prominent attention, and* 
make interesting and valuable chapters in local history if followed up by 
intelligent explanation, and thoughtful and comprehensive comment. 
Ever3'thing noteworthy, as accidents, fires, and all the numerous incidents- 
winch go to make up every day life, should receive prompt and impartial 
attention, the editor bearing in mind that clear statements of facts serve a 
better purpose than the hair-raising, blood- curdling sensational style ot" 
the dime-novel. The election returns, complete down to the precinct offi- 
cers; holiday anniversaries, and other days, the observance of which law 
or custom has sanctioned, should receive due attention. Neighborhood cor- 
respondence of local happenings, brief and crisp, should have regular ap- 
pearance. 

Then there are matters of personal history, which may be properly used 
by the editor, to the profit of his readers. For instance, sketches of busi- 
ness men, who have grown up in the community, and aided in its develop- 
ment, and illustrated the ways to prosperity through honorable and indus- 
trious means; men whose lives have been worth}' examples of emulation by 
those who come after them; and men departing this life, leaving behind them- 
memories bright with noble thoughts and deeds. 

Petulence, grumbling and ofliciousness should never find tittei-ance ia 
newspapers; but fair comment, and unprejudiced criticisms, based upor> 
knowledge and understanding coming from iaithfnl, comprehensive study,, 
and intelligent reflection, should always displace them. Extended arguments- 
and lengthy clippings from metropolitan papers, rarely find acceptable 
place in local papers. 

This summary of what the local county paper should be, reflects a fair 
average of what it is in Iowa to-day; of the character and range of the 
matter offered weekly, in ninety-nine counties within her borders; and it is 
but just to say that Davis county is well represented. 

!No other influence has contributed so much to the progress and de- 
velopment of Iowa, as the newspapers of the State. No class of men have 
labored more assiduously and disinterestedly lor the development of the 
State, and the advancement of her material interests, than her editors. The 
number and character of the papers read and published in the State indi- 
cate the mental activity of the people, and their general intelligence and 
enterprise. Huhhard's Record for 1880, gives 510 as the number of news- 
papers published in Iowa, of which 30 are dailies, 462 weeklies, and 19' 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 491 

moiitlilies. The great continents of Africa and Asia, with European Tur- 
key, Portugal and Norway and Sweden thrown in, possess barely more than 
half the number of papers issued in Iowa, a region in which fifty years ago 
no white man lived. And Iowa has more papers than the continent of 
Soutii America and Mexico and the Central American states combined. 

The states of Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Louisiana, North and South 
Carolina are reported as having 447 papers, or 68 less than the goodly 
Hawkeye State. Politically, the republicans lead off with 226, followed by 
83 democratic, 39 greenback and 87 independent and neutral sheets. There 
are 28 publications in tiie German, Bohemian and Norwegian languages. 
The educational papers number 7, i-eligious 8, agricultural 3, and temper- 
ance 2. Society, literary, legal and miscellaneous publications complete 
the list. As to names, there is no lack of variety. Twenty-three indicate 
their political creed by sailing under the title of Deraoci'at, and the cogno- 
men Kepublican is found at the heading of 21 sheets. Twenty papers are 
called News, 17 Times, 13 Journal, 11 Independent and 9 Gazette, with 3 to 
6 as Tribune, Herald, Union, Express, Register. Leader, Enterprise, Reporter 
and Hawkeye. Odd titles are not few, as Phonograph, Telephone, Eureka, 
Eclipse, Delta, Dial, Vidette, Signal and Kosmos all testify. There is the 
Sentinel and the Pilot, the Bngle and the Plain Talk, the Radical, the Lib- 
eral, the Conservative, and the Freeman, the Monitor, the Vindicator, and 
the Watchman. The Mirror reflects the sentiments of three communities, 
the Star twinkles for an equal number, the Eagle screams for two, the Sun 
shine for three, a Blade is wielded for one, and one has an Opinion. Then 
there is the Beacon, and the Beacon Light, the latter a greenbacker. Ordi- 
nary titles, by the way, do not seem to meet the views of the fiat-money 
people, and therefore we find such names as Greenback World, People's 
Dollar, National Advocate, New Era, and Independent American. Among 
foreign names we notice Volks-Zeitung, De Volksvreind, Beobachter, Slo- 
von Americky, and Freie-Presse, the latter representing three sheets. Tiie 
Express, the Locomotive, the Onward, the Advocate, the Patriot, the Clip- 
per, the Plain Dealer, the Telegraph, the Messenger, the Courier, the Led- 
ger, the Review, and the Constitution all do duty as names for some of the 
good papers of Iowa. 

The first paper ev^er issue 1 in this State was tlie Iowa Yisitor, at 
Dubuque, in 183-1, since which time no doubt a thousand newspapers have 
lived and died in Iowa. 

In the spring of 1836, John King purchased at Cincinnati, Ohio, and 
brought to Dubuque, a Smith press with the necessary type, and published 
a newspaper called the Dubuque Visitor. Wm. Cary Jones was foreman 



492 TIISTOKT OF DAVIS C0UNTT. 

of the office at a salary of $35u a year and boardiiif^. Andrew Kee- 
Bicker was compositor. In 1842 this press and type were taken to Lancas- 
ter, Wisconsin, and on it was printed the Grant County Herald. Subse- 
quently the same press was taken to St. Paul, Minnesota, and from it was 
issued the first paper printed in Minnesota Territoi-y, called the St. Paul 
Pioneer. In 1858 the same press was taken to Sioux City Falls, in Dakota 
Territory, whereon to print the first newspaper published in that Territory, 
called the Dakota Democrat. In March, 1802, the Siou.x Indians burned 
the town of Sionx City Falls, and this pioneei- of American civilization 
perished in the flames. 

It may not be uninteresting in this connection to give a few brief facts 
concerning journalism in the United States, as follows: 

First newspaper — Colonial Press, Boston, 1090. 

First political paper— Journal, New York, 1733. 

First daily paper — Advertiser, Philadelphia, 1784. 

First religions paper — Recorder, Chillicothe, Ohio, 1814. 

First agricultural paper — American Farmer, Baltimore, 1818. 

First commercial paper — Price Current, New Orleans, 1822. 

First penny paper — Morning Post, New York, 1833. 

First independent paper — Herald, New York, 183o. 

P'irst illustrated paper — News, Boston, 1853. 

First religious daily — Witness, New York, 1870. 

First illustrated religions paper — Weekly, New York, 1871. 

First paper west of Mississippi — Republican, St. Louis, 1808. 

First illustrated daily in the world — Graphic, New York, 1873. 

First Woman's rights paper — Lily, Seneca Falls, New York, 1847. 

The Lily was started by Mrs. Amelia Bloomer, now an honored resident 
of Council Blufl's. The Lily flourished six years. 

Iowa is the fifth State in the Union in the total number of publications. 
New York leading with 1,'230, Pennsylvania 835, Illinois 832, Ohio 653, 
and Iowa 510. In the matter of subscriptions about 200 Iowa papers 
charge $2.00 per annum, 200 $1.50, and the refet divide up between $1.00, 
$1.25 and $1.75. 

The total number of publications in the United States is placed at 9,723, 
representing politics, religion, science, commerce, the trades, finance, amuse- 
ments, in short, every interest, occupation and profession has it organ. The 
oldest paper now extant in the United States is the Mercury, of Newport, 
R. I., which was established in 1758. The number of newspapers in the 
world is over 23,000. 

There are seven newspapers published in the United States which are 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 493 

now over one hundred years old. They are the Portsmouth (N. H.) Ga- 
zette^ Newport (li. I.) Mfrcuri/, New London (Conn.) Gazette, Hartford 
(Conn.) Courant, New Haven (Conn.) Journal, Salem (Mass.) Gazette, 
Worcester (Mass.) Spy. 

"We are indebted to Col. S. A. Moore for the followln"; information, pre- 
pared some years ago: 

•• The first newspaper published in the county was issued in 18.54, and wa? called the West- 
ern Gazette. It was a six column paper, and owned and edited by George Johnson. It 
afterwards changed bands and was called tlie Radiator. Affain there was a change; Harry 
Ober ijecame the editor and proprietor, and it was called Ober's True Flacj. In 18-56, Elder 
Jesse Bowen started the Democratic Weekh/ I'liioii. It was very short lived, and was suc- 
ceeded by Wiird'n Own, with William 6. Ward as editor. It had for a motto: "Ward 
Knows." .Tones says: "As a newspaper, it was a rare joke." The next paper was the 
Daiis Count!) Index, edited by Kosea B. Horn, which ran well for a season, but its existence 
was brief. In 1*^58, Mr. A. P. Bentley started the Democratic Clarion, which he conducted 
until the spring of 1 8G1 , when it changed hands antl was published by William G. War-d until 
1863, when it suspended, but it again revived, and rin for a short time; but it died for the 
want of patronage in 1864. 

In 18611 the I'nion Guard was started by a joint-stock company, with M. H. Jones and S. 
A. Moore as editors, and A. M. Karns, publisher. Gen. Weaver succeeded in the editorial 
department, and the paper continued as before until 1866, when M. H. Jones and Cyrus H. 
Young became proprietors, selling out to Mr. E. T. White in 1868, who changed the name 
to the Darin Count n Republican. Mr. White added much new material, including a power 
press, and continued its publication until his death in February, 1873. Mrs. White contin- 
ued the publication of the paper until May, 1873. Captain J. A. T. Hull then purchased the 
office, and became its editor. Mr. A. M. Karns became associated with Captain Hull in the 
publication of the Rejniiilican, and continued in the office until June, 1876, when he was 
succeeded by Mr. 0. B. Whitford. The Daris Cinint;/ Republican is now published and 
edited by the firm of Hull. Hamilton iVr Fortune. 

In 1869, Mr. T. O. Walker commenced the publication of the Bloomfield Democrat. 

Mr. J. B. King began the publication of the Grangers'' Adrocate in the spring of 1874, but 
sold out in a few months to Frederick W. Moore r.nd Will Van Benthusen, wlio changed the 
name of the paper to The Commonwealth. Mr. Van Benthusen sold his interest in The Com- 
monwealth, about the first of May, 1876, to Mr. Henry C. Ethel. 

In October, 1874, Mr. J. B. King commenced the publication of the Odd Fellou-s' Banner. 
Mr. S. H. Glenn, purchased an interest in the paper, in January, 1876. The Banner was 
then published under the firm name of Glenn and King. 

The Teacher at Jt'ork was also a monthly publication issued from the oHice of the Daris 
Countif Republican, and edited by the Faculty of the Southern Iowa Normal and Scientific 
Institute. 

The Drakerille Sun wa< started by Richard B. B. WooJ, at Drakeville, in March, 1875, 
;iiid suspi.'uded February, 1876. 

There are at present tliree newspapers published in the county, all of 
them at the county-seat: Duvii^ County Republican, Democrat, and Legal 
Tender Greenback. These newspapers are on a sound footing, ably con- 



494 HISTOEY OB' DAVIS COUNTY. 

ducted, and wield an influence on the literary, moral, social, commercial 
and business interests of the country, that can be known only in the growth, 
prosperity and hapjiness of our cliildren who, in the coming years, will 
meet as we have to-day, to review the history of the past. 

From another source we learn the names of every newspaper ever pub- 
lished in the county, with the several owners of eacli, as follows: The 
WeeJdi/ Gazette, the first newspaper in the county, the first issue dated 
Saturday morning. May 13, 18^4, owned and edited by Geo. W. Johnson; 
The True Flag, edited by Chamb. Uber; The Radiator, edited by Rev. J. 
B. Bowen; The Bloomfield Union and The Davis County Democrat, edi- 
ted by Rev. J. B. Bowen; " Ward's Own," by W. G. Ward; The Iowa 
Flag, by W. G. Ward; The Davis Comity Index, by Hosea B. Horn; The 
Democratic Clarion, by A. P. Bentley and Amos Steckel, succeeded by 
W. G. Ward, then by Barr & Hamlin; The Union Guard, by Andy 
Karns, succeeded by Jones & Young; Davis County Republican, by Edvv. 
White, succeeded by J. A. T. Hull, then Hull & Fortune, then Hamilton 
& Fortune; The Bloomfield Democrat, by T. O. Walker; The Grangers 
Advocate, by J. B. King; The Commonwealtli, hy F. W. Moore, Henr\' 
Ethel and Will Van Benthusen; The Legal Tender Greenback, by C. F. 
Davis; The Mercury, by Henry Ethel; The Odd Fellows'' Banner, by J. 
B. King, then Glenn & King; The People's Journal, by Mitchell Bros.; 
The Vindicator, by S. H. Horn; and the Drakeville Sun, started at Drake- 
ville, in March, 1875, by R. B. B. Wood, and suspended in February, 1876. 
The papers above given in small caps are the only ones of this long list 
now in existence. 

The Davis County lupublican is the oldest living newspaper in Davis 
county, having beeti started as the Union Guard, in August, 1863. It was 
first owned and operated by a joint stock company. At a conference of re- 
publicans held in Bloomfield that year, for the purpose of devising ways and 
means of starting a paper favorable to President Lincoln's administration,' 
it was decided to issue Idd shares of $5.00 each, and to limit all stockhold- 
ers to one share each. Subsequently, owing to a desire to hasten the inaugu- 
ration of the plan, several members were permitted to purchase three or 
more shares each. Col. S. A. Moore and Mr. John Drake, now of Albia, 
were appointed a committee to purchase material. They purchased a stock 
of second-hand material of Ottway Cutler, at Ft. Madison, and with this 
the first number of the Union Guard was printed, A. M. Karns being the 
publisher, and Col. S. A. Moore and Mr. M. H. Jones, editors. Mr. Karns 
soon became owner of all or most of the stock by purchase and donation; 
and under his management the foundation of the subsequent splendid pros- 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 495 

■perity of the paper was laid. In May, 1864, Col. Moore re-enlisted, and 
Mr. Jones also entered the army, Col. J. B. Weaver succeeding to the edi- 
torship. In 186S Henry H. Jones and Cyrus H. Young became owners of 
tiie paper. In 1868 Mr. E. T. White purchased tlie office, and changed the 
name of the paper to the Davis County Eepuhlicdn, which has been its 
name ever since. Mr. White added a magnificent Taylor power press and 
inuch new material, and greatly im]>roved the paper in every way. In Feb- 
ruary, 1873, Mr. Wliite died. Mrs. White edited and controlled the paper 
until May of the same year, when it was purchased by Captain J. A. T. 
Hull. Atone time Mr. A. M. Karns was associated with Capt. Hull in the 
■ownership of the office, but soon disposed of his interest, Capt. Hull again 
becoming sole proprietor. Mr. C. B. AVhitford became for so!ne time as- 
sociate editor in 18.76, and Mr. R. L. Rowe had editorial control from Janu- 
-ary to March, 1879. In May, 1877, Mr. A. II. Fortune, a]iractical printer, 
■entered the firm as a partner, the style of the firm being changed to Hull 
& Fortune. Under the editorial and business management of Hull ifc For- 
itune, the paper has grown and prospered as never before. In 1880 steam 
power was introduced, and large additions of stock purchased. Hull & For- 
tune are still proprietors, but the paper is published by Fortune & Hamilton, 
Mr. John J. Hamilton having leased Capt. Hull's interest in the spring of 
1879. Mr. Hamilton took editorial charge of the paper March 31, 1879, 
.and is still its editor. 

Tiie Legal Tender Greenback, ^-AQ e&ti\h\\&\\ed in June, 1878, by C. F. 
Davis; stepping into the shoes of the Commonwealth, deceased. In six 
•montlis lie Iiad the county printing, and did effectual work in the Con- 
gressional campaign of 1878. This paper started with about 300 subscrib- 
•ers, and when there were only 800 Greenback votes in the county. It has 
now reached a l>onafide circulation of over 2,000, the largest ever attained 
•by any paper ever published in the county; and the vote of the party has 
increased until at the last election, they elected every candidate on the 
•county ticket. This paper is officially indorsed as the Greenbrck organ of 
Davis county, and the central organ of the national Greenback party. Their 
business and circulation have so increased that it became necessary to put in 
■a steam power press. 

The Bloomfield Demacrat. — The publication of this journal was begun 
■September 15, 1869, by T. O. Walker, its present proprietor, and has con- 
tinued ever since under the same ownership. Assistance in placing the 
paper upon a permanent pecuniary basis was given by J. W. Ellis; William 
Hill and W. T. Leech. The Demoorat was at first a seven column paper, 
but as business increased, it enlarged. In 1871, to eight columns, and to nine 



496 HISTOKY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

columns in 1872; cutting off one column a year later, and has thus re- 
mained ever since. Politically it is in complete accord with the Demo- 
cratic party. It was for Horace Greeley, as the best means to harmonize 
the North and South; and for Anti Monopoly in 1873, believing that the 
State has the right to regulate the corporations she has created. The Dem- 
ocrat lias given sturdy support to everj' worthy public improvement pro- 
jected in Davis county. It has ]3roceeded upon the principle that a local 
newspaper must be, not only the reflex of public sentiment, but the director 
as well; and that a consistent, manly advocacy of local interests will in the 
end benefit paper and people alike. 

EDUCATIONAL PEOGKESS. 

There is notliing more remarkable in our time than the great progress in 
the matter and methods of education. This lias necessitated new modes of 
mental culture, and placed in the hand of the educator new material to aid 
liira in reaching broader and grander results. Among the changes which 
the new education has wrought is the recognition of certain philosophical 
facts in the training of youth, the importance of due attention to the hygiene 
of school-room life and study, and the place of new studies in the educa- 
tional curriculum of the common school. Time was, and not far back, when« 
"reading, "riting, and 'rithmetic " were deemed the only essentials of an 
education. But this has changed, and the history of the change is one of 
that long struggle against the prejudices in favor of the oldest methods 
of the old schools in which the early settlers had been educated, and to 
which they had become attached: a struggle in which the county is still in- 
terested; one that comes to it laden with the accumulated facts of ages^ 
hoary with years, yet beneficent in influence; a struggle in which opinions- 
and theories covered with honors have been marched off the stage of actioni 
and supplanted by facts and principles which it has cost years of toil to dis- 
cover, and more j'ears still to establish. 

The result of all these is, that it is now not only conceded, but very gen- 
enerally demanded, that the teacher should be subjected to a thorougli' 
course of training before commencing to discipline other minds. To meet 
this end, not only have normal schools been established and normal courses 
added to the eurrlcuht of the colleges, but normal institutes, at the expense 
and under the auspices of the county, have been established to meet a de- 
mand ever growing greater. The reason is, that there is a need in popular 
education that ma}' only be met by first meeting a like need felt by those 
who have that work in charge. The teacher occupies but partly, the high. 



HIt-TOKY OF DAVIS COUNIY. 49T 

place of an apostle of complete civilization — for nothing less is his task 
and that is his place — a preacher of complete manhood and womanhood. 
Instead of drilling boys and girls ujion the ninltiplication table, he is to- 
profoundly aflect human destiny for good. That there is but a feeble de- 
mand for this highest type of teachers, arises not only from an unconscious- 
ness of the immeasurable value they arc to mankind, but also from the im- 
perfect style of teachers that now stand before the public. 

There is probably no question in which tlie citizens of a county are so di- 
rectly interested as this one of teachers of known and tried ability. The 
time has long since passed when any person could teach school. The 
claims of to-day can no longer be met b\' the apjdiance of even a decade 
ago, for experience is beginning to show that teaching, like every other de- 
partment of human thought and activit}', must change witli the changing 
condition of society, or it will tall in the rear of civilization and become an 
obstacle to imjirovement. The educational problem of the day, is how to- 
get more meaning into the training of tiie schools; a meaning that shall ex- 
cite the youthful mind to the highest type of intellectual activity and vigor; 
that shall educate for lasting national life. A nation's safety lies wrapped 
up ill the intelligence of its people. And as the scope of human activity 
and thought is ever widening, so the claims of culture are ever increasing, 
and the State has the right to expect due attention to them from its con- 
stituency. By the general diffusion of knowledge only, is it possible to put 
wisdom at the helm of State; keep mediocrity out of responsible offices; re- 
move corruption from places of trust; banish vice and peculation, and 8& 
sweeten the fountain of public morality, that justness and fairness shall be 
the condition between all classes of men in all the relations of life. To tbi& 
is opposed, oftentimes, the foolish objection that " too much book learning 
is not to the best interest of individuals.'' Nothing is more foreign to a 
true spirit of culture and progress, or more fruitful of invidious results, 
than that the matter and aim of education are not akin to the most common- 
place affairs of life. Education is intensely utilitarian, directly so; there is 
not an avocation to which it has not brought its benison by way of improve- 
ment or coi'rection. 

An illustration from that kind of labor to which mir country owes its in- 
stitutions and its perpetuity — husbandry — may be in point. In early ages 
the products of agriculture n-ere thought to be the gifts o*' various divini- 
ties, who gave or withheld according to their caprice. Thegolden grain was 
the special bounty of Ceres — ^^just as Minerva bestowed the olive, and l>ac- 
cluis the wine. The seed grain did not quicken except by favor of the ru- 
ral god, who kept watch and ward over this ]>roccss; their sheep and their bees 



498 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

•were under the gnardiansliip of Pan, and a troop of frolicsoin fanns brought 
bade life to the fields, and opened with tlieir busy fingers the buds of spring. 
Over all the operations of nature was some presiding divinity, and, as they 
were prosperous or adverse, they inferred tliat tlie divinity was kindly or 
malignant. But since that time the pliysical sciences and chemistry have 
given to tiie farmer a new heaven and a new earth. Tiie lightnings are no 
longer the manifestations of an angry divinity, but an indispensable agent 
in the scheme of vegetable growth and production. Noxious elements, 
once the source of untold miasm and death, are constantly eliminated from 
the air he breathes — taken up by the lungs of the vegetable system, and 
transmuted into valuable and useful forms. Now, his culture comes to 
temper the austere sky, liis enterprise rolls back to the forest like a scroll, 
and there appears a more genial sun, until the frozen circle itself seems 
pushed northward, and abundance smiles where unassisted Nature was 
stern, and niggard, and unfruitful. The field of improvement is yet bound- 
less, though the most beautiful of the sciences are his handmaids. A. vast 
change in the direction and tendency of thought is that from the time 
when — 

The sacred seer with scientific truth 
In Grecian temples taught the attentive youth; 
With ceaseless change, how restless atoms pass 
From life to life a transmigrating mass, 

to that of to-day when men's thought are turned outward toward Nature, 
seeking the cause and explanation of its phenomena, not in the " influence 
of the gods who haunt the lurid interspace of world on world, where never 
creeps a cloud or moves a wind, nor ever falls the least white star of snow, 
nor ever lowest roll of thunder moans, nor sound of human sorrow mounts 
to mar their sacred everlasting calm — but in Nature itself. Men may 
question Nature, aud where shall that questioning better begin than in the 
common school room, surrounded by proper and appropriate influences, and 
under the guidance of skilled and trained teachers. The work of such a 
teacher will be more than a mere perfunctory discharge of mechanical du- 
ties; such a teacher will never be content with the orderly management 
and systematic communication of other people's results. Agassiz recog- 
nized in 1871, the need of teachers, trained not alone in the common 
branches, but in science, for how else shall the attention of hundreds of 
thousands whose ahna /nafcr is the common school, otherwise learu to read 
the truths that lie like diamonds on every hand, or nod smilingly out from 
every flower? Said Prof. Louis Agassiz: "The time seems to have come 
when to the received method.'^ and approved topice of popular education, 



HISTOEY OF DAVIS COUNTT. 499 

such branches of physical and natural science should be added as have ac- 
quired real importance for the business of life during the last fifty years. 
There is only one difficulty in tiie way of this most desirable result. There 
are no teachers to be had, whatever efforts might be made to introduce 
these studies at present, and the demand is likely to become more pressing 
«very day. It would seem, therefore, to be the part of wisdom to consider 
wliat may be done to prepare the way, and I hold it will be best to organ- 
ize a special normal school for liie training of scientific teachers. The 
world will require them every wiiere before many years are past." It is the 
happy lot of the teacher of to-day, to live in one of those most eventful 
periods of intellectual and moral history, when these oft-closed gates of 
discovery and reform stand open at their widest. How long these good 
days may last, none can tell. It may be that the increasing power and 
range of the scientific method, with its stringency of argument and con- 
stant check of fact, may start tlie world on a more steady and continuou.'; 
•course of progress than it has moved on hertofore. It is for those among 
the teachers of this county, whose minds are set on the advancement of 
•education and educational methods, to make the most of present opportu- 
nities, that even when in future years progress is arrested, as checked it 
may be, it shall be arrested at the the higher level. 

Aside from the qualifications that should be required in teachers, there is 
another important feature of the common scliool system that should by no 
means be overlooked — that of the snperintendency. It is now a recognized 
fact that a system, the workings of which are as eom]ilicated as is our com- 
mon scliool system, need.s some responsible head to which the teacher, in 
trouble or in doubt, may appeal. This is found in the highest school offi- 
cer in the county — the superintendent of schools. The very nature of his 
task and the duties of his office, make it imperative that he should be a 
man of large experience and broad views, able both to advise and correct. 
It is an office indispensable to the workings of the system as now constitu- 
ted, and is more effective, and most effective, when fitness is considered as 
the sole recommendation. It is not only a notorious, but a disgraceful fact, 
that the aims of the office are defeated by party ends, and its usefulness 
abridged by unwise partisan selection. From the school and its direction, 
its teaching and its ceacher, all questions of a political nature should be 
banished. The school-room is not the proper place for their discussion, and 
the selection of a superintendent on a political basis alone, is a most fla- 
grant error. To insure the efficiency of the office, men of sterling worth, 
tried in school methods and able to direct, should be selected, and the 



500 HISTOEY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

choice ought to be unanimous, and made with a view to the highest interest 
of the patrons of the school. 

Another feature of equal, if not greater importance, is the retention of 
good teachers. The educational interests of a county can usually be safelyJ 
intrusted to the care of professional teachers. Their avocation makes them ' 
necessarily jealous of their reputation, and jealousy of this kind almost in- 
variably leads to greater and more enduring successes. The earlier teachers, 
and this is not meant altogeter disparagingly, hept school rather than tau(jht, 
and even then, their duties were confined to a lew months' task in winter 
or summer. Aside from the few paltry dollars the}- saw in it, they had no 
interest in their occupation, and were constantly leaving the teachers' ranks 
for other and more remunerative employment. It is a sad fact that'this 
same evil prevails to-day, and the necessities of education demand that it 
should be remedied. Greater permanenc}' in the vocation of teaching must 
be guaranteed, or talent and culture will be induced neither to enter or remain 
in the wcu-k. So long as this remains a prevailing jieglect, the schools will 
be shorn of their greatest efficiency, and the development of youth into a 
nobler manhood prove a failure. After city and township districto select 
suitable men and women to take charge of schools, and find that they pos- 
sess the requisite <jualitications, let them allow no moneyed nor any other 
consideration to infiuence these successful teachers to withdraw from their 
tested positions. Unless this principle more commonly obtain, continual 
experiment must tiecessarily take the place of a true educational philosophy. 

There is another feature rapidly becoming a part of the common school 
system which promises the greatest results. That feature is the normal in- 
stitute work, now being annually inaugurated and conducted through a 
term of weeks in this county. The system has been tested in other 
counties, and with the most flattering success. The amount of work com- 
pressed into a short month's study in one of these normal trainings is truly 
astonishing. The county superindendent vigorously co-operates in this 
niattei-, and thus new life and enthusiasm is infused in the teachers present. 
To foster this new adjunct of popular education should now become one of 
the main self-imposed duties of school officials throughout the cour)ty, for 
thus will be given them the better classes of teachers — classes ever becom- 
ing stronger in I heir avocation from both study and experience. While 
a certain ])er cent of new teachers must continually be presented, it is not 
necessary that emi)loymeut be given them because they are cheaper. The 
country districts especially suffer from this inimical policy, a policy which 
while it annually saves a few dollars, ruins very often the educational capa- 
bilities of a child. The school-room blunders of experienced teachers are 



HISTOKT OF DAVIS COUNTY. 501 

often grievous and many; it is hence the liight of folly to subject a school 
to the immeasurably more disastrous ones of totally inexperienced teachers. 

Passing from these general considerations to tiie purely historical phase 
■of this chaptei', it may be remarked that the progress in educational mat- 
ters and interest has been commensurate with the material growth of the 
■county in other respects. The attention of the reader is now invited to a 
summary of this growth. 

It must not be supposed that while the pioneers, who settled these prai- 
ries, were busy redeeming their wildness and surrounding themselves with 
domestic comforts, they forgot to plant the seeds of those institutions among 
wliich they were reared. As soon as a sufficient number of children could 
be gathered together, the school-house made its appearance, rude at first, 
like the primitive houses of the settlers, but adapted to the cii'cumstances 
of the peopile in those times. Pioneer school-houses were usually log struc- 
tures, warmed in winter by fire-places similar to those in the pioneer houses. 
Slanting shelves were used for desks, along the walls, and in front of these 
were benches made of slabs. These were for the " bier scholars." A row 
of similar benches stood in front of these, upon which the smaller pupils 
sat. The buildings were sometimes without doors, and paper was made to 
subserve the purpose of window glass. The books then in use were such 
as would not be tolerated now. They were well adapted to the capacities of 
those who had mastered the branches of which they treated, but not to those 
of beginners. The methods of teaching were then quite different from the 
present. The early settlers, as had been their fathers before them, were 
reared with full faith in the maxim, ''spare the rod and spoil the child." 
The first teachers were usually anxious that pupils should not spoil on their 
hands, and many old men retain a vivid remembrance of what school disci- 
pline was in their boyhood. 

An account of the exercises daring half a day of school in the olden time 
would be amusing, though, in some respects, it is an open question whether 
modern customs are all great improvements. Many can remember that 
when word was passed around, "the master's comin'!" a grand scramble for 
seats occurred, so that every one was found in his seat, and a suspicious 
kind of order jjrevailed when the august dispenser of wisdom entered. It 
must be admitted, however, that notwithstanding the miserable text-books 
then in use, and in many respects, the awkward methods of teaching which 
prevailed, the schools of that period furnished some excellent scholars; per- 
haps, almost, a larger proportion than those of the present time. It is not 
meant that people then knew more; indeed, if the truth must be told, they 
knew far less. Uut ability to conquer intricate problems, and without aid, 



502 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 



is almost a thing of the past in the conntry school. More than is really 
necessary to, and applicable in, life, is now tanght, to be sure, and herein, 
lies the great superiority of the common schools of to-day. 

The chapter covering the history of "townships, towns and their growth,"' 
farther on in this work, will contain, in detail, so far as facts and tradition 
allow, much interesting matter in relation to the schools of the county in its 
earlv days — the first ones established, the first school buildines and how 
they were provided, the early teachers, etc. The experience of early day 
teachers is often interesting, and illustrate the progress which our educa- 
tional system of to-day has made ovei- that of years ago. 

The following table shows the condition of the schools, in 1862. No ' 
records of the schools have been preserved, further back than that year, and 
some of the township reports of that year cannot be found. x 



TOWNSHIPS. 



AVBBAOE 










MONTHLY 


SCHOLAES. 


SAI.AKY. 




nJ 


Between 








« 


5 and 




■■? 


S 


« 


21. 




as 






























TS 














M» 








■a 






a 


« 


fl 




i: o 










a 




S 


Eh 


S 


i^ 


W 


■< 



BOHOOIi 

HOUSES. 



505 

775 

515 

574 

550 

900 

1,100 

1,240 

800- 

VIII 

3,200 



Salt Oreok 

Soap Greek . 

Marion 

Fox River 

DrabeviUe 

Bloomfleld 

Frairie 

Roscoe 

Grove .. 

FabiuB 

Bloomfleld City . 



5 
5 
3 

7 

2 I 4 
294 
3 

2V4 
2'/s 
'W, 



Total 179 .... 50 38 3064 2026 3548 1814 

Average ' . . 3 . . . S23.84 $13.26 $ .82 



$20.00 .$14.00 
22.00 12.80 



15.00 
24.00 
20.00 
27.00 
19.33 
20.00 
18.09 
48.00 



14.00 
10.00 
12.00 
10.00 
13.80 
14.00 
12.00 
20 00 



355 
417 
427 
415 198 



175$ 
189 
116 .. 



162 
193 
124 
85 
135 
246 
192 



.84 
.56 

1.10 
.76 
.88 

1.00 
.52 

1.12 



19 



$10,869' 



Bloomfield city had two brick school buildings. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 



503: 



Tlie ibllowins: table shows the condition of tlie schools in 1879: 



TOWNSHIPS. 





























o 






a 










o 


a 










ja 


A 










n 




t. 


O 


« 


ja 


b 




« 














B 




3. 








'A 


■^ 


s 



AVERAGE 
MONTHLY 
SALARY. 



6CHOLARB, 



Betweeu 
5 aod 
21. 





ja 








a 




o 




H 












TJ 








fi 


p. 








a 




h 






liS's 


p< 


^2 






<! 


& 



Salt Creek 

Liuk Creek 

Soap Creek 

Marion 

Fox River 

Drakeville 

Bloomfield 

Perry 

tTulon 

Prairie 

Roecoe 

Grove 

Wyacoudah 

FabiU9 

West Grove 

Bloomfield Independent . 
Drakeville Independent.. 
Savannah Independent . . 



ToUl . . . . 
Average . 



6H 



$23.68 
88.02 
22.00 
23.72 
87.00 

as.oi 

24.99 
23.83 
34.03 
29.73 
28.H7 
24.17 
24.55 
25.89 
45.83 
30.00 
32.50 



$16.70 
18.95 
20.18 
17.70 
2(1.00 
20.50 
18.33 
17.97 
18.08 
24.13 
17.01 
17.63 
23.55 
28 33 
30,08 
35.66 
IS.OO 
28.16 



$28.04 $21.22 



234 


379 


189 


324 


382 


260 


185 


332 


198 


201 


356 


1T4 


145 


177 


76 


21 


38 


18 


179 


294 


152 


104 


155 


84 


251 


419 


194 


118 


197 


UK 


142 


268 


151 


217 


3,i5 


18H 


170 


267 


160 


207 


349 


175 


211 


286 


220 


327 


632 


318 


HI 


93 


62 


62 


104 


60 


3162 


4983 


2785 



5 .82 

1.20 

1.00 

.78 

1.19 

1.601 

1.29 

1.61 

1.05 

1.11 

.82 

i.:m 

1.16 

.92 

.94 

.86 

.80 

.90 



Sl-07 



$ 3,655 
4,785 
2,730 
3,375 
1,110 
460 
2,600 
3,650 
4,075 
3,300 
2,175 
8,145 
3,800 
1,925 
2,660 
25,000 
8,000 
1,000 

$71,23«- 



The condition of the schools in 18S0 may be gathered from the following 
table by townships: 



TOWNSHIPS. 











ja 


^ 






ta 




o 






& 


d 




s 




z 


< 



AVEEAOE 
MONTHLY 
SALARY. 



SCHOLARS. 



Between 
6 and 
21. 



o 



Salt Creek... 

Lick Creek 

Soap Creek 

Marion 

Fox River 

Drakeville 

Bloomfield 

Perry 

[Tnion 

Prairie 

K'lscoe 

Grove 

Wyaeondah 

Fabius 

West Grove 

Bloomfield Independent . 
Drakeville Independent, , 
Savannah Independent .. 



6 I 6 



$22.20: 
2-2.63 
23.25 
24.80 
27.33 
25.00 
28.59 
25.1' 
24.24 



.$21.52 
18.23 
20.00 
19.08 
22.20 
18.00 
19,55 
17.33 
16.44 



.90 
1.04 
.82 
.89 
1.43 
1.43 
1.37 



5,025 
3,420 
3,640 
1,400 
400 
2 900 
3,400 
3,475 



Total , . . 
Average . 



28.92 
25.95 
25.00 
24,00 
27,18 
53,88 
36.00 
26.00 



16.77 
17.64 
25,00 
22.5(1 
24.50 
35.00 
21,00 
18.00 



.87 
1.32 
1,40 
.82 
.87 
1.08 
.91 
.50 



70 100 



§27.54 



$1.03 



2,185 
2,915 
3,70a 
1,785 
2,550 
25,000 
1,200 
1,000 

$67,536 



These tables show the number of schools; average length of school, in 
months: number of teachers; average monthly salary; number of persons 
between the age of 5 and 21; number enrolled; average daily attendance; 



504 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTr. 



average cost per iiiontli for eacli scholar, and tlie value of school buildings. 
In the next table will be found a couiplete showing of the schools, for the 
jear 1881, from the vevy latest returns, showing the condition of each inde- 
pendent district and district township. 

STATISTICAL TABLE OF DAVIS COUNTY SCHOOLS FOR 1881. 



SCHOOLS. 












NO. 




-n 


^ 




■^ 




s 








G<1 








Ql. 


en 


^ 




1 


O 

a 










fl 




. 


a 




o 






H 




u 


o 






z; 


^ 


^ 


s 


EC4 



T£ACBEBS. 



PAY PEE MONTH. 



Bloom&eld District Townsliip . 
Soap Creek Uietrict Township 
Fox River District Towusliip. 
Drakeville District Township. . 

Perry District Township 

Wyacoudah District Township 
Bloomiield Independent Dist. 
Drakeville Independent Dist.. 
Savannah Independent Dist.. 

In Salt Cheek Twp. 
lowavilie Independent Diet. . . 
X>es Moines Independent Dist. 
■Salt Creek Independent Dist. . 
BearCreek Independent Dist 
£agle Independent District. . 
Center Independent District. 
White Elm Independent Diet 

In Lick Oreek Twp. 

Pleasant Grove lud. Diet 

Pleasant Hill Ind. Diet 

Pleasant Ridge Ind. Dist 

Pleasant View Ind. Dist. .... , 
Floris Independent District . 
Bunker Hill Independent Dist 
Liberty Independent District 

Franklin Star Ind. Dist 

Union Independent District. . , 

In Mahion Twp. 
Ash Grove Independent Dist. 
Fairview Independent District 
Albiiny Indei)endeDt District. . 
Union Independent District 
Center Independent District 
■Oak Springs Independent Dist. 
Washington Independent Dist. 
Black Hawk Indep'endent Dist, 

In Union Twp. ' 
Oak Hill Independent District. 
Union No. 2 Independent Dist. 
No. 7 Independent District. .. 
Union Star Independent Dist. 

Hickoay Grove Ind. Dist 

O. K. Independent District. . . . 

Troy Independent District 

Walnut Grove Ind. Dist 

Stringtown Independent Diet. 
Antioch Independent District. 

In Phairie Twp. 
Prairie Independent District . . 
Pulaski Independent District. 
Craven Independent District. . 

In Roscoe Twp. 
Atkins Independent District.. 

Pleasant Knoll Ind. Dist 

Round Grove Ind. Dist 

Brumler Independent District 
Union Independent District 

In Gkove Twp. 

Pleasant View Ind. Dist 

Wyacondah Ind. Dist 

Newman ludepenpent District 
Stiles Independent District. 
Union Independent District 
Center Independent District 



6.5 
5.3 

5.8 

a 

6.6 

6.2 

8 

9 





6.5 

6 

7.5 

7 

3 



27.98|.S 

24.00 

30.70 



24.91 
25 33: 
56,66 
40.00 
25,00 

25,00 
2C.66 

26,00 
25,00 
25,00 
30,(10 

26,50 
33.33 
33.74 
25.00 
32.00 
26.00 



21.66 
25. DO 



24.5: 
25.00 



2,5.00 



30,00 
28,33 



20.00 
47.22 



25.00 
45.00 
30.00 
30.00 



30.00 
37. 50 
30.00 



NO. BE- 
TWEEN 
5 AND 21. 



0} 01 



O 



SCHOOL HOUSES. 



22.92 
20.94 
23 22 
25.00 
17.66 
24.50 
35,00 
26,67 



25,00 



22,13 
15,00 
16,00 
16,67 
20,00 



20,00 
19,00 
25,00 
20,00 
30.00 
25.00 



23.83 
20.00 
22.00 
20,25 
19,00 
21,75 



20,00 
16,00 

22,60 
20,00 
19.50 
26,45 
28,88 



21.00 

18 00 
34.17 
30.00 

25 00 
18.00 



14,50 
22,20 

21 50 
19,60 
23.00 
25.001 
15,00 
I6,00| 



23 


in 




21 


% 




24 


a 




41 


70 




12 


33 




34 


5C 




44 


75 




34 


4S 




72 


96 




4(1 


69 




34 


25 




2(i 


42 




19 


30 




32 


no 




16 


45 




17 


39 




22 


30 




14 


20 




20 


44 




27 


20 




28 


56 




32 


35 




14 


26 




26 


42 




24 


41 




39 


44 




15 


39 




60 


73 




19 


34 




12 


22 




8 


29 




21 


62 




56 


94 




18 


45 




22 


49 




43 


75 




17 


36 




26 


46 




26 


44 




27 


32 




16 


31 




24 


66 




23 


46 




IS 


30 




36 


67 





153,4 

ISO 

97 

21 

92 
164 
252 

29 

40 

194 
37 
22 
28 
18 
23 
26 

21,5 

22 

21 

27,8 

24 
13 
19 
12 

33,5 

18 

19 

17 

12 

23 

24 

23 

18 

14 

36 

21 

30 

28 

36,5 

19,8 

12 

24,3 



.'52 
19 

17 

51 

18,5 

20 

29 

19 
17 

29 
24 



M.Il 
],2I 
1 04 
1,05 
1 45 
1,53 
1,26 
.69 
.65 

1.29 
.91 

1.00 
.73 

1.09 
,94 
,97 

1,24 

1 31 

,74 

,89 

,70 

,82 

1,00 

I 12 

1,92 

,74 
1,33 

.59 
1.16 
1.66 
80 
1.08 
1 05 

1,14 

1 
,81 

1,07 
.67 
.70 
.73 

1.45 

1.52 



.41 

1.6S 
1.26 

1.48 

.70 

1.62 

.90 

.76 

1.10 
1 60 

.79 
1.17 
8.60 

.85 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

STATISTICAL TABLE-Continued. 



505 



D18TBI0T8. 



SCHOOLS. 



TEACHERS. 



FAT PEB MONTH. 



SCHOOL HOUSES 



NO. BE- 
TWEEN 
5 AND 21. 



tma 






Burr Oak Independent District 
Fabiu8 Independent District.. 

In Fabii-th Twp. 
Franklin Independent District 
Jeflferson Independent Diet. .. 
Taylor Independent District. . 
Central Independent District 
Union Independent District.. 
Washington lud. Dist 

In West Grove Twp. 
Harmony Independent Dist. . . 
West Grove ludeiteudent Diat. 
Gordon Independent District. 
Orange Independent District. 

Carter's Creek Ind. Diet 

No. 1 Independent District . . 
Prairie Independent District.. 



Total . 
-Average . . 



16 465.8 
..| 6.56 



1 1 
1 1 

1 
1 
1 

1 

3 



25.00 
30.00 



25.00 
16. UO 



36 34 30 
32 44 43 





. 22 50 


28 33 




26.00 






26 00 




26 36 


35.00 
30.00 
•20.00 


30 00 
18.00 
18.00 
27.60 


31.65 
33 33 










74 117 J 1,409.69 $ 1,288.10 3164 3103 4934 37S. 5 888.43 
29 37 22.21 I I 1.16 



15 
24 

24 

25 

27 

S3 

18 3 

41 

31 

75 

20 

84.4 

19 

20 

25 



1.6B 
.96 

1.14 

1.00 

.81 

1.33 

1.60 

.63 

1.25 
94 
1.20 
1.85 
1.45 
1.58 
1.33 



500 
600 

3.50 
300 
300 
300 
600 
100 

600 
1,600 
410 
200 
.300 
350 
350 

71,530 



The value ot" apparatus is $415, in the county. The bonded school debt is 
$1,275, in West Grove independent district, and fSOO in Des Moines dis- 
trict, of Salt Creek township, making a total bonded indebtedness of only 
$1,775; and we doubt if any county in the State can make a better show- 



inff. 



RELIGIOUS ADVANCEMENT. 

The groves were God's first temples. Ere man learned 
To hue the shaft and lay the architrave. 
And spread the roof above them — ere he framed 
• The lofty vault, to gather and roll back 

The sound of anthems — in the darkling wood. 
Amidst the cool and silence he knelt down 
And offered to the mightiest solemn thanks 
And supplications. — Bryant. 

"No man liveth to himself alone." So reasoned tliose God-tearing men 
of old, when first they came to Davis county. They came, not to old and 
well established towns, where are found the " lofty vaults," but to regions 
sparsely settled; not among men accustomed to homes of luxury and ele- 
gance, but to farming districts, where now first were beginning to be heard 
the bum of honest industry and faithful toil. The men among whom they 

came had little in common with the object of their mission. They were 
12 



506 IIISTOEY OF DAVIS COTTNTT. 

men wliose sole tliought was of broad acres, and material wealth. Th& 
travel-stained preacher of that olden time, strong in constitution and vigo- 
rous in mind, stronger still in faith and powerful in prayer, sought out 
these sturdy men and brought to their very doors, the consolation of the 
gospel. For these very messages hearts were aching, and many were the 
souls forced to cry out: " Oh that I knew where I might iind him ! " The I 
seeds of virtue have been sown by a good providence in all hearts, and they 1 
will spring up everywhere to His glory, if carefulh' nurtured. They are not 
wholly the result of learning and cultivation, and it is not only in old and 
efined communities that the lovely flowers of an exalted morality shed their 
perfume. The early men of God knew this principle, and recognized, too, 
the importance of its culture, and so devoutly addressed themselves to the 
task. It is well nigh impossible to correctly estimate the value of tiie work 
of these men; to estimate their influence on the character of this growing 
county. Welcomed everywhere, for the news they brought from other homes,, 
as well as for the "good tidings of great joy," they went from place to plaee^ 
greeting with smiles and cheerful words the old; with counsel or reproof 
the young. Many and varied were the duties devolving upon them. A ser- 
mon here, a burial yonder; now a wedding, and then summoned to the 
bedside of a penitent, what wonder the coming of these men was attended 
with blessings. 

It is the essence of Christianity that it be aggressive. It wars upon vice 
in all its forms, and brooks not even the appearance of evil. Checked, and 
for the time being thwarted in one direction, it only gathers energy for a 
greater onset in another, prepares and plumes itself for a more sublime 
flight. If men will not embrace its ofi^ered salvation, it goes to them with 
invitation and warning. This missionary element of Christianity alone en- 
abled its propagation under circumstances so trying; and the men who- 
were its ambassadors wei'e thoroughly imbued with the same spirit that sent 
Paul into Asia, and Luke to the Gentiles. It was the same spirit that 
prompted those noble men of God to hie them away to the jungles of Asia, 
or brave the wilds of Africa — men whose names make bright the pages of 
the church militant, and will add a brighter lustre to the church tri- 
umphant. What though its story lacks somewhat of the tragic brilliancy 
of political intrigue and plotting; what though it has not startled the world 
by those grand discoveries that make science so great a power in the land — 
discoveries that enable us to tell the myriad stars that people space, that 
impress us with wonder at the power and greatness of the Infinite ! What 
though it partakes of the nature of none of them ? Has it not brought to- 
bear on man's intelligence the higliest motives to virtue? Let the records 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 507 

of the past years testify to its power. Let tlie hallowed memories that 
stretch back down the years of the past, answer. This, too, was done when 
gilded churches were not; when the elect of God in the common-school 
room listened to the life-giving word from the lips of men imbued of God. 
And who were these men ? Were they not morally brave to dare the scoffs 
of an untried and untempered west? Were they not men whose love for 
the fallen outweighed every personal consideration, so that they gave all for 
Christ? Wiiere was their power? Was it not in that element of a truly 
noble character that men prize above all else — sympathy? Aye, and that 
was the principle which made the Son of God so welcome a visitant in the 
lowly homes of Palestine. It was a principle which bound their own hearts, 
as it did Christ's, to tiiose in suffering or distress. Here in these scenes of 
toil and strife, afar from busy life of great cities, that mysterious power 
gave these holy men access to hearts and homes; an access that paved the 
way to conquests greater than an Alexander or a Napoleon ever achieved — 
conquests that marked their track, not with fire and blood and sword, but 
with tears, and vows, and resolutions which have culminated in many glo- 
rious lives. What was done, the old residents of this county know full well. 
What to do, the line of duty plainly indicates. How well their trust has 
been executed, how nobly their mission has been accomplished, none so 
well know as those still living who enjoyed their ministration. In view of 
the grand work so well done under the guidance of Providence, we may ex- 
claim in the language of the great apostle Paul: " O, the depth of the 
riches, both of the wisdom and knowldege of God ! How unsearchable are 
his judgments, and his ways past finding out." — Romans xl, 34. 

Nevertheless, there were some distinctive features attaching to the preach- 
ing of the gospel in the early days. The work of the ministry was as much 
itinerant in its character as was ever the mission of Paul. There were pain- 
fully evident the want of the permanent and regular moral influence of set- 
settled religious institutions. Hence arose the necessity for annual demon- 
strations, or special efforts which are now denominated revivals, and which 
owe their origin both to the scarcity of places for worship, and the itinerant 
character of the preaching. The Methodists of that early day took advan- 
tage of this feature, and in establishing the circuit, laid the foundation for 
future success. The circuit rider has been made immortal by the writings 
of Eggleston, and however overdrawn his description may seem to be, they 
are faithful pictures of what has once been a real state of affairs. The men 
who thus presented the gospel had an eloquence all their own. Their fame 
traveled before them. The people, naturally sensitive and enthusiastic, 
■were readily moved by the vehement declamations of these pioneer preach- 



508 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

ers. There was a boundless field for strong, earnest and unlettered elo- 
quence, and they improved the opportunity. 

Amid such circumstances as these, did the religious history' of Davis 
county find root. The names of those who early contributed to the organi- , 
zation of the moral forces of the county, will long remain in traditional his- ( 
tory. Upon these men, and such as these, the religious interests of the ' 
county depended, and right well did they perform the task. Numerous j 
churches liave been founded in all portions of the county. I 

THE TEMPERANCE CAUSE. 

There is a suggestion of the completest misery in the bare mention of 
the word. That not only men, but women, in an advanced period of civil- 
ization — men and women who not only profess, but very frequently act upon 
a high code of morals — should indulge in fostering a love for strohg drink, 
with scarcely a protest against it, is one of the most startling facts in moral 
ethics. It is, however, perfectly normal and in no degree inconsistent with 
the doctrine of natural moral perceptions, while it opens out fields of ethical 
inquiry of very deep, though painful interest. It is here proper, perhaps, 
to explain more fully the meaning of this last sentence, but in its 
explanation is involved, in not a few cases, the cause of a life made un- 
happy by drink. By natural moral perceptions, are meant hereditary pro- 
clivities, hereditary tastes and distastes. If, in the modern psychol- 
ogy there is any one fact thoroughly substantiated, it is that mental habit 
and individual tastes not only may be, but actually are, transmitted through 
several or long lines of generations. And among these may be included 
diseases and the germs of disease, aberrant mental peculiarities and de- 
sire for sensual indulgences or enjoyments that are in themselves demor- 
alizing and damning. From time immemorial men have indulged in the 
fruit of the vine or its product, have sedulously employed intoxicating bev- 
erages, first as stimulants, then for the mental pleasure or exhileration 
they confer, and why? Oftentimes through hereditary desires, and then 
again from sheer determination to cultivate a taste for these beverages 
on the recommendation or example of others. And so the tide has ever 
increased, and it has increased the amount of human woe, wrong 
and crime. Vain have been all attempts to stay the tide; vain have 
been protestations and entreaties; vain has been prohibitory legislation; 
in the natural order of things the disease — for it is nothing else — hat 
fastened itself upon the human race, and there is no outside power that can 
stay it. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 509 

Locked in the heart of the victim of strong drink is the only safe-guard, 
the only potent agency to stay the tide, and that agency is self -■will. We 
may hedge the sufferer around with the arm of the law, may bring to his 
aid all the moral forces we can muster, may present the incentive of virtue 
lor the example of pure living; all of these would be in vain until the man 
rises in his might and asserts his manhood, his power over himself The 
mightiest bari-ier a man can oppose to tlie sway of passion, or to the bent 
of inbred desire, is self-knowledge. The old proverb, "know thyself," meant 
more than a mere index to a true philosophy of tlie mind; it pointed to the 
only sure safeguard within the possession of man against crime, and 
jagainst self-abuse in any direction. 

Sad, indeed, has been the temperance history of the human race. Who 
could tell the myriads of brave hearts and noble minds which have fallen as 
victims to its absence. Lives untold have been wrecked, possibilities un- 
measurable have been defeated, promises without number brought to naught, 
hopes on which rested the joys of millions have been wrested away, claims 
which pure hearts only could meet have gone unsatisfied, and homes with- 
out number have been depleted of all that is bright or holy in life. There 
was little exageration after all in the beautiful hyperbole of Hume, when 
writing of this same topic, he said: " To tell the ravages of this curse, it 
would require the heavans for a canvas, the ocean for color, the forests for a 
pencil and Job \'or the artist." 

To measure fully the value of an opinion or a system, it is not alone suf- 
ficient to examine the ideals of its originators; it requires rather a knowl- 
edge of how lar those ideals have been realized among tlie people. Its value 
as a savior must be reckoned by the work done, rather than the good inten- 
tions or hopes of the founders. That trite old saying, that "actions speak 
'ouder than words," is beautifully exemplified in the steadfast purpose and 
determination with which the people of this county have set their faces 
against an}' recognition or permission of this evil in their midst. But this 
is one of the questions which, like Hamlet's ghost, will not down; it re- 
quires constant, unceasing vigilance to meet it; rising at periodical inter- 
vals, as it does, with all the strength of renewed youthfulness, it requires 
an equally combative resurection of antagonistic force to stay it. Look at 
it in whatever light we niaj', it possesses a vast political importance in the 
sense of political economy. Where to engage it, and how, is a problem that 
can only be solved by concerted action. 



510 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 



CRIMINAL HISTORY. 

There has been no part of tlie habitable globe free from crime since Cain 
murdered his brother Abel. Thus, it has been transmitted from age to age, 
from land to land, from generation to generation. Man is prone to evil, 
says some one, somewliere, and it is only through cultivated influences that 
this inborn evil is held in subjection. Laws, civilization, education, the 
church, and society arc foremost among these influences who hold at bay, 
so far as may be, the evil in man, and cultivates his higher nature, gives 
scope to his nobler impulses. The more general, and the more thorough 
these moralizing influences are exerted, the less crime there is among us. 
Rare is the human being, however hardened he may have become, who has 
no tender spot in his nature. The most abject have sensibilitieswhich are 
susceptible of being attuned for good or evil. Hence, where moral influences 
and restraint do not permeate and surround the human family, and influence 
their ways of life upon the higher and better plane of conduct, they will too 
often sink to the lower. 

To show that Iowa has exerted these influences and restraints to a whole- 
some degree, it is only necessary to state, that out of a population of over a 
million and a half of people, from all nations and climes, there were only 
1,446 convictions in the entire State, for all grades and classes of crime, 
during the year 1S79. Of these .570 were for nuisance; iJ05 for larceny and 
burglary; 74 for burglary; 72 for selling intoxicating liquor; 65 for assault; 
39 for assault and battery; one, only, for illegal voting; 41 for keeping 
gambling houses, besides for otiier minor offenses. For the higher crimes 
— felonies — there were 8 convictions for murder in the first degree, and 7 
in the second degree; for arson 4; assault with intent to commit murder, 15; 
assault with intent to kill, 6; attempt to bribe a court, 1; forgery, 27; grand 
larceny, 25; perjury, 2; robbery, 12. This aggregate, of less than fifteen 
htmdred pei'sons convicted of crime, is a small per cent out of a population 
of more than a million and a half, and speaks highly of the good govern- 
ment of Iowa, and the moral, religious, and social influences of the peo- 
ple. 

At the November term of the Board of Supervisors, 1S64, is the follow- 
ing resolution: 

Eesolred, That the sum of five hunclied dollars is hereby offered and will be paid by Davis 
county, Iowa, for the apprehension of the mui-der[er] or murderers of Amanda Pittuan and 
Lovina Margaret Pitman, at Springville, in said county, the night of 29th October, 1864. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 511 

They were never caught and it remains a raj'stery to-day. 
At the February term, 1880, of tlie District Court, John L. Krewson was 
convicted of burglarizing T. F. Collins' store at Stiles, on the night of Feb- 
rnary 19th, 1879, and sentenced to three years in the penitentiary, dating 
from March 4, 1880. 

At the September term, 1881, George Gibson and Robert Lambert, stran- 
gers here, stating they came from Pennsylvania, were convicted on two in- 
dictments each, for burglarizing the houses of A. R. Humphrey and Joseph 
Hammon, of Fox Eivei- township, and sentenced to the penitentiary for one 
year and six months on each indictment, to date from October 1, 1881. 

At the February term of the District Court, 1S80, Lewis Casssell was 
tried for forgery in signing the names of Joseph Roberts and John McCarty 
to a note for $100 and discounting it for $90 at Bradley's bank. He was 
arrested by constable J. M. DutHeld, in Marion township, and his prelimi- 
nary examination took place before S([uire Horn, and at this term of the 
District Court he was sentenced to one year and six months in the peniten- 
tiary, to date from Marcii 1, 1880. 

Albert Lang was convicted at the September term of the District Court, 
1881, of burglary, in breaking into Newton Johnson's store in Bloorafield, 
and getting away with $14.25 belonging to the Odd Fellows Lodge, and a 
watch, two rifles, and a lot of revolvers belonging to Mr. Johnson. Lang 
■was sentenced to three years in the penintentiary, to date from October 1, 
1881. 

These five comprise all the prisoners now in the penitentiary credited to 
Davis county. 

In September, 1880, D. W. Lowery, a lad eleven years old, was sent to 
the reform school at Eldora, on the petition of his mother, to remain there 
until he becomes of age. 

Clay Bain was killed at the house of his father-in-law, David Glass- 
bourner, six miles northwest of Drakeville, on the 27th day of July, 1880, 
'by David Goodwin, a hired hand, working on the place. It seems to have 
been in the heat of a quarrel, and although Goodwin fired two shots, the 
fatal one, after Bain was running awa3', being unarmed; nevertheless, Good- 
win was cleared by a jury of twelve men, in the February term, 1881, of 
the District Court. 

Between seven and eight o'clock, Tuesday evening, August 23, 1881, 

<jeorge Brooks, an old resident, living near Floris, was fatally shot by his 

son Hiram, with a thirty-two caliber revolver. Hiram was arrested, and 

the case is now pending in the District Court. 

■. As near as can be learned, Mr. Brooks and his wife got into a dispute 



512 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNXr. 

about milking the cow, he having told one of the children to do it, and she^ 
another; Hiram coming to the help of his mother, and then- shooting his 
fatiier in self-defense. 

In the issue of the Democratic Clarion^ published in Bioomtield, August 
18, 1858, is found a full account of the crime and hanging of Williani 
Hinkle, with the following heading: 

EXECUTION OF WILLIAM HINKLE. 

A brief account of the murder — The condemned man — The multitude assembled to witness 
his death — TJie gaUows and the ground — Scene on his arrival at the gallon's — His prot- 
estation of innocence — His "Profession" — Religious services — Breaking of the rope — 
and his final death. 

The extreme penalty of tiie law was inflicted upon tlie ill-fated man 
Hinkle, last Friday afternoon (August 13), in Appanoose county, in accord- 
ance with the sentence of the District Court of that county. His family- 
consisted of his wife, three children and a young woman, witli whoin it was 
surmised that Hinkle had formed a liaison. A sliort time after the Cjn- 
finement of the wife and tlieir third child was born, Hinkle purchased some 
fttrychnine at S. B. Glenn's drug store in this city, alleging he procured it 
to kill rats. On his return home he said he would make some sling for the 
company; there being one or two neighbor women at his house. After 
they had drank he then prepared a glass for his wife, and one of the ladies 
testified tliat she saw him take something like a small paper from his 
pocket, but as his back was turned towards her slie did not see iiim put it 
in the glass. When the wife drank the sling she complained of its tasting 
bitter, and in a very few minutes was taken with convulsions, and shortlj 
after died in great agony. At the funeral, Hinkle manifested unusual 
levity, and liis particular attentions to the 3'oung woman before mentioned,, 
attracted so much attention, that an investigation was set on foot, a coro- 
ner's jury was summoned, the body exhumed, and a post mortem e.xamina- 
tion ordered. The stomach was taken to Keokuk, and analyzed by com- 
petent scientific piiysicians, which resulted in the unmistakable fact that the 
woman died from the effects of strychnine.* * * Hinkle was committed by 
a magistrate, and indicted by the Grand Jury. His trial was postponed 
from time to time, and taken on charge of venue, first to Wapello county,, 
then to Appanoose county, where his conviction, of murder, took place at 
the last April term of the District Court. He then appealed to the 
Supreme Court, where the judgment below was confirmed, and Judge Town- 
send, at a special term of the District Court, in Appanoose county, on the 
8th day of July, 1858, fixed the day for liis execution on the 13tli day of 
August. * * * On the day fixed for the execution, at an early hour, a large 
concourse of people commenced assembling on the ground, and when the 
execution took place, at two o'clock, there were from 8,000 to 10,000 people 
present to witness it, one-tliird of which were women and children, the sun 
being intensely hot, thermometer ninety-four degrees in the shade. * * * 
The gallows was erected in a hollow on tlie prairie about one-half mile west 
of the town of Orleans. The gentle ascent of the hills on both sides, gave 
a very convenient opportunity for the vast multitude to witness the execu- 
tion to the best possible advantage. The gallows was erected of frame; 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COCNTT. 513 

hewed timber, about ten feet square, with girths and a floor laid about six 
feet from tlie ground. Projecting from the outward edge of this floor was 
a deep platform on hinges, laid liorizontally and sustained by a rope extend- 
ing over a frame work above and coming down and fastened at the bottom 
of a piece of timber on the opposite side. Above the floor, the framework 
was continued to a height of about seven feet, across which was laid a piece 
of timber, the end of which extended over far enough to be above the drop 
platform, where an iron hook was fastened from which to suspend the fatal 
cord. 

The sheriff" did not arrive with the condemned man till one o'clock. He 
was escorted by a military guard of eighty horsemen, commanded by Judge 
Dudley and Col. McGowan, and about twenty foot guards. They were 
merely mustered in by the sheriff" as special police. They formed a circle 
around the gallows, being a rather grotesque looking crowd, some armed 
with rifles, siiot-guns, muskets, pistols, spears, and almost every other kind 
of a weapon. The wagon containing tlie sheriff, the prisoner and his spir- 
itual adviser. Rev. William Smith, then entered this enclosure, in company 
with the prisoner's friends, the county oflicers of Davis and Appanoose 
counties, the foot guards, and editors and reporters for the press. The 
prisoner was taken from the wagon, and after taking leave of his friends was 
assisted upon the platform, and after prayers and singing the song, ''There 
is a fountain filled with blood," the sheriff' read the warrant of execution^ 
which was in full legal form. 

A short time before he had handed to Capt. Crawford a paper, reading as 
follows : 

"■/Profession: I do solemnly profess before God and this crowd assembled 
to witness my death, that I am innocent of tiie deatii of my wife. I never 
poisoned her. I know nothing of it. My life is sworn away falsely, and 
from the decision of all men I appeal to the judgment seat of Almighty 
God, who shall bring to light all hidden things. I now repetit of all the 
sins I am guilty of before God. I appeal to Jesus Christ my Savior, for 
the remission of my sins. God so loveth the world that he gave his only 
begotten Son that wliosoever believeth in him, should not perish but have 
everlasting life. I die in peace with God and all mankind. Into thy hands, 
OGod,I commit my spirit. I know Ed. Grinstead is the cause of my death. 
He swore lies willfully and knowingly against me. Edward Hii<klk." 

The rope prepared, was made of linen thread about one half of an inch in 
diameter, was placed around his neck, iind he was lead out on the platform 
exhibiting a great deal of fortitude. The cord was then attached to the 
hook in the beam aliove, the death caj) placed over his eyes, and precisely 
at two o'clock the sheriff' cut the rope that held the platform. As the drop 
fell (the fall was about three feet), the sudden concussion of his weight 
snapped the rope, and he fell stunned and bruised to the ground. The scene 
was truly a horrifying spectacle, and the feelings of the mass of people at 
the sheriff' were intense. The wretched man was then taken back upon the 
scatt'old where a stmnger rope was adjusted around his neck, the drop fell 
again and William Hinkle was in the throes of death. In thirty minutes he 
was cut down, dead, placed in his coffin and delivered to his fi'iends. Thus 
ended this solemn tragedy. 

A number of people still living in the county who were cognizant of all. 



514 HISTOKT OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

the facts at the time, utterly disbelieve in his guilt. They call it a judicial 
murder. 

The following Is the amount of fines collected and paid into the county 
treasury of Davis countyfor ten years up to August, 1881 : For 1871, $364; for 
1872 $516.40 ; for 1873,.$441.25 ; for 1874, $286.35 ; for 1875, $363.71 ; for 1876 
$330; for 1877, $132; for 1878, $215; for 1879, $182.50; for 1880, $49.50; 
making a total of $2,880.71 for the ten years, all of which went into the 
school fund. The cost of criminal prosecutions and other criminal expenses 
which the county had to pay, from September 30, 1879, to September 30, 
1880, amounted to $1,943.68, divided as follows: Witnesses, $910.05; pros- 
ecuting attorney, $140; sheriif, clerk, constable, and justices' fees, $859.63; 
attorneys for defendants, $30; jurors before justice of the peace, $3; and 
from September 30, 1880, to September 30, 1881, amounted to $2,824.81, 
divided as follows: Witnesses, $1,100.15; prosecuting attorney, $100; sher- 
iff and bailiffs, $987.76; justices and constables, $372.50; attorneys for de- 
fendants, $40; jurors liefore justices, $39.40; jail expenses, $185. 

Davis county has been exceptionally free from that bane of taxpayers, a 
criminal history; almost all of it being connected with disloyalty during 
the war. The crimes of iuceiidiarism, burglary, robbery, and malicious in- 
terference with the rights of others, in any form, indicate by their scarcity 
a lack of that vicious material whicli is requisite for the commission of these 
offenses. 

THE WAK RECOED OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

The most formidable rebellion that ever tested the strength of a nation, 
-was inaugurated in the southern portion of this union in 1861, the history 
of which is written in the blood of the country's patriots. It was the cul- 
mination of nearly a centtny of national discord between the two sections 
of the union, and the conflict of arms was the final arbiter as to whether 
the union of our father's should remain af one, or twain. The signal was 
sounded, and the flag over Sumter received the first assault on Friday, the 
12th day of April, 1861. It was a grave period in the life of our young 
nation, one which tested the mettle, the patriotism of her people, unschooled 
as they were in the practice of war. But that signal gun sounded the 
alarm, and the fire of valor leajied from bosom to bosom, until the whole 
land was ablaze, and every strong arm of the lovers of their country and 
Iveartlistone, was quick to strike in their defense. 

The stately monuments in national cemeteries, and the thousands of sol- 
itary and unnoticed hillocks beneath which i-est the remains of armies of 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 515 

lieroes proclaim the cost at wliicli the great rel)ellion whicli threatened the 
national life was subdued. This war, with all its vast and incalculable 
losses and sacrifices, formed a chapter in the nation's litie not to be easily 
forgotten, and should be handed down to posterity. 

The first proclamation ever issued for military forces to maintain our 
national supremacy from internal conflict, was that of Aprill 15, 1861, by 
President Lincoln, as follows: 

Whereas, The laws of the United States have been, and now are opposed in several states 
by coml)inations too powerful to be suppresssd in an ordinary way, I therefore call for the 
militia of the several states of the union to the aggregate number of 75,000, to suppress said 
combination and execute the laws. I appeal to all loyal citizens for State aid in this effort to 
maintain the laws, integrity, national union, perpetuity of popular government, and redress 
wrongs long enough endured. The first service assigned forces will probably be to repossess 
■forts, places and property which have been seized from the union. The utmost care should 
be taken, consistent with our object, to avoid devastation, destruction and interference with 
the property of peaceful citizens in any part of the country; and I hereby command persons 
composing the aforesaid combinations to disperse within twenty days from date. 

I hereby convene both houses of congress lor the 4th day of July next, to determine upon 
measures for the public safety as its interests may demand. 

(Signed) AiiKAUA.M Lincoi.n, President of the United States. 

By W. H. Seward, Secretary of State. 

In pursuance of the foregoing proclamation of the president, the follow-, 
ing proclamation from the executive of Iowa, Gov. Kirkwood, was issued 
April 17, ISOl: 

Whereas, The president of the United States has made a requisition upon the executive 
of the State of Iowa for one regiment of militia to aid the federal government in enforcing its 
laws and suppressing rebellion. 

Now, therefore, I, Samuel J. Kirkwood, governor of the State of Iowa, do issue this proc- 
lamation, and hereby call upon the militia of this State immediately to form in the different 
counties, volunteer companies, with a view of entering the military service of the United 
States for the purpose aforesaid. The regiment at present required will consist of ten com- 
panies of at least seventy-eight men each, including one captain and two lieutenants to be 
elected by each company. Under the present requisition, only one regiment can be accepted 
and the companies accepted must liold themselves in readiness for duty by the 20th of May 
next at the furthest. If a sufficient number of companies ai-e tendered their services may be 
required. If more companies are formed and reported than can be received under the pres- 
ent call, their sei"vices may be required in the event of another requisition upon the State. 
The nation is in peril. A fearful attempt is being nrade to overthrow the constitution and 
dissever the Union. The aid of every loyal citizen is invoked to sustain the general govern- 
ment. For the honor of our State let the requirement of the president be cheerfully and 
promptly met. Samuel J. KruKwooD. 

Iowa City, April 17, 1861. 

The foregoing proclamation of the president was followed by another, 
dated May 3, 1861, calling for 42,034 volunteers to serve for three years, 



516 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

unless sooner dischar<^ed, which was also followed by one from the governor 
of Iowa in responce thereto, dated September 10, 1861. Again, July 2, 
1862, the president called for 300,000 more volunteers, to which gallant 
Iowa promptly responded through the appeal of her executive of July 9, 
1861. 

To all these calls for aid to suppress the rebellion, Davis county responded 
with loyal valor and promptness, as shown by the war records of the State. 
Unlike some of the border counties, the war element was largely in the as- 
cendant, with no very serious party conflicts to disturb the loyal spirit of 
the people; though some of the militia forces of the county were called upon 
in the years of the war to protect the people from the raids and murderous 
depredations of Missouri "bushwhackers." 

Tiiese forces were under the command of Captain Hosea B. Horn, Lien- 
tenaut Colonel Samuel A. Moore, aid-de-camp to Governor Stone, and 
Colonel James B. Weaver. Full and interesting reports of the depredations 
on the Southern border, made by Captain Horn, and Lieutenant Colonel 
Moore appear at the close of this chapter. Following is the complete 

LIST OF SOLDIERS. 

furnished by Davis county, in the war of the rebellion, as shown by the ad- 
jutant general's reports of the State, showing the name, rank, time of cotn- 
mission and enlistment, promotions and casualties as far as shown by the 
record : 

STAFF OF COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. 

Cyrus Bussey, aid-de-camp to Governor S. J. Kirkwood, commissioned 
June 25, 1861, resigned March 19, 1862. 

Samuel A. Moore, special aid to Governor William Stone, commissioned 
November 12, 1864-. 

SECOND INFANTRY. 

FIELD AND STAFF. 

James Baker, colonel, commissioned captain, company G, May 28, 1861, 

promoted to lieutenant colonel, November 2, 1861, promoted to colonel 

"June 22, 1862, died October 7, 1862, from wound received at Corinth. 

James B. AVeaver, colonel, commissioned first lieutenant. May 28, 1861,. 
wounded at Donelson, promoted to major, July 25, 1862, promoted to 
colonel, October 15, 1862. 

Thomus Aiidis, chaplain, enlisted as private in company G, August 26, 
18G2, com missioned ciiaplain, October 26, 1862. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 517 

COMPANY G. 

John M. Duffield, captain, appointed second sergeant, promoted to first 
sergeant, September 20, 1861, promoted to second lieutenant, November 14, 
1861, promoted to captain, September 14, 1862. 

John A. Duckworth, captain, appointed first corporal, promoted to fifth 
sergeant, September 21, 1861, j^romoted to third sergeant, November 15, 
1861, promoted to first lieutenant, November 12, 1862, promoted to cap- 
tain, April 3, 1863. 

Daniel H. Fleming, second lieutenant, commissioned April 3, 1863. 

Alfred Rudd, first sergeant, appointed May 28, 1861, retired to ranks at 
3iis own request; taken prisoner October 5, 1862; Philip Q. Stoner, first 
sergeant, appointetl fifth sergeant. May 28, 1861, promoted to second ser- 
geant, September 20, 1861, promoted to first sergeant, November 15, 1861, 
wounded at Donelson, arm amputated, discharged, August 11, 1862; 
David Steele, second sergeant, enlisted May 28, 1861, appointed third 
sergeant, November 8, 1861, promoted to second sergeant, Nov. 15, 1861, 
discharged, April 2, 1862; Phineas Coliver, second sergeant, enlisted May 
28, 1861, appointed May 28, 1861, retired to ranks on account of sickness, 
November 8, 1861, discharged, Januury 21. 1862; Thomas L. C. McAch- 
ran, fourth sergeant, appointed May 28, 1861. Discharged for disability, 
November 5, 1861; John Dunn, fourth sergeant, promoted from sixth 
corporal, November 15, 1861, killed at Donelson; John A. Demuth, fourth 
sergeant, appointed musician, promoted to fourth corporal, October 9, 
1861, promoted to fourth sergeant, June 26, 1862, wounded at Donel- 
son, promoted to first lieutenant, December 12, 1864. 

John Eeagin, second lieutenant, enlisted May 6, 1861, appointed first cor- 
poral, September 20, 1861, promoted to second lieutenant, December 12, 
1864. 

James R. Grider, second corporal, appointed May 28, 1861, discharged, 
November 25, 1862; William riowlett, third corporal, appointed May 28, 
1861, discharged, April 5, 1862. 

Gabriel Johnson, seventh corporal, appointed Nov. 15, 1861, wounded at 
Donelson. 

John N. Jones, eighth corporal, appointed October 9, 1861, died of 
wounds at Donelson. 

Joseph N. Rhodes, eighth corporal, enlisted May 6, 1861, appointed No- 
vember 15, 1861, killed at Donelson. 

Joseph Z. Needy, musician, appointed May 6, 1861, killed at Donelson. 

Privates — Allen T. Brooks, enlisted May 6, 1861, appointed wagoner; 



518 , ' HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTT 

Solomon Bunner, enlisted May 6, 1861, died October 22, 1861; Allison 
Brown, enlisted May 6, 1861, died November 28, 1861; John "W. Brooks, 
enlisted May 6, 1861, died November 9, 1861; Francis A. Black, enlisted 
May 6, 1861, discharged August 6, 1861; Wm. Buchanan, enlisted May 6, 
wounded at Donelson; Samuel H. Cheeney, enlisted May 6, 1861; George 
W. Cravens, enlisted May 6, 1861; A. J. Childers, enlisted May 6, 1861, 
discharged November 9, 1861; Jos. W. Curie, enlisted May 6, 1861; S. H. 
Carlow, enlisted May 6, 1861, discharged April 5, 1862; Geo. W. Cannada, 
enlisted May 6, 1861; Aaron Coliver, enlisted May 6, 1861; Joshua Cox^ 
enlisted May 6, 1861, discharged December 11, 1861; Wm. E. Conner, en- 
listed May 6, 1861; Wm. A. Duckworth, enlisted May 6, 1861; James M. 
Duckworth, enlisted May 6, 1861, killed at Donelson; John W. Dunn, en- 
listed May 6, 1861, killed at Corinth; Wm. H. Drake, enlisted May 6, 1861^ 
killed at Donelson; Samuel Fonts, enlisted May 6, 1861, lost left leg at 
Donelson; Eph. Farrington, enlisted May 6, 1861, wounded at Donelson;- 
Henry D. Grass, enlisted May 6, 1861, discharged June 1, 1861; T. Gaddis, 
enlisted May 6, 1861; James H. Hamblen, enlisted May 6, 1861, discharged 
December 5, 1861; Benj. Heady, enlisted May 6, 1S61, discharged Novem- 
ber 4, 1861; Arthur Hathaway, enlisted May 6, 1861; H. H. Hendrixon, 
enlisted May 6, 1861; John W. Hurless, enlisted May 6, 1861, wounded at 
Donelson; Grafton B. Hales, enlisted May 6, 1861; Thomas Hale, enlisted 
May 6, 1861, died Sep. 6, 1861 ; H. 11. Jones, enlisted May 6, '61, wounded at 
Donelson; John W. Johnson, enlisted May 6, '61; A. Knight, enlisted May 
6, '61; Jos. M. Lepper, enlisted May 6, 1861, discharged Nov 4, 1861; Car- 
roll Lane, enlisted May 6, 1861, died October 15, 1861; Wm. G. Lane, en- 
listed May 6, 1861, died October 28, 1861; Aug. Longfellow, enlisted May 
6, 1861; W. J. Medearis, enlisted May 6, 1861, discharged February 9, 1862; 
C. McMickle, enlisted May 6, 1861, wounded at Donelson; John W. Me- 
dearis, enlisted May 6, 1861, died December 5, 1861; Jas. D. McAchran, 
enlisted May 6, 1861, discharged November 25, 1861; Geo. A. Miller, en- 
listed May 6, 1.861, discliarged November 25, 1861; John P. Marson, en- 
listed May 6, 1861, discharged November 5, 1861; Wm. T. Noble, enlisted 
May 6, 1861 ; J. il. Patterson, enlisted May 6, 1861, wounded at Donelson; 
Edw. Powers, enlisted May 6, 1861; Geo. Patterson, enlisted May 6, 1861; 
John W. Pirtle, enlisted May 6, 1861, wounded at Donelson; Andrew Pat- 
terson, enlisted May 6, 1861, killed at Donelson; Marion Rayburn, enlisted 
May 6, 1861, discharged November 14, 1861; Thos. W. Stewart, enlisted 
May 6, 1861; Eli L. Stuart, enlisted May 6, 1861, discharged November 14, 
1861; Jas. H. Stevens, enlisted May 6, 1861, wounded at Donelson; James 
Shadle, enlisted May 6, 1861; Hiram S. Sloan, enlisted May 6, 1861, 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 519' 

wounded at Donelson; Peter J. Tharp, enlisted May 6, 1861; Thomas T. 
Tharp, enlisted May 6, 1861; George Wert, enlisted May 6, 1861, died of 
a wound November 15, 1862: Elisha Wallace, enlisted May 6, 1861, 
wonnded at Donelson; Henry K. White, enlisted May 6, 1861; T. J. Burge, 
enlisted May 6, 1861; Thomas Colliver, enlisted May G, 1861; E. A. Duck- 
worth, enlisted May 6, 1861; F. B. Kinnick, enlisted May 28, 1861, 
wounded at Donelson; William L. Kinnick, enlisted May 28, 1861; Chas. 
F. Pirtle, enlisted May 28, 1861, drowned August 3, 1S61; Chas. E. Dunn, 
enlisted May 28, 1861, wounded at Shiloh; John W. Box, enlisted August 
26, 1862; Philip H. Cook, enlisted August 16, 1862; D. A. Duckwortii, 
enlisted August 16, 1862; R. E. Gorman, enlisted August 29, 1862; Win. 
W. Goodson, enlisted August 16, 1862; John F. Gorman, enlisted August 
29, 1862; Henry Harward, enlisted August 29, 1662; Gideon Liles, en- 
listed August 13, 1862; Jacob G. Lumley, enlisted August 13, 1862; John 
L. Lycan, enlisted August 29, 1862; Louden McGee, enlisted August 30, 
1862; Chas. McAvoy, enlisted August 30, 1863; John B. Morris, enlisted 
August 29, 1862; Amos Peacock, enlisted August 29, 1862; Josiali Pea- 
cock, enlisted August 29, 1862; Wm. C. Quigley, enlisted August 18, 1862; 
Thomas J. Riley, enlisted August 13, 1862; Lewis Rayburn, enlisted Au- 
gust 31, 1862; Dallas Scarborough, enlisted August 25, 1862; James W. 
Sutton, enlisted August 26, 1862; John W. Scott, enlisted August 16, 1862; 
Francis M. Schrofe, enlisted August 29, 1862; Joab W. Schick, enlisted 
August 1, 1862; Edmond Smith, enlisted August 29, 1862; Nathan P. 
Tharp, enlisted August 16, 1862; James A. Thomas, enlisted August 13, 
1862; James N. Watkins, enlisted August 29, 1862; James M. White, en- 
listed August 31, 1862; George W. White, enlisted August 13, 1862; Miles 
M. Wilson, enlisted August 30, 1862; John H. McGee, enlisted August 31, 
1862; Joseph Rath, enlisted September 7, 1862. 

FOURTH INFANTRY. 

FIELD AND STAFF. 

Daniel Greenleaf, assistant surgeon, commissioned April 29, 1863. 

COMPANY E. 

Privates — Samuel L. Henry, enlisted July 15,1861; John Marshal en- 
listed September 6, 1862. 

SIXTH INFANTRY. 

FIELD AND STAFF. 

W. S. Lambert, assistant surgeon; commissioned October 22, 1862; pro- 
moted surgeon, December 30, 186i. 



520 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

THIRTEENTH INFANTRY. 

COMPANY I. 

Privates — Julins F. Chaflee, enlisted October 11, 1861; Jolin H. Evans, 
«nlisted October 11, 1861; Adolphus M. Miller enlisted October 11, 1861; 
William H. Thompson enlisted October 11, 1861; John W. Pierson enlisted 
JSTovember 4, 1861. 

FOURTEENTH INFANTRY. 
COMPANY D. 

Privates — "William S. Bryant enlisted November 6, 1861; Abner Dewit 
enlisted September 26, 1861; John R. Butter enlisted September 26, 1861. 

COMPANY E. 

Privates — James Eichardson enlisted September 24,1861 ; Samuel Vaughn 
enlisted September 24, 1861. 

COMPANY I. 

George H. Logan, second-lieutenant, commissioned November 6, 1861; 
missing at Shiloh. 

Charles W. Shaw, fifth corporal, enlisted October 1, 1861. 

Privates — Noah Britenham enlisted October 1, 1861, missing at Shiloh; , 
"William H. Brooks enlisted October 1, 1861, missing at Shiloh; Henry C. V 
Beyer enlisted October 1, 1861, missing at Shiloh; Archibald R. Coyner en- 
listed October 1, 1861; John B. Conyer enlisted October 1, 1861; Benjamin 
P.Davis enlisted October 1, 1861; Meriad Foot enlisted October 1, 1861, 
missing at Shiloh; "William Graham enlisted October 1, 1861, discharged 
for disability at Corinth, July 29, 1862; Jacob Grider enlisted October 1, 
1861, discharged for hernia at St. Louis, January 25, 1862; P. C. Humble 
enlisted October 1, 1861, discharged for disability at Corinth, July 29, 1862; 
Samuel D. Lockman enlisted October 1, 1861, killed at Shiloh; George Nnt- 
ton enlisted October 1, 1861, missing at Shiloh; Henry Nutton enlisted Oc- 
tober 1, 1861; Milton F. Pottorff enlisted October 1, 1861, discharged for 
disability at Pittsburg, April 2, 1862; Graimison Rader enlisted October 
1,1861; Richard L. Roland enlisted October 1, 1861, missing at Shiloh; 
Augustus B. Saiim enlisted October 1, 1861, missing at Shiloh; -John Saum 
enlisted October 1, 1861, missing at Shiloh; GrifSth Swinney enlisted Oc- 
tober 1, 1861, missing at Sliiloli; "William P. Smith enlisted October 1, 
1861, died March 14,1862; John H. Sibert enlisted October 1, 1861, died 
Marcli 3, 1862; John N. Vandine enlisted October 1, 1861; Charles C. 
"White enlisted October 1, 1861, missing at Shiioli; R. P. Cloyd enlisted 
■October 1, 1861; Hiram B. Lee enlisted October 1, 1861, wounded at Shi- 
loh. 



^tf^ 






CAPTCO.F. 30 lA.INFT. 



w 



■i 



HISTORY OF DAYI8 COUNTY. 521 ■ 



FIFTEENTH INFANTRY. 



(JONPANY D. 

George W. Biicliaiion, cajitain, enlisted February 11, 1862; appointed 
second corporal, February U, 1862; promoted to fourth seargeant. July 1, 
1862; promoted to second lieutenant, December 10, 1862; promoted to first 
lieutenant, February 2, 1863; promoted to captain December 15, 1864. 

William Fairburn, second lieutenant, enlisted December 1, 1861; ap- 
pointed sixth corporal, July 1, 1862; promoted to fourth sergeant, July 11, 
1862; promoted to second lieutenant, December 15, 1864. 

Privates — Ivees Clark enlisted October 15,1861; Enoch Hastings en- 
listed October 15, 1861, transferred to company K, February 1, 1862; Dan- 
iel Monroe enlisted December 10, 1861, died February 6, 1862; John E. 
Rayburn enlisted October 1, 1861, promoted to fifth corporal; H. B. Sbawl 
enlisted October 25, 1861, died January 12, 1862; Charles Smock, Saul J. 
Seaborn. 

COMPANY E. 

P/ivates — A. II. Johnson enlisted November 9, 1861; A. Y. Johnson 
enlisted January 13, 1862, died May 27, 1S62. 

SEVENTEENTH INFANTRY. 
COMPANY E. 

Privates — Benjamin P. Pesic discharged June 14, 1862. 

COMPANY K. 

Privates — ^Levi Thorp enlisted March 4, 1862; B. Noel enlisted August 
11, 1863. 

NINETEENTH INFANTRY. 

FIELD AND STAFF. 

Dennis A. Hurst, assistant surgeon, commissioned August 27, 1862. 

COMPANY H. 

Walter C. Ferguson, second lieutenant, commissioned August 21, 1862. 

George A. Paxton, fifth sergeant, enlisted August S, 1862. 

Owen B. Miller, fourth corporal, enlisted August 4, 1862, wounded at 
Prairie Grove; William C. Anderson, eighth corporal, enlisted August 14, 
1862. 

13 



522 HISTORY OK DAVIS COUNTY. 

William Kennion, musician, enlisted August 5, 1862, killed at Prairie- 
Gi'ove. 

Abner J. Buckles, wagoner, enlisted August, 14, 1862. 

Frivates— Simon Bolkin, enlisted August li, 1862; William H. B. 
Clayton, enlisted August 14, 1862; Merritt E. Mooney, enlisted August 14,. 
1862; A. Nincehelser, enlisted August 14, 1862; Joseph P. Paxton, enlisted 
August 8, 1862; John H. Stone, enlisted August 14, 1862; JSTorval J. Utt, 
enlisted August 14. 1862. 

COMPANY I. 

Frivates — John T. Barker, enlisted Aug. 6, 1862; James M. Peters, en- 
listed Aug. 6, 1862. 

TWENTY-FOURTH INFANTRY. 

COMPANY I. 

Jesse W. McMichael, first lieutenant, commissioned August 1, 1863". 
TWENTY-FIFTH INFANTRY. 

FIELD AND STAFF. 

Calvin Taylor, major, commissioned August 10, 1862. 
THIRTIETH INFANTRY. 

FIELD AND STAFF. 

Nathan L. Price, surgeon, appointed hospital steward from private, 
October 1, 1862, promoted to assistant surgeon, March 7, 1863; promoted 
surgeon, February 27, 1864. 

COMPANY B. 

Ethan Millikin, captain, appointed seventh corporal, September 23, 1862, 
promoted to first lieutenant, December 14, 1863, promoted to captain, June 
1864. 

Charles Clark, captain, commissioned September 23, 1862. 

Alvin S. Taylor, captain, appointed first sergeant, August 24, 1862, pro- 
moted to captain, May 30, 1863. 

David Letuer, first lieutenant, commissioned September 23, 1862. 

James P. Millikin, second lieutenant, commissioned September 23, 1862: 

Henry M. York, second sergeant, appointed August 24, 1862; Louis- 
Burkhalter, third sergeant, appointed August 24, 1862; John R. Spencer, 
fourth sergeant, appointed August 24, 1863, discharged October 31, 1862; 
Thomas J. Stoner, fourth sergeant, appointed October 31, 1862; AVilliam. 



HISTOET OF DAVIS COUNTY. .523 

Van Benthusen, fifth sergeant, appointed September 23, 1862, died January 
4, 1803. 

Andrew J. Curry, first corporal, appointed August 24, 1862. 

James M. Penny, first lieutenant, appointed second corporal, August 24, 
1862, promoted to first lieutenant, August 15, 1864. 

James M. Stubbs, third corporal, appointed August 24, 1862; John Bat- 
terton, fourth corporal, appointed August 24, 1862; Robert M. Bryant 
fonrtli corporal, appointed September 23, 1862; James 1*. Bryant, fifth cor- 
poral, appointed August 24, 1862; Adbell C. Traatt, sixth corporal, ap- 
pointed Aug. 24, 1862; Francis L. York, eighth corporal, appointed August 
24, 1862. 

James P. Norris, musician, appointed August 24, 1862. 

George Elliott, Wagoner, appointed August 24, 1862. 

Privates — enlisted August 9, 1862: Delaney P. Andrews, George Adams, 
Charles H. Brookshier, William D. Bunch, Samuel M. Brown, Thomas 
Broughard, James Bivier, William Bell, E. R. Baldridge, David Bradbury, 
Hamilton Burks, James B. Coyner, Joseph Cheetham, George W. Childers 
Oras A. Cunningham, James Conaway, Levi Dunlavey, Leaader Elliott, 
Lafayette Edwards, Yelverton C. Ford, Barton S. Fleming, James E. Frady 
David Fletcher, Joseph L. Fletcher, Charles Gibbs, James J. Galloway, 
William II. Haney, William B. Harris, Jacob Hockersmith, Joseph H. 
Hatch, Leonard E. Hotchkiss, Thomas Herbert, F. H. B. Jennings, Tobias 
L. Jones, James K. Kirkham, Elijah Knapp, John W. Lucas, Amos R. 
Lightfoot, William S. Lightfoot, Silas Matherly, Lycurgus Minear, Thomas 
Main, John Merritt, Jr., Francis M. Morris, Isaiah Merritt, Jasper N. Mil- 
liken, Jason L. Lillsap, James W. Morrow, Samuel Moon, Jacob Mater, 
William P. Noblitt, Dean Ogden, Silas M. Piper, Joseph S. Pagett, Joseph 
Pope, John E. F. Patterson, Thomas Roberts, John N. Rector, George Ron- 
debust, James H. Swiney, Gabrel Shadley, Lafayette Shadley, Isaac Stocker, 
Enoch Iv. Shuck, William J. Shuck, Simeon Sleath, Hiram Stocker, Henry 
Stocker, John Tarence, J. M. Vannordstrand, William Wilson, J. W. 
Williamson, Albert G. Wright, James S. Wright, John W. Woods, en- 
listed August 9, 1862; Benjamin Botts, enlisted October 18, 1862, dis- 
charged November IS, 1862. 

COMPANY F. 

S. Woodson, captain, commissioned October 15, 1864. 

Henry Mingee, captain, commissioned September 23,1862, resigned De- 
cember 29, 1862. 

John E. Ford, second lieutenant, commissioned September 23, 1861, pro- 
moted to captain March 12, 1863, 



524 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

David Riclmer, first sargeant, appointed September 26, 1862; George A. 
Miller, second sargeant, appointed September ;i6, 1862, promoted to second 
lieutenant March 29, 1863; Pliilip II. Bence, third sargeant, appointed 
September 26, 1862, promoted to first lieutenant March 29, 1863; James 
H. linsseli, fourth sargeant, appointed September 26, 1862; H. C. Traverse, 
fifth sargeant, appointed September 26, 1862. 

Thomas J. Toner, first corporal, appointed September 26, 1862; Enos 
Swan, second corporal, appointed September 26. 1862; John B. "Wraj,third 
corporal, appointed September 26, 1802; William H. Moore, fourtii corpo- 
ral, appointed September 26, 1862; Augustus E. Gary, fifth corporal, ap- 
pointed September 26,1862; Thomas J. Plielps, sixth corporal, appointed 
September 26, 1862; John S. Ballinger, seventh corporal, appointed Sep- 
teinber 56, 1862; Benjamin W. Slieurer, eighth corporal, appointed Septem- 
ber 26, 1862, died October 1, 1862. 

James Hendrickson, musician, appointed September 26, 1862, reduced to 
ranks November 1, 1762; Thomas E. Nichols, musician, appointed Novem- 
ber 1, 1862, from private; Daniel Small, musician, appointed August 26, 
1862, reduced to ranks November 1, 1862; John A. Eullman, musician, ap- 
pointed November 1, 1862, from private. 

John Dalton, wagoner, ap])ointed August 26, 1862. 

Frimtes — Enlisted August 13, 1862: Ezekiel Await, Charles Anderson, 
George Burton, John Bigle.y, Sidney M. Brown, Walker P. Brown, Charles 
Bauglin, Henry B. Barnes, William BIything, John W. Barnes, Andrew J. 
Brooks, Jacob Bigley, Alexander Bigley, George AV. Carter, David Carter, 
Joshua Carter, William H. Cruise, Alpheus Daughtery, William J. Dun- 
can, Jason Daniels, Alexander Fox, James Grosvenor, William H. Gandy, 
John G. Glasgow, John K. Hill, Charles H. Hill, Lucien L. Hotchkiss, John 
H. Halbirt, Philander Inskeep, Oliver W. Inskeep, George W. Jarvis, 
Chester Jones, James T. Jarvis, Howard M. Lee, William J. Lawson, Ran- 
som Longfellow, William A. Martin, William Macy, Henry McDonald, 
William McBride, John McCloskey, Samuel H. McMaines, James B. No- 
ble, James H. Phelps, Joshua Philips, Kobert M. Pierson, Nathan L. Price, 
John A. Pullman, John U. Pitts, William Sidwell, James B. Sample, 
Francis Spurgeon, William Taylor, Giles Tharp, William H. Taylor, S. J. 
Woodson; Charles A. Watson, W. B. Wayland, James Wells, Elijah Weils. 
David Wiley, Francis Worthington, David Wynn, and Joseph Walker, en- 
listed August 13, 1862, 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 525 

THIRTY-SIXTH INFANTRY. 

FIELD AND STAFF. 

David B. Russell, qiiartev master sergeant; enlisted as private in com- 
pany C, August 22, 1862; promoted October 4, 1862. 

COMPANY B. 

Privates — Lucius Bond, enlisted August 2, 1662; Samuel W. Fail, en- 
listed August 2, 1862; Peter Good, enlisted August S, 1862; Mordecia, 
Scraggs, enlisted August 11, 1862; Daniel W. Willians, enlisted August 
11, 1862; David E. Williams, enlisted August 11, 1862; E. J. Huddleston, 
enlisted November 22, 1862. 

COIIPANYC. 

David Russell, private, enlisted August 22, 1862. 

COMPANY E. 

Privates— So\m Blanchfield, enlisted August 22, 1862, died at Keokuk 
November 17, 1862; John D. Boren, enlisted August 13, 1862; James M. 
Harward, enlisted August 18, 1862; John Pierce, enlisted August 19, 1862. 

THIRTY-SEVENTH INFANTRY. 

COMPANY E. 

Benjamin II. Peaice, eighth corporal, appointed Nov. 1, 1862, enlisted 
September 18, 1862. 

John Ray, private, enlisted September 25, 1862. 

COMl'ANY (I. 

Stephen W. Sayles, seventh corporal, appointed November 4, 1862, en- 
listed September 23, 1862. 

John J. Knapp, private, enlisted September 15, 1862. 

COMPANY I. 

William H. Taylor, fourth sergeant, enlisted September 25, 1862. 
Henry Cameron, seventh corporal, enlisted October 15, 1862. 
Ahnan Udell, private, enlisted September 23, 1862. 

COMPANY K. 

Isaac Van Ostrand, third corporal, enlisted September 22, 1862. 

FIRST CAVALRY. 
COMPANY I. 

Privates— i^rnGs Kelley, private, enlisted July IS, 1861; Wiliam J. 



526 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

Smock, enlisted July 18, 1861; Lewis Smith, enlisted July 18, 1861; Sam- 
uel J. McCanlley, enlisted August 28, 1861. 

THIRD CAVALRY, 

riELU AND STAFF. 

Cyrus Bnssey, colonel, commissioned August 10, 1861. 

H. H. Trimble, lieutenant colonel, commissioned August 26, 1861, 
wounded in face at Pea Kidge, resigned, September 4, 1862. 

George Duffield, major, commissioned captain, company E, September 
4, 1861, promoted, September 5, 1862. 

Enos T. Cole, quartermaster, commissioned September 10, 1861, appointed 
first lieutenant, company A, April 30, 1862, resigned July 27, 1862. 
T. D. Johnson, quartermaster, commissioned October 3, 1862, from second 
sergeant, company E, enlisted August 17, 1861. 

Cyreuius Schenck, hospital steward, enlisted private, company D, August 
24, 1861, promoted, October 15, 1862. 

George W. Johnson, B. S. M., enlisted company 1), August 24, 1861, 
promoted B. S. M. September 15, 1861, wounded at Pea Eidge, promoted 
first lieutenant, compai\y M, March 15, 1862. 

William Wishard, B. C. S., enlisted August 30, 1861, appointed Q. M. S. 
company A. August 31, 1861, promoted B. C. S., September 20, 1861, dis- 
charged for disability, August, 1862. 

James M. King, saddler sergeant, enlisted August 30, 1861, appointed 
saddler, company A, September 7, 1861, promoted, September 20, 1861, 
mustered out, November 30, 1862. 

Allen J. Cobb, bugler, enlisted August 30, 1861, appointed bugler, com- 
pany A, wounded at Pea Ridge, promoted to bugler, September 10, 1861, 
reduced to ranks in company I, July 1, 1862, reinstated September, 1, 1862, 
mustered out, November 30, 1862. 

COMPANY A. 

William Van Benthusen, captain, commissioned September 7, 1861, re- 
signed March 24, 1862. 

Morris Baker, captain, commissioned first lieutenant, September 7, 1861, 
promoted, March 24, 1862.' 

James M. Brown, first lieutenant, enlisted August 30, 1861, appointed 
fifth sergeant, September 7, 1861, promoted to quarter master sergeant, 
September 20, 1861, promoted to second lieutenant, April 30, 1862, pro- 
moted to first lieutenant, September 1, 1862. 

David Letuer, second lieutenant, commissioned September 7, 1861, re- 
signed April 26, 1862. 



HISTORF OF DAVIS COUNTY. 527 

James Hanlin, second lieutenant, enlisted August 30, 1861; appointed 
ifourth sergeant, September, 7, 1861, promoted to third sergeant, September 
20, 1861, promoted to first sergeant, June 30, 1862, promoted to second 
lieutenant, September 1, 1862. 

David Bradbury, first sergeant, enlisted August 30, 1863, appointed first 
sergeant September 7, 1861, wounded at Pea Ridge and reduced to ranks 
•at own request June 30, 1862, promoted sergeant September 1, 1862, pro- 
moted first lieutenant December 20, 1864; Cyrus Cunningham, first ser- 
geant, enlisted August 30, 1S61. aj^pointed first corporal September 7, 1861, 
wounded at Pea Kidge March 7, 1862, promoted first sergeant July 31, 
1862; Amos Chambers, second sergeant, enlisted August 30, 1861, aj)- 
pointed sergeant September 7, 1861, wounded at Pea Ridge; Charles B. 
AVoodtbrd, third sergeant, enlisted August 30, 1861, appointed sergeant 
:Septeraber 7, 1861, reduced to riinks at own request, February 22, 1862; 
William Dodd, third sergeant, enlisted August 30, 1861, appointed third 
corporal September 7, 1861, promoted to third sergeant July 30, 1862; 
Robert T. Wishard, quarter master sergeant, enlisted August 30, 1861, ap- 
pointed sixth corporal September 7, 1861, promoted to iburtli sergeant Sep- 
tember 20, 1861, promoted to quarter master sergeant June 30, 1862; Wil- 
liam G. Wilson, fourth sergeant, enlisted private August 30, 1861, ap- 
jwinted fourth sergeant July 31, 1862, promoted captain September 29, 
1864-; W. 0. Crawford, fifth sergeant, enlisted August 30, 1861, appointed 
sergeant September 20, 1861, killed at Pea Ridge; John W. Young, fifth 
sergeant, enlisted August 30, 1861, appointed second corporal September 7, 
1861, promoted to sergeant July 31, 186*; Alexander Breeding, sixth ser- 
geant, enlisted August 30, 1861, appointed second corporal July 31, 1862, 
promoted to sixth sergeant September 1, 1862. 

Eleazer Small, first corporal, enlisted August 30, 1861, promoted July 31, 
1862; Jasper Bromley, second corporal, enlisted August 30, 1861, promoted 
to sixth corporal September 30, 1861, promoted to fifth corporal January 
17, 1862, promoted to fourtli corporal March 7, 1862, promoted to second 
■corporal September 1, 1862; Evans Scott, third cor])oral, enlisted August 
30, 1861, appointed seventh corporal September 7, 1861, promoted to sixth 
•corporal January 17, 1862. promoted to fifth corporal March 7, 1862, pro- 
moted to third corporal July 31, 1862, reduced to ranks; Daniel W. French, 
third corporal, enlisted August 30,. 1861, appointed eighth corporal January 
17, 1862, promoted to seventh corporal March 7, 1862, promoted to fifth 
corporal July 31, 1862, promoted to third corporal September 1, 1862; Wil- 
liam J. Elrod, fourth corporal, enlisted August 30, 1861, appointed to fourth 
corporal September 7, 1861, killed at Pea Ridge; Albert Power, fourth cor- 



528 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

poral, enlisted August 30, ]8G1, appointed sixth cor])oral July 31, 1862^ 
promoted to fouvtli corporal September 1,1862; Harvey Mozingo, fifth cor- 
pf)ral enlisted August 30, 1861, appointed September 7, 1861, discharged 
for disaljility at St. Louis January 17, 1862; John A. Burks, fiftli corporal 
enlisted August 30, 1861, appointed seventh' corporal July 31, 1862, ap- 
pointed fifth corporal September 1, 1862; George "W. Grosvenor, bixth cor- 
poral, enlisted August 30, 1861, appointed eighth corporal September 7,. 
1861, ap]>ointed seventh corporal January 17, 1862, appointed to sixth cor- 
poral March 7, 1862, reduced to ranks at own request June 30, 1862; James- 
Daniels, sixth corporal, enlisted August 30, 1861, appointed eighth corporal 
July 31, 1862, appointed sixtii corporal September — 1862; John Grin- 
stead, seventh corporal, enlisted August 30, 1861, appointed seventh cor- 
poral September 1, 1862; George E. York, eighth corporal, enlisted August 
30, 1861, appointed eighth corporal Septeihber 1, 1862. 

Eli Dews, bugler, enlisted August 30, 1861, appointed bugler September 
7,1861. 

James E. Wetzell, farrier, enlisted August 30, 1861, appointed September 
7, 1861 ; James H. Stowers, farrier, enlisted August 30, 1861, appointed' 
September 7, 1861, deserted at Helena, Arkansas, October 26, 1862. 

E. B. Townsend, wagoner, enlisted August 30, 1861, appointed Septem- 
ber 7, 1861, discharged for disability March 25, 1862; Charles E. Bell, 
wagoner, enlisted August 30, 1861, appointed May 1, 1862, reduced to- 
ranks. 

Privates — The following namedtprivates enlisted August 30, 1861: An- 
drew Angdon, William Ankrum, David Bunch, Elhanan W. Burks, James- 
F. Baldridge, Nathan Cash, James M. Clark, George W. Ciiatham, George- 
Corner, died of fever; James Dodd, killed at Pea Ridge, scalped by Indians; 
John Elliott, Thomas Elliott, James T. French, Carroll Foster, killed at 
Pea Ridge, scalped by Indians; Daniel W. Gross, died at Helena, Arkan- 
sas; Isaac Griffith, George Hanlin, discharged for disability December 24^ 
1861; James A. Hickok, John Hazlewood, Elisha Ham, killed Pea Ridge,. 
scalped by Indians; Jjouis Hesse, Ambrose H. Hill, W. M. Hardman, E, 
H. Israel, died in Missouri; James M. Legg, John M. Lane, discharged for 
disability May 27, 1862; Richard "W.Lester, Emmitt Lister, Isaiah A.Lowe,. 
Henry Lawrence, James S. Letuer, killed at Pea Ridge; H. B. Lines, John 
Macy, Perry Moore, died of consumption March 7, 1862; Andrew C. Mar- 
vin, taken prisoner at Pea Ridge, discharged at Memphis December 1,1862; 
Alfred W. Mederas, James M. Nelson, A. G. Odell, Elijah Putnam, dis- 
charged for disal)ility January 19, 1862; John S. Pliye, William H. Pagett, 
Silas R. Rail, James D. Scoles, James E. Simmons, died of fever in Mis- 



HISTOEY OF DAVIS COUNTV. 529" 

souri, June 21, 1862; George M. Snow, Edward Standiford, E. W. Tatlock, 
promoted second lieutenant December 20, 1864; Milton Townsend, died of 
wounds received at Pea Eidge; Benjamin H. Toni])ldns, J. Van Bentluisen, 
died of fever in Missouri March 17, 1762; James Vaiiwej, Elijah Ward, 
killed at Pea Ridge; Robert Woodford, discharged at Memphis, December 
1, 1862; Albert Wilson, James B. White, Mathais Werts, wounded at Pea 
Ridge; James M. Wraj, Jr., John M. Wilkins, Andrew Yates, and Charles 
H. Yeldham, enlisted August 30, 1861. 

ADDITIONAL ENLISTMENTS. 

Madison Townsend, August 17, 1861, from company E, killed at Pea 
Ridge; Hiram E. Pagett, December 17, 1861, died of fever in Missouri^ 
February 21, 18,62; R. B. Johnson, January 9, 1862; Emmett Lester,, 
discharged for disability January 24, 1862; Aloiizo B. Smith, dis- 
charged because wounded; Nathan Busley, August 17, 1861, from com- 
pany E. 

roMPANY D. 

George Curkendall, first lieutenant, commissioned September 9, 1861,. 
promoted captain June 15, 1S63. 

Fleming Mize, second lieutenant, commissioned September 9, 1861, 
resigned November 30, 1861. 

J. W. Montgomery, first sergeant, appointed September 9, 1861, reduced 
to third sergeant November 26, 1861; Bryant O. Oliver, first sergeant, ap- 
pointed January 1, 1862, appointed quartermaster sergeant, September 9, 
1861, promoted second^lieutenant June 15, 1863; Wm. C. Niblack, quarter- 
master sergeant, enlisted August 24r, 1861, appointed second corporal Sep- 
tember 9, 1861, promoted to. quartermaster sergeant January 1, 1862, pro- 
moted to first lieutenant June 15, 1863; Eli Stringer, commissary sergeant, 
enlisted August 2i, 1861, ajjpointed third corporal September 9, 1861, ap- 
pointed second corporal September 9, 1861, promoted commissary sergeant 
September 1, 1862; Andrew J. Cecil, second sergeant, enlisted August 24, 
1861, appointed fifth sergeant September 9, 1861, promoted to third ser- 
geant March 7, 18(!2, promoted to second sergeant July 10, 1862; Alonzo- 
Beaman, third sergeant, enlisted August 24, 1861, appointed fourth ser- 
geant September 9, 1861, promoted to third sergeant July 10, 1862, dis- 
charged October 1862; Thomas J. Miller, third sergeant, enlisted September 
26, 1S61, appointed fifth sei-geaiit March 8, 1862, promoted to fourth ser- 
geant July 10, 1862, promoted to third sergeant October 10, 1862, commis- 
sioned first lieutenant August 25, 1864; Andrew J. Dysart, fourth sergeant, 



530 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

enlisted September 26, 1861, appointed eighth corporal, promoted to fifth 
corporal, proinoted to fifth sergeant July 17, 1862, promoted to fourth ser- 
geant October, 1862; John L. Morgan, fifth sergeant, enlisted September 
:26, 1861, appointed seventh corporal, promoted to fifth corporal July 17, 
1862, promoted to sixth sergeant September 1, 1862, promoted to fifth ser- 
geant October, 1862. 

Joshua Wall, second corporal, enlisted August 24, 1861, appointed fourth 
•corporal September 9, 1861, promoted to third corporal January 1, 1862, 
promoted to second corporal September 1, 1862; Joseph Goodson, fifth cor- 
poral, enlisted August 24, 1862, appointed September 9, 1861, died 
at St. Louis, December 21, 1861; AVm. E. Cox, sixth corporal, enlisted 
August 24, 1861, appointed eighth corporal July 17, 1862, promoted to 
sixth corporal September 1, 1862; James Collins, seventh corporal, enlisted 
August 24, 186f, appointed September 9, 1861, transferred to company B, 
second Michigan cavalry, December 1, 1861: James W. Paxton, eighth cor- 
poral, enlisted September 26, 1861, appointed same time. 

Wm. M. Green, bugler, enlisted August 24, 1861, appointed September 
■9, 1861. 

Frederick Morse, farrier, enlisted August 24, 1861, appointed farrier Sep- 
tember 9, 1861, discharged on account of disability, at Rolia, Mo., June 8, 
1862; Richard H. Bowen, farrier, enlisted August 24, 1861, appointed far- 
rier September 9, 1861, discharged October, 1862. 

Elias Sudduth, saddler, enlist;ed August 24, 1861, appointed September 9, 
1861, reduced to ranks. 

David L. Hannah, wagoner, enlisted November 19, 1861, reduced to ranks 
August 26, 1862, discharged December 18, 1862. 

Pricates — enlisted August 24, 1861: Alfred Benge, Robert A. Buzzard, 
George P. Clark, Albert G. Clyman, Lewis G. Cyphers, John W. Clark, 
kiled at Pea Ridge; Charles E. Dunn, transferred to company G, second in- 
fantry, November 30, 1861; Jacob Hughs, died of fever, November 5, 1861, 
William Hughs, Albert M. Harris, Isaiah Harris, Frederick Hesse, William 
•C. T. Kurth, E. R. Kirkpatrick, John H. Lawson, taken prisoner at Pea 
Ridge, Samuel Losey, discharged for disability, December 10, 1861, SjTence 
Miner, killed at Pea Ridge; John F. Niblack, discharged for disability, June 
5, 1862; William H. Proctor, died at St. Louis, January 'll, 1862, William 
R. Proctor, John Sater, Marion Taylor, discharged for disability, October 9, 
1861; William C. Vandyne, died at St. Louis, January 1,1862; Samuel A. 
Dysart, enlisted September 26, 1661, wounded at Pea Ridge, discharged for 
Avounds, September 17, 1862; John Suter, enlisted September 8, 1861; Amon 
Waggoner, Jr., enlisted August 24, 1861, died December 16, 1861; John H. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 531 

Wheless, enlisted Auj^nst 24, 1861, taken prisoner December 3, 1862; W. 
W. "Wilson, enlisted August 2i, 1861. 

John A. Pickler, commissioned second lieutenant, August 25, 1864. 

COMPANY K. 

George Duffield, captain, commissioned September 4, 1861, promote'd 
major, September 5, 1862 

Horace A. Spencer, captain, commisioned second lieutenant, September 4, 

1861, promoted to lirst lieutenant, April 3, 1862, promoted to captain, 
■September 5, 1862. 

John H. Easley, first lieutenant, commissioned September 4, 1861, raus- 
itered out, January. 5, 1862. 

Thomas C. Gilpine, first lieutenant, enlisted August 17, 1861, appointed 
iirst sergeant, September 4, 1861, promoted to second lieutenant, April 3, 

1862, promoted to first lieutenant, September 5, 1862, promoted captain, 
August 23, 1864. 

Edmund Duffield, second lieutenant, enlisted August 17, 1861, appointed 
quarter master sergeant, September 4, 1861, promoted to second lieuten- 
ant, September 5, 1862, promoted to first lien tenant, August 23, 1864. 

Thomas H. Brenton, first sergeant, enlisted August 17, 1861, appointed 
eighth corporal, ]iromoted to first sergeant, April 3, 1862; Oliver McGee, 
commissary sergeant, enlisted August 17, 1861, died in Missouri, January 
17, 1863; Joseph W. T. Deupres, commissary sergeant, enlisted August 17, 
1861, appointed January 28, 1863; George Hazlewood, second sergeant, en- 
listed August 17, 1861, appointed third sergeant, September 4, 1861, ap- 
pointed second sergeant, December 29, 1862; Newton Batten, third sergeant, 
enlisted August 17,1861; appointed fourth sergeant, September 4, 1861, 
apjiointed third sergeant, December 29, 1862, promoted to second lieutenant, 
August 23, 1864. 

William H. xseidigh, fourth sergeant, enlisted August 17, 1861, ap- 
pointed sixth sergeant, promoted to funrth sergeant, January 1, 1863; 
William H. H. Asberry, fifth sergeant, enlisted August 17, 1861, ap- 
pointed September 4, 1861, discharged for disability, January 22, 1862. 

John Johnson, first corporal, enlisted August 17, 1861, appointed Sep- 
tember 4, 1861, discharged, January 20, 1863; John B. Aiken, first corporal, 
enlisted August 17, 1S61, appointed second corporal, September 4, 1861, ap- 
pointed first corporal, January 20, 1863; John H. Sleeth, second corporal, 
enlisted August IS, 1861, appointed fourth corporal, September 4, 1861, 
appointed third corporal, appointed second corporal, January 20, 1863, 
Harrison G. Phelps, third corporal, enlisted Augnst 17, 1861, appointed 



532 HISTOKY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

fourth corporal, and promoted to third corporal; Milton Batten, fourth cor- 
poral, appointed seventh corporal, January 20, 1862, promoted to fifth cor- 
poral, April 3, 1802, promoted to fourth corporal; Cephas M. liurless, fifth 
corporal, enlisted August 17, 1861, appointed eighth corporal, September 
4, 1861, promoted to sixth corporal, promoted to fifth corporal, January 28, 
1863; Michael Worlej, sixth corporal, enlisted August 17, 1861 ; appointed 
seventh corporal, April 3, 1862, promoted to sixth corporal; George Rey- 
nolds, seventh corporal, enlisted August 17, 1861, appointed sixth corporal, 
reduced to eighth corporal, and promoted to seventh corporal, January 
20, 1863. 

George L. McCullom, bugler, enlisted August 17, 1861, appointed Sep- 
tember 4, 1861. 

James B. Arnold, farrier, enlisted August 17,1861; Marshal! J.Clark,, 
farrier, enlisted August 17, 1861. 

William Edwards, wagoner, enlisted August 17, 1861. 

Daniel Tinney, teamster, enlisted August 17, 1861; Simeon Decker^ 
teamster', enlisted August 17, 1861. 

Privates. — The following men enlisted August 17, 1S61; Willirtui Bro\vn 
William Blackford, William L. Crumrine, Andrew J. Corick, Felix Cuber- 
ly, Henry Cassat, discharged for disability July 28, 1862; Jonathan Cary, 
James M. Cross, killed in Missouri July 28, 1862; John E. Conner, William 
Ernst, James M. Foster, Joseph D. Fountain, Alexander Fonts, discharged 
for disability December 25, 1862; Cammach Gregory discharged for disa- 
bility January 26, 1863; Thomas G. Hufi", died at St. Louis December 22, 
1861; Richard Hendrixon, David Hardy, William Henderson, R. J. Har- 
bour, S. V. D. Jones, discharged for disabilily January 26, 1863; Peter 
Lunsford, Harry M. Morris, William Miller, D. F. Marlow, J. J. Morgan, 
died of wounds July 29, 186.2; B. S. Koaks, John H. Orr, F. A. Patterson, 
J. C. Patterson, J. L. Prince, James Peden, Enoch Randall, died at St. 
Louis December 11, 1861 ; Ludlow Reno, W. C. M. Reynolds, D. Railsback, 
Normon Reno, promoted to fifth sergeant; Eli Roberts, John L. Sawyer, 
James Smith, Alfred Spence, W. H. Shearer, Cornelius Squires, discharged 
for disability January 26, 1863; Stephen Sayles, William M. Sayles, Joha 
Shadle, B. R. Sawyer, Jacob Tliarp, James H. Taylor, died at St. Louis, 
January 5, 1802; Lazarus Tressel, John T. West, Jacob M. Worley, David 
Worley, Reuben Ware, James Ward, John C. Wilson, Robert S. Wright, 
George VVeiney, John T. Wood, George Williams, Michael Zimmer. 



HISTORY OK DAVIS COUNTY. 533 

ADDITIONAL ENLISTMENTS. 

George \V". Cheathaiu, enlisted August 31, 1861, from company A. ;Euos 
•J. Crumrine, enlisted October 4, IStU, B. F. Holland enlisted October 4, 
1861, died of wounds July 29, 1862; A. Cnlbertson enlisted August], 1862 
Elijah Clark enlisted April 30, 1862; E. N. Gilpin enlisted September 1, 
1S62; A. W. Garady enlisted August 30,1802; Rnfus Hardin, enlisted 
August 1, 1862; Jamas M. Jones enlisted August 30, 1802; J. K. P. Mc- 
Cullum enlisted September 1, 1862; Joseph MeCaulley enlisted August 28, 
1862; I. N. Phelps enlisted August 30, ls62; H. W. Puley enlisted January 
1,1862; J'ardon Sayles enlisted August 29, 1802; Wesley Swift enlisted 
August 1, 1862; Felix Worley enlisted August 29, 1862; John Worley en- 
listed August 29, 1802; John Williams enlisted December 19, 1862. 

COMPANY G. 

Albert Alexander, seventh corporal, enlisted August 26, 1861, appointed 
October 3, 1862. 

COMI'ANY I. 

Samuel E. Snyder, first sergeant, enlisted August 20, 1861; Stephen J. 
Paris, second sergeant, enlisted August 20, 1861, died in Arkansas Septem- 
ber 18, 1862; 0. N. Udell, fourth sergeant, enlisted August 20, 1861, ap- 
pointed fifth sergeant July 1, 1862, promoted to fourth sergeant. 

John J. A^eatch, fourth corporal, enlisted August 20, 1861, reduced to 
fifth corporal September 6, 1861; J. J. Pinkerton, seventh corporal, en- 
listed Augifst 20, 1861, appointed September 1, 1862. 

Wm. Helm, bugler, enlisted August 20, 1861, discharged for disability 
March 5, 1802. 

Wm. J. Taylor, wagoner, enlisted August 20, 1861, discharged for disa- 
bility February 20, 1862. 

Privates.— TixQ following men enlisted August 20, 1861 : Marshall Clark, 
discharged September 29, 1802; Jeremiah Croner, Wm. Frazer, Henry 
Grages, transferred to company G; Jas. C. Hopkins, Chas. W. Paris, 
wounded in eye; Geo. W. Taylor, John Westerbarger. 

COMPANY M. 

Geo. W. Johnson, first lieutenant, enlisted August 24, 1861, commis- 
sioned March 15, 1862, from B. S. major promoted to captain. May 1, 1864. 

List of recruits forwarded to this regiment from Davis county, not as- 
signed to any company: George Parsons, enlisted September 15, 1862: Jos. 



534 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTr. 

F. Robertson, enlisted September 11, 1863; John Shook, enlisted Septem- 
ber 22, 1862; Green Caveiider, Chas. B. McCormick, Wm. Hesse, enlisted 
December 2, 1862; Chas. H. liateh, enlisteTDecernber 30, 1862; G. Hazle- 
wood, enlisted October 16, 1862; E. C. Wagoner, enlisted August 30, 1862- 

SEVENTH CAVALRY. 

COMPANY A. 

Edgar Allen, trumpeter, enlisted October 25, 1862; Clifibrd Wood,, 
trurai^eter, enlisted November 18, 1862. 

Privates— ^m. F. Davis, enlisted October 25, 1862; Wm. F. Elrod, 
enlisted November 18, 1862; Wm. T. Fix, enlisted October 24, 1862; 
David Morrow, enlisted Febniarj 23, 1863; Wm. Phillips, enlisted October 

22, 1862. 

COMPANY B. 

Jessey Akins, quartermaster sergeant, enlisted November 6, 1862, ap- 
pointed December 27, 1862, promoted to second lieutenant November 29,. 
1864; David G. Rowe, fourth sergeant, enlisted November 6, 1862, ap- 
pointed December 27, 1862. 

Geo. W. Bivin, fifth corporal, enlisted November 7, 1862, appointed De- 
cember 27, 1862. 

Privates — Wm. C. Akins, enlisted January 25, 1863; David Glassbur- 
ner, enlisted Novenber 5, 1862; William Hanshen, enlisted January 25,. 
1863; John C. McClelland, enlisted November 7, 1862; Joshua Rhoads, 
enlisted November 3, 1862; Daniel Rhoades, enlisted November 5, 1862. 

COMPANY c. 

George M. Swaim, first sergeant, enlisted December 6, 1862, appointed- 
January 10, 1863, promoted to second lieutenant August 20, 1864; Joha 
V. Monroe, commissary sergeant, enlisted November 25, 1862, appointed 
March 1, 1863; Thomas J. Matbies, fifth sargeant, enlisted January 1, 1863,. 
appointed April 10, 1863; John W. Campbell, sixth sargeant, enlisted 

February 17, 1863, appointed A]>ril 10, 1863. 

John T. Perry, fourth corporal, enlisted December 14, 1862, appointed 
March 20, 1863; Thomas Hayes, fifth corporal, enlisted February 12, 1863, 
appointed sixth corporal April 25, 1863, promoted to fifth corporal June 

23, 1863; Aaron Blair, sixth corporal, enlisted December 12, 1862, ap- 
pointed seventh corporal March 25, 1863, promoted to sixth corporal June 
23, 1863; Robert W. Herod, eighth corporal, enlisted March 13, 1863, ap- 
pointed June 23, 1863. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 535 

John W. Foster, trumpeter, enlisted December 12, 1862, appointed De- 
cember 17, 1862. 

Jesse Glittery, farrier, enlisted February 2, 1863, a])pointed February 3,^ 
1863. 

Privates — John Anderson, enlisted December 10, 1862; James T. Cox, 
enlisted March 12, 1863; Francis A. Hunt, enlisted December 6, 1862; 
Wesley S. Monroe, enlisted February 1, 1863; Felix M. Monroe, enlisted 
November 25, 1862; William H. McCIoskey, enlisted December 18, 1862:; 
John Payn, enlisted December 6, 1862; William P. Pearson, enlisted 
March 9, 1863; Felix T. Smock, enlisted November 26,1862; Abraham 
Smock, enlisted January 1, 1863, died of fever, June 3, 1863; John M. 
Wright, enlisted January 1, 1863; George Hart, enlisted March 30, 1864-. 

COMPANY D. 

John W. Meek, quartermaster sergeant, enlisted March 10, 1863, ap- 
pointed April 3, 1863. 

James Yarner, sixth corporal, enlisted March 15, 1863, appointed sev- 
enth corporal April 16, 1863, promoted to sixth corporal June 8, 1863. 

Samuel S. Sanders, private, enlisted March 15, 1863. 

COMPANY E. 

Privates — N. B. March, enlisted May 6, 1863; Joseph Wheaten, enlisted 
May 15, 1863. 

COMPANY G. 

Charles Friend, fifth corporal, enlisted May 8, 1863, appointed May 11, 

1863. 

Diivid Salladay, trumpeter, enlisted May 8, 1863, appointed May 11, 

1863; Gideon S. Dysart, trumpeter, enlisted May 8, 1863, appointed May 

8, 1863. 

Thomas Moody, farrier, enlisted May 10, 1863, appointed May 23, 1863. 

Privates — Samuel D. Bradley, enlisted May 10, 1863; John Botkin, en- 
listed May 10, 1863; James L. Graham, enlisted June 2, 1863; C. B. 
Herod, enlisted May 8, 1863; James M. Miller, enlisted May 10,1863; 
John M. Tanahili, enlisted May 8, 1863; George W. Tittle, enlisted May 
10, 1863. 

EIGHTH CAVALRY. 

COMPANY C. 

I'rivates — John Smith, enlisted August 3, 1863; James H. Welker, en- 
listed July 29, 1863. 



-536 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

COMPANY >:. 

Edward U. Stoner, eighth corporal, enlisted June 24, 1863, appointed 
August 14, 1863. 

Privates. — The following men enlisted June 24, 1863: W. T. Bryant, 
-James Camron, Araos Colins, Dickson Green, John S. Hardy, James 
Hardy, Jacob Moss, James Paliner, John A. Sheerer. 

COMPANY F. 

Alexander Breeding, private, enlisted February 25, 18<i4. 

COMPANT L. 

Privates — Thomas S. Fike, enlisted July 12, 1863; Harrison Lynch, 
enlisted September 4, 1863. 

NINTH CAVALRY. 

COMPANY C. 

William R. Bryce, first sergeant, enlisted October 1, 1863, appointed No- 
vember 30, 1863. 

James T. Eoberts, second corporal, enlisted August 30, 1863, appointed 
November 30, 1863; Thomas H. Barton, sixth corporal, enlisted September 
22, 1863, appointed November 30, 1863. 

Alfred Braun, trumpeter, enlisted August 27, 1863, appointed Novem- 
30, 1863. 

Privates — John Brann, enlisted August 13, 1863; Leander Bonebreak, 
enlisted September 28, 1863; Leonard Bradley, enlisted September 26, 1863; 
Thomas Berry, enlisted September 26, 1863; George W. Conway, enlisted 
August 13, 1863; George W. Cossairt, enlisted August 27, 1863, from com- 
pany G. fourth infantry; Lewis P. Craven, enlisted September 26, 1863, 
from company H. nineteenth infantry; James Childers, enlisted October 26, 
1863; D. M. M. Dupree, enlisted September 25, 1863; S. C. Edwards, en- 
listed September 11, 1863; George W. Gibson, enlisted August 5, 1803; 
James Games, enlisted September 3, 1863; John G. Gibson, enlisted Au- 
gust 5, 1863; E. Hopkins, enlisted September 13, 1863; John G. Morris, 
enlisted August 13, 1863; William L. Vest, enlisted August 17, 1863. 

COMPANY M, 

Privates— WWWvixn N. Doyle, enlisted September 5, 1863; Noah Har- 
bour, enlisted August 18, 1863; Robert Harper, enlisted August 31,. 1863; 
Augustus Jennings, enlisted September 1, 1863; Caleb C. Wright, enlisted 
September 1, 1863. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 637 

.FOURTH BATTERY. 
■Jonathan A. Wilkins, private, enlisted September 24, 1863. 

ADDITIONAL ENLISTMENTS. 

SECOND IOWA CAVALRY. 
COMPANY B. 

Privates — John Chatham, enlisted September 24, 1863; John Clark, en- 
listed October 20, 1S63; "William T. Hughes, enlisted September 24, 1863; 
Josepli Hughes, enlisted September 24, 1863; Benjamin R. Pierce, enlisted 
September 24, 1863; Horatio Parks, enlisted September 24, 1863; David 
White, enlisted October 7, 1863. 

THIRD IOWA CALVARY 

COMPANY A. 

Privates — Eli Beals, enlisted September 1, 1862, died in Arkansas, 
March 17, 1863; G. Hazlewood, enlisted October 16, 1862; J. Shoemaker, 
enlisted August 28, 1862; John Shook, enlisted September 22, 1862; Jacob 
Sherwick, enlisted September 30, 1862. 

COMPANY D. 

Privates — William Hesse, enlisted December 2, 1862; C. B. McCor- 
raick, enlisted December 1, 1862; E. C. Wagoner, enlisted August 30, 
\ 1862. 

COMPANY E. 

Privates — Samuel E. Gandy, enlisted April 7, 1863; William W. Gra- 
ham, enlisted November 4, 1863; T. M. Goddard, enlisted November 4, 
1863; William T. March, enlisted May 11, 1S63; Thomas Spence, enlisted 
April 3, 1863. 

COMPANY I. 

, John Davis, private, enlisted September 8, 1862, wounded May 1, 1863. 

UNASSIGNED EECRUITS. 

Privates — L. B. Cunningham, enlisted December 25, 1863; Joseph Cas- 
seet, enlisted January 5, 1864; Asa C. Farrington, enlisted January' 5, 
1864; R. H. Grinstead, enlisted December 19, 1863; John Howie, enlisted 
14 



'538 HISTOEY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

December 15, 1863; Samuel Hutton, enlisted December 28, 1863; Oliver 
Joseph, enlisted December 15, 1863; George A. Martin, enlisted December 
25,1863; J. B. Montgomery, enlisted January 5, 1864; T. J. McConnel,. 
enlisted January 5, 1864; A. L. Niblack, enlisted December 15, 1863; Sam- 
uel G. Toombs, enlisted December 19, 1S63; J. W. Toombs, enlisted Janur 
ary 5, 1864; F. A. Woodford, enlisted January 5, 1864. 

SEVENTEENTH IOWA INFANTRY. 

COMPANY D. 

B. Noel, private, enlisted August 11, 1863. 

THIRTIEH IOWA INFANTRY. 
COMPANY' F. 

Privaies— J osBTph Brumley, enlisted October 1, 1862, died October 30,1863v 
Robert E. Drake, enlisted September 1, 1862, died February 26, 1863;. 
William Masters, enlisted October 13, 1862, discharged, November 26^ 
1862; E. F. Vanboskirk, enlisted October 25, 1862, died of wounds. May 
31, 1863; John H. Walker, enlisted December 15, 1863; James 11. Cox, en- 
listed December 14, 1863; William D. Masters, enlisted December 28,. 
1863. 

FORTY-FIFTH IOWA INFANTRY. 

(ONE HUNDRED DAY MEN.) 

FIELD AND STAFF. 

Samuel A. Moore, lieutenant colonel, commissioned May 25, 1864.. 
John M. Wilkius, chief musician, appointed May 25, 1864. 

COMPANY D. 

William Van Benthusen, captain, commissioned May 10, 1864. 

Maston H. Jones, first lieutenant, commissioned May 10, 1864. 

H. B. Kittleman, second lieutenant, commissioned May 10, 1864. 

James E. Reed, first sergeant, appointed May 10, 1864; John Batterton,. 
second sergeant, appointed May 10, 1864; William D. Wilson, third ser- 
geant, appointed May 10, 1864; M. H. Kirkham, fourth sergeant, ap- 
pointed May 10, 1864. 

William W. Kittleman, first corporal, appointed May 10, 1864; D. N". 
Dooley, second corporal, appointed May 10, 1864; R. T. Goddard, third 
corporal, appointed May 10, 1864; C. M. Burgess, fourth corporal, ap- 
pointed May 10, 1864; H. H. Moore, fifth corporal, appointed May 10,. 
1864; William S. Noble, sixth corporal, appointed May 10, 1864; Samuel. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 539 

Y. Wood, seventh corporal, appointed May 10, 186i; Marion Taylor, eighth 
corpora], appointed May 10, 1864. 

li. M. Barnes, musician, appointed May 10, 1864; John Housley, musi- 
cian, appointed May 10, 1864. 

S. D. Eall, wagoner, appointed May 10, 1864. 

Privates — The following named privates enlisted May 10, 1864:* Jacob 
Angst, L. Bennett, died of fever September 1, 1864; M. Baker, J. C. Baker, 
J. Battin, Elish Brown, E. P. Blankinship, Thomas II. Boas, John Cameron, 
B. Crosthwait, J. T. Cosliow, John Clarke, J. W. Cline, Charles Dooley, R. 
H. Evans, James Fleming, Z. T. Foshee, died August 2, 1864; B. Fulton, 
George Galpin, W. Grimes, S. H. Glenn, H. S. Gilliam, C. S. Grinstead, 
David C. Hatch,' Joseph L. Hill, J. M. Hardman, William B. Irvin, S. V. 
B. Jones, J. F. Jones, Silas G. Lee, Samuel E. Lowe, Thomas J. Lowe, 
James Lunsford, James Matherly, Allen Macy, Robert Maize, W. P. Mon- 
nett, William McVey, James D. McAcliran, J. W. McCracken, S. J. Nog- 
gle, Amos S. Plank, George "W. Post, John W. Proctor, Williatn "W. Power, 
Albert Petefish, Lorenzo Pagett, James M. Ralston, died August 30, 1864; 
0. B. Spencer, H. W. Scott, Samuel Scott, M. A. Shelton, Joseph Smith, 
William C. Smith, John J. Smith, George W. Stevenson, Jasper N. Smick, 
Stephen Sayles, William G. Swinney, R. M. Sapp, James N. Sherman, W. 
B. Stark, James P. Toombs, Anderson Ward, B. F. Wright, F. A. Ware. 

FORTY-SEVENTH IOWA INFANTRY. 

COMPANY I. 

Thomas Cheetham, private, enlisted May 7, 1864. 

VETERAN RE-ENLISTMENTS. 
THIRD IOWA CAVALRY, 
^ileorge L. McCollum, trumpeter, enlisted January 1, 1864. 

COMPANY A. 

James Hanlin, captain, commissioned July 10, 1863, resigned September 
28, 1864. 

Daniel Bradbury, first lieutenant, enlisted January 1, 1864, appointed 
sergeant February 1, 1864, ]>romoted to second lieutenant September 29, 
1864, promoted to first lieutenant December 20, 1864. 

Robert T. Wishard, first lieutenant, enlisted January 1, 1864, appointed 
sergeant February 1, 1864, promoted to first lieutenant March 1. 1864, re- 
signed September 23, 1864. 



540 HISTOKY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

Alexander Breeding, third sergeant, enlisted January 1, 1864, appointed 
April 14, 1864; Albert Power, fifth sergeant, enlisted January 1, 1864, ap- 
pointed corporal February 1, 1864, promoted to fifth sergeant April 13, 
1864. 

James Daniels, corporal, enlisted January 1, 1864, appointed February 
1, 1864. 

Privates. — The following men enlisted January 1, 1864: James F. Bald- 
ridge, Amos Chambers, John M. Clark, William Centers, John Elliott, 
Thomas Elliott, died at St. Louis May 2, 1864; Joseph T. French, George 
W. Grosvenor, Wesley M. Hardman, John Hazlewood, Greenville Hazle- 
wood, John M. Lane, James M. Legg, Alfred M. Mederis, James M. Nel- 
son, John S. Phye, Benjamin II. Tompkins, James Yanwy, William G. 
Wilson, commissioned second lieutenant March 1, 1864, commissioned cap- 
tain September 29, 1864; Matthias Werts, Andrew Yates. 

COMPANY D. 

George Curkendall, captain, commissioned June 15, 1863. 

William C. Niblack, first lieutenant, commissioned June 15, 1863, re- 
signed August 24, 1864. 

Bryant O. Oliver, second lieutenant, commissioned June 15, 1863, died at 
St. Louis April 7, 1864. 

Daniel S. Bell, sergeant, enlisted January 1, 1864; Nathaniel Barnes, 
sergeant, enlisted January 1, 1864; Isaiah Harris, sergeant, enlisted Janu- 
ary 1, 1864; John S. Morgan, sergeant, enlisted January 1, 1864. 

Thomas J. Miller, first lieutenant, enlisted January 1, 1864, appointed 
seageant February 1, 1864, promoted to second lieutenant April 9, 1864, 
promoted to first lieutenant August 25, 1864. 

Benjamin B. Pearce, sergeant, enlisted January 1, 1864. 

John A. Pickler, second lieutenant, enlisted January 1, 1864, appointed 
commissary sergeant February 1, 1864, promoted to second lieutenant 
August 25, 1864. 

Albert G. Clyman, corporal, enlisted January 1, 1864; John Reeder, 
corporal, enlisted January 1, 1864; John H. Wheelis, corporal, enlisted 
January 1, 1864. 

Charles H. Hatch, blacksmith, enlisted January 1, 1864. 

Privates. — The following men enlisted January 1, 1864: Alfred Benge, 
Robert A. Buzzard, killed October 25, 1864; Lewis G. Cyphers, Albert M. 
Harris, William Hughs, John J. Kelly, E. R. Kirkpatrick, William 0. T. 
Kurth, Elias W. Luddeth, Merrill Morgan, James D. Montgomery, Daniel 
H. Murdock, William R. Proctor, John L. Wolf. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTT. 541 



COMPANY E. 

Horace A. Spencer, captain, commissioned September 5, 1S62, resigned 
August 22, 1864. 

T. C. Gilpine, first lieutenant, commissioned September 5, 1862, promo- 
ted to captain August 23, ISG-i. 

Edmund Duffield, first lieutenant, commissioned second lieutenant Sep- 
tember 6, 1862, promoted to first lieutenant August 23, 1864. 

George Wainey, Q. M. S., enlisted Januar}^ 1, 1864, appointed February 
1, 1864. 

Newton Batton, second lieutenant, enlisted Jannar}' 1, 1864, appointed 
sergeant February 1, 1864, promoted to second lieutenant August 23, 1864. 

J. W. T. Deupree, sergeant, enlisted January 1, 1864; William H. Nei- 
digh, sergeant, enlisted January 1, 1864; Eli Roberts, sergeant, enlisted 
January 1, 1864; Michael Worley, sergeant, enlisted January 1, 1864. 

George W. Reynolds, corporal, enlisted January 1, 1864; James Peden, 
corporal, enlisted January 1, 1864. 

M. J. Clark, blacksmith, enlisted Januaary 1, 1864. 

E. L. Clark, teamster, enlisted January 1, 1864. 

William Edwards, wagoner, enlisted January 1, 1864. 

Reuben Ware, bugler, enlisted January 1, 1864. 

Privates. — The following men enlisted January 1, 1864: William Black- 
ford, Nathan Busby, William F. Craven, Felix Cuberly, E. G. Crumrine, 
John E. Conner, Simeon Decker, William Ernst, James M. Foster, J. D. 
Fountain, Amos J. Gandy, Samuel E. Gandy, Richard J. Harbour, William 
R. Henderson, James M. Jones, Peter Lunsford, J. K. P. McCoUuin, H. 
M. Morris, William Miller, D. F. Marlow, Joseph McCaulley, William T. 
March, Berry S. Noaks, John H. Orr, F. A. Patterson, I. N. Phelps, John 
L. Prince, William C. M. Reynolds, James Smith, Alfred Spence, Thomas 
Sp^nce, William M. Sayles, Pardon Sayles, John Shadle, B. R. Sawyer, 
William H. Shearer, Lazarus Tressel, Jacob M. Worley^ John T. Wood, 
George Williams. 

COMPANY J. 

John J. Veatch, private, enlisted January 1, 1864, promoted to com- 
missary sergeant April 11, 1834. 

COMPANY M. 

George W. Johnson, captain, commissioned first lieutenant March 15, 1862, 
promoted to captain May 1, 18C4. 

Josephus Day, private, ealisteJ January 1, 1864. 



542 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

SECOND IOWA INFANTKY. 

COMPANY G. 

George W. Craven, sergeant, enlisted. December 23, 1863; killed August 
B, 1864. 

Privates — Rebert 13. Carson, enlisted December 23, 1863; Joseph W. 
Curl, enlisted December 23, 1863; William A. Duckworth, enlisted Decem- 
ber 23, 1863, discharged February 3, 1864; Leander Jeffrey, enlisted Decem- 
ber 23, 1863, killed August 4, 1864. 

THIRTEENTH IOWA INFANTRY. 

COMPANY I. 

A. M. Miller, first lieutenant, enlisted January 1, 1864, appointed sergeant, 
promoted to first lieutenant November 11, 1864. 

Privates — J. T. Chaffee, enlisted January 1, 1864; John H. Evans, en- 
listed January 2, 1864, wounded July 22, 1864; Sylvester D. Evans, en- 
listed February 19, 1864; T. II. Elrod, enlisted January 1, 1864; H. W. 
Garrett, enlisted February 19, 1864; William H. Thompson, enlisted Jan- 
uary 1, 1864, killed July 22, 1864. 

FOURTEENTH IOWA INFANTRY. 

Company e. 

Samuel Vaughn, private, enlisted December 1, 1863, wounded March 
14, 1863. 

company I. 

G. Swinney, corporal, enlisted December 1, 1863; J. N. "Van Dyn, cor- 
poral, enlisted December 1, 1863. 

Privates — William Brooks, enlisted December 1, 1863; H. C. Boyer, 
enlisted December 1, 1863; B. F. Davis, enlisted December 1, 1863; John 
England, enlisted December 1, 1863. 

FIFTEENTH IOWA INFANTRY. 

COMPANY D. 

George W. Buchanan, captain, commissioned first lieutenant February 2, 
1863, promoted to captain December 15,1864. 

Privates — L. H, Burkhalter, enlisted February 25, 1864; wounded July 
14, 1864; Marion Eayburn, enlisted February 28, 1864, missing July 22, 
1864; George J. Reynolds, enlisted January 22, 1863, wounded July 22, 
1864; John B. Shaw, enlisted December 31, 1863. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 543 

SEVENTEENTH IOWA INFANTRY. 

COMPANY D. 

"William H. Morgan, private, enlisted March 20, lb64. 

The Second and Third Veteran Infantry, both containing Davis county 
men, were consolidated by order of Major General O. O. Howard, JSTovem- 
feer i, 1864. 

ADDITIONAL ENLISTMENTS. 

THIRD IOWA CAVALRY. 
COMPANY A. 

Privates — Eichard Alderman enlisted February 29, 1864; William O. 
Brooks enlisted February 29, 1864; O. S. Cumenius enlisted February'29. 
1864; Jacob Clellan enlisted January 31, 1864; Andrew J. Childers en- 
listed February 13, 1864; L. B. Cunningham enlisted December 25, 1863; 
William Daniels enlisted February 22, 1864; J. B. French enlisted Febru- 
ary 26, 1864; William H. Guyle enlisted February 29, 1864; Daniel Graf- 
•ton enlisted Februarj' 22, 1864; Allen Grosvenor enlisted February 29, 
1864; R. H. Grinstead enlisted December 19, 1863; John Howie enlisted 
December 15, 1863; Samuel II. Huttoii enlisted December 28, 1863; Amos 
Jeffries enlisted February 26, 1864; Eli Joseph enlisted March 14, 1864; J. 
■G. Kinney enlisted January 20, 1864; John M. Kinney enlisted January 
30, 1864; James W. Lockman enlisted February 23, 1864; T. E. Moneret 
enlisted February 23, 1864; Lewis My re enlisted February 3, 1864; Ed- 
ward Moore enlisted March 14, 1864; William G. Myers enlisted January 
24, 1864; William R. Piper enlisted February 25, 1864; George Roberts 
enlisted February 26, 1864; Cyrus Sinall enlisted February 29, 1864; Eli 
Truit enlisted February 25, 1864; Abram Wishard enlisted March 15, 1864; 
Thomas Walker enlisted March 15, 1864. 

COMPANY D. 

Privates — N. Backus enlisted February 17, 1864; Zadok Buckles enlisted 
February 9, 1864; George Baker enlisted February 24, 1864; John C. 
Christy enlisted February 24, 1864; Hugh Christy enlisted February 17, 
1864; William H. Cox enlisted February 9, 1864; George Earhart enlisted 
February 15, 1864; James M. Fletcher enlisted February 26, 1864; Daniel 
Feagins enlisted February 20, 1864; Columbus Gaut enlisted February 29, 
1864; John Gaut enlisted February 29, 1S64; John C. Gristy enlisted Feb- 
ruary 27, 1864; William Guthrie enlisted . February 15,1864; George W. 



544 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

Guthrie enlisted February 15, 1864; James D. Hamilton enlisted February 
13, 1864; Isaac Hart enlisted February 24, 1864; B. Headley enlisted Feb- 
ruay 24, 1864; Edward T. Hubbard enlisted February 24, 1864; Clark B. 
Hunt enlisted February 16, 1864; M. J. James enlisted February 24, 1864p 
Green A. Jones enlisted February 8, 1864; William A. Iveiidrick enlisted 
February 12, 1864; Jacob Koons enlisted February 24, 1864; George 'W.- 
Kemp enlisted February 12, 1864; E. B. Losey enlisted February 20, 1864; 
Samuel Lynch enlisted February 25, 1864; George C. Losey enlisted Feb- 
ruary 24, 1864; David A. March enlisted February 8, 1864; Robert B. Ma- 
gee enlisted February 1, 1864; George AV. Marsau enlisted August 3, 1864;: 
W. M. Millsap enlisted Febrnrry 16, 1864; David Meliza enlisted February 
24, 1864; James E. Pottorff enlisted February 8, 1864; Silas P. Pottorff 
enlisted February 8, 1864; William D. Reeder enlisted February 15, 1864; 
A. S. Spurgin enlisted February 27, 1864; Daniel Smith enlisted February 
20, 1864; Henry Snoddy enlisted February 15, 1864; Andrew Spencer en- 
listed February 15, 1864; George Striblin enlisted February 13, 1864; S 
Smith enlisted February 17, 1864; James F. Striblih enlisted February 15,. 
1864; S. H. Umphries enlisted February 8, 1864; Samuel Yoder enlisted 
February 11,1864; Calvin Yoder enlisted February 22, 1S64. 

COMPANY E. 

Privates — F. A. Alexander, enlisted January 20, 1864; John W. Await, 
enlisted January 20, 1864; P. M. Await, enlisted January 20, 1864; J. E. 
Atterbury, enlisted February 15, 1864; A. Boyd, enlisted January 30, 1864; 
H. Brnce, enlisted January 28, 1864; A. J. Corrick, enlisted February 17, 
1864; H. G. Dooley, enlisted February 15, 1864; F. Draper, enlisted Janu- 
ary IS, 1864; William E. Dabney, enlisted February 15, 1864; Ellett God- 
dard, enlisted January 20, 1864; B. R. Grinstead, enlisted January 20^ 
1864; Milton Hopkins, enlisted January 30, 1864; Hiram Jarvis, enlisted 
February 15, 1864; J. W. Jones, enlisted February 13, 1864; Joseph Knox, 
enlisted February 22, 1864; Robert McBride, Jr., enlisted January 25, 
1864; John L. Magee, enlisted March 1, 1864; Charles A. Presson, en- 
listed January 26, 1864; Martin Pherigo, enlisted February 13, 1864; H. 
H. W. Rullman, enlisted February 24, 1864; William S. Skinner, enlisted, 
February 19, 1864. 

FIFTEENTH lOAWA INFANTRY. 
COMPANY D. 

Privates — Tiiomas Brown, enlisted March 29, 1764; D. M. Johnston, eu~ 
listed March 28, 1864; James H. Reynolds, enlisted February 16, 1864. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 54:5 

THIRTY-SIXTH INFANTRY. 
COMPANY E. 

Privates— F. W. Rachke, enlisted February 15, 186i; Charlea A. Stad- 
ler, enlisted February 23, 1864; John W. Stadler, enlisted February 15, 
1864. 

SOUTHERN IOWA BORDER BRIGADE. 

SECOND BATTALION. 
COMPANY A. 

Hosea Horn, captain, enlisted September 29, 1862. 

"William H. Hiner, lieutenant, enlisted September 29, 1862. 

T. L. C- McAchran, orderly sergeant, enlisted September 29, 1862. 

James H. Cobb, enlisted September 29, 1862. 

Privates.— Ihe following men enlisted September 29, 1862: "William C. 
Avery, A. "W. Brown, P. "W. F. Brown, Clever H. Brown, "William Brown, 
Eosel Barton. "William R. Brice, Alexander Boyd, John Cammack, "Wil- 
liam Coy, John "W. Campbell, Thomas Uuffield, Charles Davis, J. "V. Ev- 
ans, jr., A. D. Gibbons, George "W. Good, "William I. Hamilton, Alfred 
Hicks, Milton Hopkins, E. I. Hopkins, William "W. Hopkins, "William C. 
Johnson, Robert Kenneday, Thomas C. Kirkpatrick, Marshall Lock, "Wil- 
liam G. Myers, John "W. Milligan, "Wesley S. Monroe, Henry C. Nichols, 
N. H. Pitman, Albert Petetish, J. I. Plank, Amos N. Plank, Jacob Rown,. 
James T. Roberts, George Roberts, Levrett N. Scott, C. D. Saunders, Amos 
Steckel, Samuel G. Steele, George "W. Stober, Berryman Smith, Eli Smith, 
John Steele, Benjamin F. Swalle}', Samuel Swartzendruver, I. !N. Shelton, 
John "W. Scarborough, John M. Smith, Joel H. Sharp, A: M. Spurrier, 
James M. Young, "William H. Yates, Samuel R. Brown, "William C. Cor- 
rick, John R. Latimer, Thomas B. Myers. Tlie following men enlisted 
October 1, 1862: Samuel Busey, J. C. Brenneman, S. T. Ballard, Thomas 
F. Collins, Samuel M. Frady, Lewis Frank, Joseph Goodwin, R. H. Grin- 
stead, Simon Kinney, Williani P. Mouner, Jt)hn Morton, John H. Plank, 
William H. Penny, Jessee Petefish, Josiah Stark, Jacob R. Slieaffer, Wil- 
liam B. Stark, Elijah L Shelton, William "V^arner, Henry Wright, Chris. 
Boughman, E. S. Barnhart, Samuel F. Penny, John H. Pry, George L 
Wade, Jacob W. Yoast. The following men enlisted October 27, 1862:: 
Thomas H. Barton, Henry S. Foshee, James S. Prather. 



546 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

Enlistments of Davis county men in Missouri regiments, as follows : 
TENTH MISSOURI INFANTRY. 

COMPANY D. 

Samuel McAchran, first lieutenant, enlisted July 25, 1861, commissioned 
August 22, 1861, died in Missouri, September 15, 1861. 

Gilbert D. Gray, second lieutenant, enlisted July 25, 1861, commissioned 
:second lieutenant August 22, 1861, promoted first lieutenant December 4, 
1861, promoted captain company B, 10th Missouri infantry. 

Daniel B. Friend, second sergeant, enlisted July 25, 1861, appointed 
August 22, 1861, died in hospital, February 10, 1862; Francis M. Gray, 
second sergeant, enlisted July 25, 1861, appointed third sergeant August 22, 
1861, promoted second sergeant February 10, 1862, died March 13, 1863; 
David Yoder, fifth sergeant, enlisted July 25, 1861, appointed August 22, 
1861, reduced to ranks, deserted July 27, 1862; James Quigley, first cor- 
poral, enlisted July 25, 1861, promoted sergeant; John M. Cavitt, second 
corporal, enlisted July 25, 1861, appointed August 22, 1861, discharged 
June 13, 1862; W. V. Sheaffer, third corporal, enlisted July 25, 1861, ap- 
pointed August 22, 1861, promoted sergeant; Isaac Flick, fourth corporal, 
enlisted July 25, 1861, appointed August 22, 1861, reduced to ranks; John 
Trisler, fifth corporal, enlisted July 25, 1861, appointed August 22, 1861^ 
went into ranks; Caleb H. Bowles, sixth corporal, enlisted July 25, 1861, 
appointed August 22,. 1861; Greenup Snell, seventh corporal, enlisted July 
25, 1861, appointed August 22, 1861, deserted July 27, 1863; William B. 
Gee, eigth corporal, enlisted July 25, 1861, appointed August 22, 1861, 
died in Missouri February 26, 1862. 

William Young, wagoner, enlisted July 25, 1861, appointed August 22,. 
1861, promoted to corporal. 

Privates. — The following named men enlisted July 25, 1861: George 
Bonebrake, died in Mississippi October 19, 1862; David Barkley, dis- 
charged March 20, 1863; John W. Berry, died in Missouri. April 20, 1862; 
Stephen Bunnell, died in Missouri, February 1,1862, William A. Camp- 
bell, James Cassett, George W. Fletcher, George Henderson, Eichard Mer- 
ryman, David G. Maize, to company II, deserted, February 27, 1863; Wil- 
liam K. Pipes, discharged June 13, 1862; Thomas Eandolph, died Decem- 
ber 8, 1861; Jerry Eandolph, died in August, 1861; James H. Sailing, died 
in hospital, 1863; Asbury F. Salters, E. J. Holcomb, Stephen Holcomb. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 547 

TWENTY-FIRST MISSOURI INFANTRY. 

COMPANY B. 

Privates — David S. Fike, enlisted December 14, 1861, discliarged April 
1, 1863; James I. Fike, enlisted January 1, 1862, discharged October 25, 
1862; Abram Holder, enlisted June 17, 1861, not heard from. 

COMPANY F. 

James W. Waldron, second corporal, enlisted November 15, 1861, appointed 
February 1, 1862, died from M'ounds at Shiloh April 8, 1862; William H. 
Fenton, eighth corporal, enlisted November 15, 1861, killed at Shiloh. 

Privates — B. Johnson, enlisted December 3, 1861; James Kelley, enlis- 
Tted November 15, 1861. 

COMPANY O. 

S. D. Nulton, musician, enlisted October 25, 1861. 

Privates — Robert Barnes, enlisted October 25, 1861; George W. Clem- 
ents, enlisted October 25, 1861, discharged April 2, 1862; Eesin R. Com- 
mons, enlisted October 25, 1861; C. G. Dabney, enlisted October 25, 1861, 
killed at Shiloh: William M. Davis, enlisted October 25, 1861, discharged 
April 2, 1862; T. W. Figgins, enlisted October 25, 1861; James Locket, en- 
listed October 25, 1861; F. A. Massey, enlisted October 25. 1861. 

QOMPANY H. 

Eli L. Stewart, third corporal, enlisted January 8, 1862, promoted to sec- 
ond corporal. 

F. C. Humble, second musician, enlisted January 11, 1862, discharged 
April 4, 1862. 

Privates — EH Black, enlisted December 9, 1861; John W. Ferguson, en- 
listed October 25, 1861, discharged May 3, lS63;Chesley W. Jones, enlisted 
January 24, 1862; Isaiah Preston, enlisted October 25, 1861, wounded at 
Shiloh; Stephen Sage, enlisted January 20, 1862, killed at Shiloh; A. K. 
Shoemaker, enlisted January 24, 1862. 

COMPANY I. 

G. E. Nightengale, private, enlisted January 2, 1862. 

SEVENTH MISSOURI CAVALRY. 
COMPANY A. 

Alexander Downing, third sergeant, enlisted August 9, 1861. 
James W. Sevier, fourth corporal, enlisted August 9, 1861, promoted to 
sergeant. 



548 HISTOET OF DAVIS COTTHTT. 

Alonzo Douglas, bugler, enlisted August 9, 1861, promoted to sergeant^ 
deserted September 15, 1862. 

Privates — William H. Craven, enlisted August 9, 1861, promoted to 
corporal; E. Campbell, enlisted August 8, 1861, discharged September 17, 
1862; John M. Dehart, enlisted September 25, 1861; Isaac Lambert, enlis- 
ted August 9, 1861, discharged February 9, 1862; A. H. Lemmou, enlisted 
August 9, 1861 ; James Montgomery enlisted August 9, 1861, discharged;. 
Harry Pittman, enlisted September 10, 1861, promoted to chief musician;. 
Edward T. Ehodes, enlisted August 9, 1S61, discharged September 17, 1862; 
John M. Ehodes, enlisted August 9, 1861, promoted to corporal; Woldy 
.Gallady, enlisted August 9, 1861; James D. Youst, enlisted August 9, 
1861, discharged September 17, 1862. 

SECOND CAVALRY, MISSOURI STATE MILITIA. 
COMPANY B. 

Josiah Robertson, third sergeant, enlisted January 20, 1S62. 

David Sanborn, wagoner, enlisted March 1, 1862. 

Privates — George Glasburner, enlisted March 1, 1862; Edward W. 
Grinstead, enlisted March 1, 1862; A. C. Kemp, enlisted January 1, 1863; 
John A. Spencer, enlisted March 2, 1862; Warren J. Terry, enlisted 
January 1, 1862. 

COMPANY c. 

-; John Van Boskirk, commissary sergeant, enlisted March 10, 1862, pro- 
moted first sergeant. 

Richard Colli ver, eighth corporal, enlisted Marcli 10, 1862, promoted to 
sergeant. 

P?•^■^;a^!es^Enlisted March 10,1862: Alonzo T. Foster, Jesse W. Gray, 
Dixon Green, William Gregory, Jeptha G. House, James B. Hubbard, pro; 
moted to corporal; David Lazilier, Amos J. Losy, William Moore, David 
B. Pew, Posey H. Veach, Jackson Winn. 

It will be seen that the volunteers of Davis county were distributed'; 
mainly in the Second Infantry, company D: Thirtieth Infantry, company B; 
and in the Third Cavah-y, companies A and E, with squads in D and I, audi 
also squads scattered in tlie various companies of the Fourth, Si.xth, Thir- 
teentli. Fourteen tli, Fifteenth, Seven teen th,Nineteenth,TlHrtieth,Thirty-sixtb 
and Tiiirty-seventh Infantry, and First, Second, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth 
Cavalry regiments. Besides these, there was a full company', D, in the 
Forty-fifth, tiie hundred day Infantry regiment; and nearly a full company, 
D, in the Tenth Missouri Infantry regiment, and squads in companies By 



HI8T0ET OF DAVIS COUNTY. 54'9 

G, H, and I, of the Twenty-first Missouri Infantry, and a squad in the Sev- 
enth Missouri cavalry regiments. Thus, in all, Davis county contributed 
nearly eight hundred volunteers, who did service in the defense of their 
country and their homes in the dark days of their peril. 



HISTOEY OF DAVIS COUNTY SOI^DIEES. 

The Second Infantry, to which company 6, enrolled in Davis county, be 
longed, was mustered into the United States service at Keokuk, May, '61, 
and had for its colonels from first to last, S. R. Curtis, J. M. Tuttle, Jas. Ba- 
ker, N. W. Mills, J. B. Weaver and N. B. Howard. It was at the following 
points, and in the following engagements during the period of its career: 
It left Keokuk, when it was organized, June 13, 1861, when it left for 
duty, reaching St. Louis July 28, thence to Bird's Point, Mo., and August 
2Jth it brought up at Pilot Knob, Mo. From thence to Jackson, Septem- 
ber 1st, and on the 8th it reached Fort Jefferson, Ky., where it remained 
until September 23d. From there it made its way back to Benton Barracks, 
Mo., where it tarried from October 29, to December 23, where it assumed 
charge of the military prison in St. Louis, in which duty it remained until 
February 10, 1862, when it received marching orders for Fort Donelson, 
Tenn., where it remained from February 16, to March 6, 1862, and engaged 
in its first battle, the capture of the fo^t, Februar}' 15. The Second regi- 
ment made a brilliant record in this engagement, under command of Col. 
J. M. Tuttle. It was assigned the position of honor at the head of the 
column, which it led in the assault and capture, and was the first to ascend 
and plant the National emblem upon theembattlementsof the rebel works, 
which they held until the surrender the next morning. It was its first, 
and a grand, undying achievement. The commanding Colonel, in his oflB- 
clal report, complimented Lieutenant-Colonel Baker, Captain Moore, and 
Lieutenant Weaver, of this county, for the cool, brave and efficient manner 
in which they discharged their duty; as also did Major-General Halleck, 
commatiding the western army, e.xtend to the regiment a cordial compli- 
ment through the Adjutant-General of Iowa, under date St. Louis, Febru- 
ary 19, 1862, as follows: 

" Adjutant-Geneeal N. B Baker: — The Second Iowa infantry proved 
themselves the bravest of the brave; they had the honor of leading the col- 
Mmn which entered Fort Donelson. H. W. Halleck, 

Major- General^ 



650 HISTOKY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

The next point made b}' the Second regiment was Shiloh, Tenn., where ift 
remained from March 19 to April 28, 1862; and, under command of Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel James Baker, engaged in the battles of that place on the6tb 
and 7th of April, and suffered severe loss. From Shiloh the regiment 
moved to Camp Montgomery, near Corinth, where it remained from June 
15 to October 4, 1862. On the 3d and 4th of October it engaged in the 
fierce contest of Corinth in which Colonel Baker and Lieutenant-Colonel 
Mills were mortally wounded and other losses of officers and men were suf- 
fered, 108 in all. The command of the regiment now devolved upon Major 
James B. Weaver, who in his official report of its actions and casualties,, 
speaks in commendable terms of the bravery of the command and especially 
of the intrepidity of Lieutenants DuHield and Duckworth, of this county. 
Following this the command moved to Rienzi, Miss., where it remained un- 
til May 31, 1863. During its stay at this point the regiment participated 
in encounters with the enemy under General Roddy at Little Bear Creek and 
at Town Creek, Alabama. Afterwards it went into camp at La Grange,. 
Tennessee, from June 1st to November 1, 1863; and at Pulaski, Tennessee,, 
from November 11, 1863, to April 29, 1864. Its next engagement was at 
Resaca, Georgia, May 14-15, 1864, under command of Colonel Weaver, to- 
secure crossing of the river at that point. The Second was the first regi- 
ment to cross over the pontoons, which caused the enemy to evacuate Res- 
aca the next morning. Following this the command in its " march to the 
sea" with Sherman engaged in the encounters and sieges at Rome Cross- 
Road, Dallas, Georgia, now under command of Colonel N. B. Howard; 
Kenesaw Mountain siege, June 10-80,1864; the engagement and siege of 
Atlanta, July 20 to August 27, 1864; in engagements at Little Ogechee, 
Georgia, December 10-20th, arriving at Savannah, Georgia, December 21,. 
1864. Returning through Goldsboro, Raleigh, North Carolina, and Peters- 
burg and Richmond, Virginia, to Washington, it took part in such engage- 
ments as occurred, reaching the latter city May 24, 1865. From thence it 
went to Louisville, Kentucky, where it remained from January 6 to July 
12, 1865, when it left for Davenport, Iowa; and thus it ended its grand and 
heroic career. 

The next infantry regiment in which Davis county was represented witb 
a full company — B, Charles Clarke, captain — was the Thirtieth, Charles H. 
Abbott, colonel, which rendezvoused at Keokuk and mustered into the 
LTnited States service September 23, 1862. The first engagement, shown of 
record, in which this regiment participated was at Haines' Blufl', December 
28-9, 1862, nearjVicksburg in which several were wounded. Its next engage- 
ment was at Arkansas Post, January 11, 1863, in which the regiment did 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 56£ 

gallant service and first planted their colors on the enemy's works, and took 
charge of tlie prisoners captured. There were over forty killed and wounded 
in this engagement, including Latayette Edwards, killed, and Sergeant H. M. 
York and Privates D. Edwards and T. J. Lyons, wounded. The next hattle 
in which the regiment took part was at Jackson, Mississippi, May li, 1863, 
and the siege of Vicksbnrg, from May 18, to July 4, 1863. Then it took 
part in the engagement at Clinton, Mississippi, July 11, 1863; and again at 
Jackson from July 12 to 15, 1863. The two flags which the regiment car- 
ried through all of the above named battles, worn and blood stained, carried 
in its inarches 5,700 miles, between October 1863 and October 10, 1863, 
were by an expressed wish of the regiment forwarded to the State Histori- 
cal Society at Iowa City, for preservation. The regiment was next in the 
battles of Corinth and luka, Mississippi, which latter point it left for Cher- 
okee, Alabama, October 20, 1863, where it was engaged with the enemy and 
suffered a loss of twenty-seven killed and wounded. Its next point was 
Tuscumbia, Alabama, where it drove the enemy out and took possession of 
the town. It returned to Cherokee again and routed the enemy October 
29 and then returned to Chickasaw, Alabama, October 31, 1863. 

Its next campaign was in "Sherman's march to the sea." It took an ac- 
tive part in the engagements at Kesaca, Georgia, May 13-14, 1864; at Dal- 
las, Georgia, May 27; Kenesaw Mountain, June 15-30; Atlanta, July 22 to 
August 20; and at Jonesboro, North Carolina, September 1-5; in all of 
which battles the casualties of the Thirtieth regiment were severe, mainly by 
wounds. This regiment did fine service in the field, and was finally mus- 
tered out at Washington, D. C, on its return from its "march to the sea,"" 
June 5, 1855. 

Davis county was also represented with small squads scattered through the 
Fourth, Sixth, Tenth, Thirteenth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Seventeenth, Nine- 
teenth and Thirty-sixth Infantry regiments, all of which were active in the 
field during the war. It also had a full company, D, in the Forty-fifth 
Infantry, known as the " hundred day " regiment, which rendezvosed at 
Keokuk, and was mustered in the- United State service, May 25, 1864; and 
of which Samuel A. Moore, of Bloomfield, was lieutenant colonel. It did 
garrison and guard duty mainly, at Memphis and other points, and was 
mustered out of servics at Keokuk, September 16, 1864. 

The Third Cavalry regiment was largely represented by Davis county. It 
had two full companies — A, with Williatn Van Benthusen as captain; and 
E, with George Dnffield as captain, besides quite a representation in com- 
panies D and I. This regiment was organized at Keokuk, and mustei-ed 
into the United States service September 14, 1861, with Cyrus Bussey, then. 



552 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

of Bloomlield, this county, as its colonel. The regiment was ordered into 
the field in Missouri, and after a stay at Benton Barracks, the first expedi- 
tion of the second battallion — companies E, F, G, and H, — -was December 12, 
1861, to Jelferson City, Booiiville, and Glasgow, Missouri, in which it cap- 
tured 173 kegs of powder from the enemy. On December 25, 1861, this 
battallion was stationed at Fulton, in Callaway county, Missouri, during 
the winter doing scouting, and rebel capturing duty thereabouts. It con- 
tinued on duty in this section of Missouri during most of the followine 
summer under the command of Major H. C. Caldwell. 

On the 7th of March, 1862, the first battallion of the Third Cavalry, under 
command of Lieutenant Colonel H. H. Trimble, of Bloomfield, moved for 
ward in the battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas; and while Col. Trimble's com- 
mand was executing a charge upon the enemy's line, in the face of a deadly 
. fire from a superior force, many of which were concealed in the woods and 
brush, he was severely wounded in the face; besides, a large number of men 
and horses were killed and wounded. An open and running fight was kept 
up for some time, witli a large loss to the enemy. The Third Cavalry did 
noble service in this fearful conflict. Colonel Bussey, jn command of a 
brigade in this engagement, renders high tribute to the conduct of the Third 
Cavalry. Of the casualties, there were eight killed and five wounded in 
Company A, from this county. Eight of this battallion of the Third Cav- 
alry, who were burned, had been wounded and killed by stabs through the 
heart and neck, as shown by examination, upon being exhumed for the 
purpose, as appears from Colonel Bussey 's ofiicial report. 

The next engagement was at LaGrange, Arkansas, May 1, 1863, by a por 
tion of the regiment, in which it beat a superior force, with a loss of about 
I'orty of their number. Some eleven were from Company A. 

On the 25th of the same month Company A, of this regiment engaged in 
a severe skirmish near Helena, Arkansas, in which the advance guard was 
commanded by Sergeant Wishard, of Davis county. 

The next movements of the Third Cavalr}' were southward, in the expi- 
dition against Jackson, Miss., July 1863; after which it went into camp 
between Vicksburg and Jackson, Miss., and remained until August 10, 
1863, when it joined an expedition to Grenada, Miss., which it reached the 
17th, and doing much skirmishing and destruction to the enemy, in this 
section. The regiment then went to Memphis, and on the 27th of August, 
1863, it joined the 2d battalion, then on the expedition against Little Rock, 
Ark., at which point it remained performing scout and picket duty. In 
January 1864, the Third Cavalr}' recnlisted as veterans, were furloughed 
home. On the vetranized regiment's return to the field it joined Gen. 




1^, .^- 



-v .m ' 




(ll^ Aff^^t^t^ ^/cJ^^, 



HISTOEY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 553 

•■Sturgis' expedition in Mississippi in June, 1864, under the command of 
John W. Nobel, colonel, in which it sutt'ered a loss of seventy-one killed, 
wounded and captured. Subsequeutl}' it joined ia another expedition, 
through Mississippi under Gen. A. J. Smith. This expedition traveled 
from 350 to 400 miles from June 24, to July 23, 1864, doing efficient ser- 
ice. During this ]>eriod the Third Iowa Cavalry lost one killed and seventeen 
-wounded. On its return to Memphis it remained in camp until September 
2, 1864-, when it left for Missouri to join in the campaign against Price. It 
reached and joined the command under Gen. Pleasanton near Independence, 
Mo., October 22, and participated in the engagement then progressing, 
•where it lost live men. It was next engaged in the battle at Big Blue, Oct. 
23, in which its loss was thirteen wounded. It was also in the battle of the 
Osage, October 25, in which it lost six killed and twenty-three wounded. 
This battle closed the campaign. The Third Cavalry marched during this 
campaign from September 2d to November 28, 1864, 1650 miles, traversing 
Missouri, Arkansas and the Indian Territory, and participated in three gen- 
eral engagements. In the last engagement, the battle of the Osage, the 
•enemy was routed, and many of his men were killed, wounded and captured; 
among the latter were two or three generals, including Gen. Marmaduke, 
who was captured by Private James Dnnlavy of this county. 

The regiment again returned to Memphis, and took part in Gen. Grier- 
fion's expedition, December 21, 1864, though Tennessee and Mississippi, in 
which lip destroyed the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. The regiment returned 
to Memphis through Okalona, which the expedition captured, reaching the 
former place January 11, 1865, and from there to Louisville, Ky., where the 
regiment was remounted with the Spencer carbine,etc. Here the command 
received orders to report to Gen. Wilson, at Eastport, Miss., which it reached 
February II, 1805. March 18, they went into Alabama, thence to Georgia 
on an expedition under Gen. Wilson, which terminated at Macon, Ga., 
April 22 — the close of hostilities. The regiment then went to Atlanta, 
where it was mustered out August 9, 1865. 

Davis county, was represented in three Missouri regiments during the 
war, one full company, D, in the Tenth Infantry, some twenty men scattered 
through the Twenty-first Infantry, and ten men in the Seventh Cavalry. 
Cut no reports of those regiments were furnished this State. 



15 



554 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 



SOUTHERN BORDEE TROUBLES. 

Davis county, was. more or less, the scene of raids by armed bands of 
guerillas and bushwhackers from Missouri during the war, who invaded 
the county to rob and murder peaceable citizens. 

To protect the people along the southern line of the State, the legislature- 
authorized the organization of the "Southern Border Brigade," composed 
of four batallions, the second of which was composed of a company raised 
in each of the counties of Wapello, Davis, and Appanoose. II. B. Horn^ 
then of Bloomfield, was authorized by the Governor to raise the company 
in Davis county, whicli he did, and was appointed its captain, with Wil- 
liam H. Hiner, as lieutenant, and Thomas L. 0. McAchran, as orderly ser- 
geant. It was composed of seventy-seven men, and was mustered into- 
State service October 20, 1862. It was the duty of this company to guard 
and protect the people of Davis county against the marauding and murder- 
ous raids of Missouri outlaws. 

A few weeks after the organization of Capt. Horn's company, December 
16, 1862, the board of supervisors of Davis count}', adopted the following 
resolution, which speaks for itself: 

On motion, the following resolution was unanimously adopted; to wit, 

Resolved, That the Border regiment now in the employ of the State of 
Iowa, on the southern border of the State, is an unnecessary and useless 
organization and one attended with a needless expense to the State, and we 
as the representatives ot the several townships of Davis county, Iowa, re- 
spectfully represent that the company now in this county, of wiiich Hosea 
B. Horn is caiJ^tain is in noio [no] manner necessary to the defense or pro- 
tection of the people of Davis county and that to the best of our knowledge 
and information there has not been any necessity for the services of said 
comjjan}', and while we believe that the National Government needs the 
services of all the able-bodied men of the country that can be spared from 
the country, and all the money that can with justice be raised by taxation^ 
we protest against a needless and expensive waste of money and men in a ser- 
vice that can result in no good to any one. We further represent that the 
keeping of the said regiment in service will operate unjustly and unequally 
over citizens in case there should be a necessity of drafting in Davis county; 
in as much as the men in such regiment will be exempted from the draft 
and will remain at home without any necessity for their services in this 
part of the State. J. M. Sloan, 

Amos Steokel, President. 

Cleric. 

Now follows the report of Captain Horn, or the essential parts of it, as to 
the occurences in the county, made to the Governor, through the Adjutant 
General of the State, March 2, 1863, some three months after the adoption 



HISTOET OF DAVIS COUNTY. SSS 

of the foregoing resolution by the board of supervisors, and it tells the 
story : 

On the 9th of February, 1863, citizens of the south-west of part our 
county, to the number of about fifty-four, met too;ether (being partly armed, 
as I am informed), and repaired to the house of Mr. D. B. Pugh, a loyal 
and peaceable citizen, and forcibly abducted a man of color, and carried 
him to Missouri. These men having no legal authority, their acts caused 
considerable excitement, and on the 12th of the month I was called upon by 
Mr. Pugh and others, to take some action in the matter, as commander of 
this company. 

The negro having already been driven beyond ray reach, and the mob 
having dispersed and returned to their homes, I addressed a note to Gov- 
ernor Kirkwood in regard to it. This he referred to Attorney-General 
Nourse, who advised me as to the statute in such cases, and suggested that 
these men be indicted by our grand jury. There was no doubt that these 
men are liable for abduction, conspiracy and riot; but Davis county is not 
the place to punish men for such crimes; for the disloyal men among us have 
banded themselves together to resist the law, and the authority of those in 
power, and publicl}' proclaim the same to the world. 

At a peace meeting of the self styled "Democracy" one William A. 
Kankin, of our county, offered a series of resolutions, which were unani- 
mously adopted, from which I take the following: 

"4. We here deliberately and firmly pledge ourselves, one to the other, 
that we will not render any support to the present administration in carry- 
ing on its wicked abolition crusade against tiie South; that we will resist to 
the death all attempts to draft any of our citizens into the army, and that we 
will permit no arbitrary arrests amongst us by the minions of the adminis- 
ation. 

"5. That wliile we regard the emancipation proclamation as the final 
blow that has destroyed all hope of a reconstruction of the Union as it was, 
we also view it as the entering wedge which will ultimately divide the Mid- 
dle and Northwestern States from our mischief-making, Puritanical, fanat- 
ical New England brethren, and finally culminate in the formation of a 
democratic republic out of the Middle, Northwestern and Southern States, 
and for this we are thankful. 

" 6. That we will resist the introduction of free negroes into the State of 
Iowa — first, by lawful means, and when that fails we will drive them, to- 
gether with such whites as may be engaged in bringing them in, out of the 
State, or afford them hospitable graves! " 

From this, you will see that it will be almost out of the question to pun- 
ish these men in our county. * * * 

On the 15th of February, three armed men from Missouri came into our 
town and attempted to carry into slavery a colored man, who for some time 
had been employed at a hotel in this place. The negro refused to go with 
them, when one of the men fired on him with his pistol. This frightened 
the negro, and the three white men then seized him and started south. A 
writ was issued for their arrest, and they were pursued and brought back 
for trial. These proceedings caused intense excitement — some of our 
citizens siding with the Missourians, and some taking sides against them. 
My scouta were then in the south part of the county, but in order to prevent 



556 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

any violence being done, I immediately called together a sufficient number 
of my company to maintain ordei'. Those called together for that purpose 
were on dut}' one da}', but iiaving no authority to call them out, their ser- 
vices were volunteered for the occasion. * * * 

On the 2Sth d.iy of November 1S62, I received orders to collect and take 
into possession the State arms, etc., in our country, and on the 6th day of 
December I procured a room where I deposited the same. * * 

The prospect for peace in our county the coming summer is anything 
but flattering; and, if practicable, I would be much pleased if at least part 
of my compaii}' could be furnislietl by the State with suitable cavalry arras. 
I am very respectfully your obedient servant, 

HoSEA B. HOEN, 

Captain comma ii(llng company'. 

Border affairs in this county do not appear to liave further required the 
intervention of the military forces, than shown by the foregoing report, un- 
til October 1864:, when a raid of armed and mounted cut-throats from Mis- 
souri appeared in the southern townships, and carried consternation among 
the people, as shown by the following report of Lieutenant Colonel S. A. 
Moore, aid-de-camp to Governor Stone. The report tells the painful stor}' 
fully and well: 

Bloomfield, Iowa, January 1, 1865. 
Gen. N. B. Bakek, Adjutant-General of Iowa: — 

Sir: In compliance with your request, I have collected together the 
main facts of the recent raid through this county by a band of guerillas, 
in the month of October last. 

While the main features of the sketch are undoubtedly correct, I have, 
no doubt, omitted many incidents that would be interesting if collected and 
related as they occurred. 

I have been unable to obtain the precise information at what point in our 
county the raiders first entered. I have conversed with many persons who 
saw them at different places along tlie route they traveled, but as their 
movements were rapid, and their stay to each house very brief, there is no 
one who is able to tell the whole story in detail. I am, therefore, chiefly 
indebted to Mr. Wallace Power, a 3'oung man who was taken prisoner and 
held during the entire route through the county, for the incidents here re- 
lated. 

Twelve young men, dressed in Federal uniform, mounted on splendid 
horses, and armed with from two to seven revolvers each, entered the county 
near the southeast corner on the morning of the 12th of October, 1864, 
with two prisoners, young men whom they had captured in Clark county, 
Missouri. Riding up to the house of Mr. Gustin, a part of their number 
dismounted, entered the house, robbed him of a gun, which they broke, a 
favorite watch — a gift from his father when dying — and about $160 in 
money. 
~^-- Another portion of the gang proceeded to William Downing's, broke his 
gun, robbed him of what money he had iu hig^'pTTSfet, and'Took him priso- 
ner. From Downing's they went to the house of Thomas Miller, from 
whom they took $110. The}' next went to the houses of Neckadier and 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 557 

Chris. Waggler, broke Waggler's (jnn and passed on to Elou^li's, where 
they made, as they supposed, a grand haul, in getting a purse of gold, but 
in reality it was a purse containing twenty-five copper cents and a very small 
sum in silver coin, belonging to a little boy; but they robbed the child of 
his pocket knife. 

Here three of the gang were detailed to go to the house of Mr. William 
Power, a wealthy farmer living about a quarter of a mile south of Blough's 
and rob him. Mr. Power and liis son Wallace were working near the road; 
the old gentleman remarked, as he saw them coming, dressed in I)lue uni- 
form: " Wallace, there are some of your soldier friends coming to see you." 
The young man walked out to the gate to meet them; on riding up thej' 
drew their revolvers and ordered him to take otf his pants It was now ap- 
]iarent that they were not his friends, and being unarmed and powerless in 
their hands, he drew off his "soldier pants" and handed them over. By this 
time one of the gang was approaching the old gentleman, ordering him to 
lialt and threatening to shoot him; but Mr. Power, remarkable for his quiet 
pleasant demeanor, not finding a convenient place to halt, kept on tlie"even 
tenor of his way," until, dodging behind an outbuilding, he broke and ran; 
the fellow fired at him, but missed. 

Mrs. Power inquired of them who they were, and by what authority they 
came there. They claimed to be Union soldiers; but she told them that 
Union soldiers were good men, and did not behave in that way. One of 
them informed her tliat they were rebels and "bushwhackers," and asked 
her if she had ever seen any rebel bushwliackers before. 
They now proposed to'kill the young man unless his father was brought back, 
and to terrify the young man into comi^liauce with their wishes, they told 
him they would kill him in the presence of his mother; he very quietly 
told them that they had the power to kill him, and if they intended to do 
it, he would rather be killed in the presence of his mother than that of any 
other person. 

A younger brother ran down to the field where Mr. Power had gone, and 
told him that they would kill Wallace unless he returned; he then came 
back. They took Mr. Power's gun and broke it, compelled the father and 
son to both mount the same horse, without saddle or blanket, taking, how- 
ever from them a saildle belonging to Albert Power, then in the Third Iowa 
Cavalry, which they carried with them, and started in pursuit of the others 
who had gone on from Plough's. They did not get Mr. Power's money; 
they were detained so long with the prisoners that they did not stop to 
search the house. 

Tiiey stopped at the house of David Baughman, broke his ^un, got some 
apples, and then visited Perry Brown, and broke his gun. Tiiey overtook 
James Brown, formerly of Company B, Thirtieth Iowa, and ordered him 
to "fall in," a term which he seemed to understand, as he obeyed, if not 
with cheerfulness, with alacrity. They then went to the house of William' 
Millsaps. Some one of the party remarked: "From the apprarance of 
things tiiese are poor folks," and proceeded without stopping to disturb 
them. 
They next went to the house of Mr. Rease, tooka musket, broke it, and robbed 
him of $26. Tiiey then went to Daniel Swartzendrover's, and robbed him 
of $15, five dollars of which belonged to Mr. Millsaps, his neighbor, the 
one they had concluded not to disturb. 



558 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

A great manj' of our citizens had gone to the fair. They arrested and 
took prisoner every man who crossed their path. Tlieir movements were 
rapid as the wind, the main coUimn halting rarely, and then hnt for a few mo- 
ments, all the rot)hing being done by details nnder tlie direction of their 
Captain, who had perfect control of every member of the gang. You see 
liow ditiicnlt it was to obtain any reliable information concerning them; the 
wildest rumors were current. Every prisoner taken was counted one of the 
gang. The distance to the county-seat from where they first commenced 
their depredations in the county was some sixteen miles. The rapidity of 
their movements, the terror they left in their path, the vague, uncertain ru- 
mors of their numbers, varying from lift}' to tw'o hundred, the wild, dash- 
ing novelty of the whole thing in a county where profonnd peace had always 
been, so startled and unnerved even brave men, that a considerable time 
elapsed before the news reached Bloomfield. 

They next stopped at the house of Jacob King, whom they robbed of 
$165, two watches and some jewelry. They inquired of Mr. King what 
kind of horses he had. He told them he had some very good ones at the 
stable, but they were becoming very much alarmed about pursuit, and did 
not stop to get his horses. One of them stopped long enough to adjust a 
lady's breastpin before a looking-glass, and then rode off to Jeremiah Mil- 
ler's, broke his fjun, and robbed him of some $12. David Gibson was at 
Mr. Miller's, working a short distance from the house, at a cane-mill. 
Mounti!)g a horse, he came with all speed to town, and brought the first in- 
telligence that we had received of the raiders. But yet he was unable to tell 
us anything with certainty about their numbers; lie counted twenty per- 
sons. He was a reliable man, and we are sure that there wei'e twenty; but 
we afterwards learned that Mr. Gibson had counted the prisoners with the 
raiders, not being close enough to distinguish them. Other persons came 
in and reported that there was one hundi-ed and fifty of tliem. We then sup- 
posed the party seen by Mr. Gibson was only a detachment, that the main 
column was somewhere near. A coui'ier arrived, who had seen them, and 
reported them 150 strong; another gave the name of a very reliable gentle- 
man who had counted one hundred and forty of them in one detachment, 
as they tiled a-ound the base of a hill where he lay concealed. 

The news soon reached the fair grounds; the fair was broken up, and men 
hurried to the town. The arsenal was opened, arms and ammunition dis- 
tributed, companies were formed in line of battle, horses were cut loose from 
wagons and carriages without reference to who owned them, and mounted 
by armed men. Couriers were coming with fresh and startling news of 
robbery and murder. An attack on the town was momentarily expected, 
men were placed on the tops of houses as lookouts, to watch and warn us of 
approaching danger. Men, women and children were hurrying to and fro, 
some pale and thoughtful, some flushed and excited; mothers pressed their 
• children closer to their bosoms. All was hurrj', bustle and confusion; all 
were willing, and vied with each other in getting ready to meet the danger; 
all past differences were forgotten ; a common danger united them. But 
there was no one to take command, and bring order out of chaos. The voice 
of a citizen was heard above the din and contusion proposing that Colonel 
J. B. Weaver, late of the'Second Iowa Infantry, take command of all the 
militia, and that every man yield prompt and explicit ohedience to his com- 
mands. A universal shout of approval rang out along the line, and confi- 
dence was seen and felt in the cheering obedience to every order issued. 



HISTORY OF DAYIS COUNTY. 559 

A company of mounted men, led by Colonel Weaver, who was assisted in 
the organization and management of the i-aw militia by Colonel Trimble, 
started in pursuit late in the afternoon, leaving the command of the militia 
for the defense of the town to myself, in which I was materially assisted by 
Captain Gray, Captain Minge, and a large number of returned soldiers 
whose nerves had been trained to steadiness at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Pea 
Eidge, siege of Vicksburg, and other fields, made glorious by their valor. 
Beside the farmer and mechanic, fresli from tiie plow and worksho]i, stood 
tlie heroes who had moved with eye undimmed and cheek unblanched 
through the smoke of battle and tiie valley of the shadow of death, and 
gave them words of encouragement and hope. The cavalry under General 
Weaver are in pursuit of the raiders as they move westward on tiieir mis- 
sion of pillage and murder, and we will return and trace these from the 
house of Mr. Miller, some nine miles distant from Bloomtield. 

From Miller's they moved rapidly to the house of Mr. Rodgers, where 
they robbed Isaac Smith of !?iu. Here they formed the prisoners in line, 
and commencing on the right, the captain asked each one separately if he 
<]id not want to join his company. They all declined to join him except one, 
wliose name was Lewis, one of the prisoners they had taken in Clark county, 
Missouri. He signified his willingness to join them, and was at once clothed 
in federal uniform. The captain made young Power draw ofi'bis boots and 
•socks, and give them to the new recruit. (I learned that Lewis deserted 
them in Chariton county, Missouri, and came home.) After seeing the re- 
cruit "pi'operly clothed," he made a short speech to the prisoners, asking a 
pledge that the}' would never go into the Federal arm}', and tlien dismissed 
all of them except Wallace Power, who had been a member of Company D, 
45th Iowa, James Brown, of Companj' B, 30th Iowa, and the other jirisoner 
whom they had brought from Clark count}', Missouri ; these having been 
soldiers, they refused to release. 

They then went to the house of James Paris, took one of his horses from 
t.he plow, searched his house, found a revolver and watch, which they ap- 
propriated. They took a gun belonging to Mr. Paris' father, who is quite 
old, and while in the act of breaking it, Mrs. Paris prevailed on them to 
spare it, as it belonged to a very old man, who nsed it for hunting, to amu^e 
himself in his old age. Strange as it'may appear, they spared the gun, the 
first instance of the kind, exce])t one very fine German shot-gun. whicli they 
took with them. 

We next find them at William Sterritt's, where they broke his gun, but 
refused to take his money because he had only sixt}' cents in his pocket l)ook. 
They went to the house of some one, whose name I did not learn; but fail- 
ing to find any money, they took an accordeon. 

At the house of Loyal Ilotchkiss they searched for money, but finding 
Tione, iielped themselves jilentifully at the larder, broke his gun, and departed 
for the residence of Frank French, who was absent from home, having gone 
to the fair. They compelled his little son, with pistols presented at his 
breast, to show them througii the different apartments of the house in search 
•of money; failing to fii;d it, they broke his gun, took a militar}' overcoat, 
dress coat, a pair of uniform pants, and some woolen sliirts. 

They then went to the house of Morris McCracken. His son was at home, 
formerl}' a member of Company D, iSth Iowa. They saw his uniform 
■clothing hanging up in the house, and demanded whether he had been asol- 



560 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

dier. Making a virtue of necessity, he told them the clothing belonged to- 
his brother, who had gone to the tkir; and thus escaped being killed. Af- 
ter robbing the father and sou of some $80, and breaking a musket, they left 
for the house of Mr. Ilaney. Demanding his money, the old man told them 
be had none. They made a thorough search, tearing things to pieces, de- 
claring that if they found one cent they would kill Mr. Haiiey. They tailed' 
to find his money, not having searched the old man's pockets, where his 
greenbacks were quietly resting; and left for the house of Thomas Hardy.. 
When they arrived there, two of tlie gang went in, demanded the ke^'S, and 
commenced a thorough search for money, but in their hurry they overlooked 
some eight hundred dollars, which had been placed between the leaves of 
a day book. 

The remainder of the gang passed on south about one liundred and sixty 
yards, where they met Mr. Hardy and another person in a wagon. The- 
captain ordered him to halt, and asked him the age of his horses. Hardy 
replied, "five years old." "Get out and unhitch them; I want them," said' 
the captain. "I want them, too," replied Hardy; "you don't intend to take- 
them without paying me for themf "I'll pay you for them," said tiie cap- 
tain, at the same time drawing a revolver and firing. The shot took effect 
near the right eye. and the wounded man tell out of the wagon apparently- 
lifeless, but, partially recovering, he placed his hands over the wound, and^ 
while the blood gushed out between his fiugpi's, be exclaimed, "God have- 
mercy!" "God have mercy!" The infernal fiend then dismounted, audi 
drawing a small pistol from his belt, stood over the postrate form of the dy- 
ing man. and took deliberate aim. The shot from the small pistol not 
having the desired etfect, he muttered, between his clenched teeth, a curse- 
upon the weapon, replaced it in the holster, and drawing a "Colt's Navy,'*' 
fired again. The life-bload spurted in pur])le currents from his mangled 
head, his warm heart ceased to beat, and the spirit of a good citizen, a kind 
husband and father, stood in the presence of its maker. After rifling his- 
pockets, in which he found between $300 and $400, he remounted his horse, 
and ordered the man who was in company with Mr. Plardy, to unhitch the- 
horses, which he did, but they did not take them. Some of his men, on com- 
ing up to the scene of the murder, inquired of the captain why he had killed' 
that man. He replied, "because he cfid not mind me; I will kill any mani 
that refuses to obey me." 

Passing along the road a short distance, they met a man from Missouri 
with a span of horses and a wagon, robbed him of his money, nearly $500,. 
stnfted it in a cartridge bo.\', and coolly asked the gentleman for some cigars. 
The one who received the money told the man the captain was coming up,, 
and he must do whatever the captain told him, and do it quickly. The cap- 
tain, on coming up, told the man to nnhitch his horses. "Do they pacef 
asked the captain. "No sir." "Then I don't want them; I have got better 
horses. Pull off that halter." "Which one?" inquired the man. "The one 
on the bay horse." He did it, handed it to the captain, who, after receiving 
it, told the man to hitch up his horses, drive up to the house, and take care- 
of that dead man, and to not leave there until morning. 

They next stopped at the house of Elizar Small, a soldier who had served 
his country faithfully as a member of Company A, Third Cavalry. Mr. 
Small, when coming from the barn, saw them approaching, and mistaking 
them for Federal soldiers, stopped to see them. The same soulless wretch. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTS. 561 

whose hands were red witli tlie blood of Hardy, i'ode up to him, asked him 
a few questions about his regiment, and drawing his revolver, shot him in 
the face. He threw his hands over the wound, and turning aronnd, uttered 
a piteous groan, tiiat would have touched the heart of a savage, and received 
two other shots, one in the neck, and the other in the breast. The proud 
form that had so often faced the enemies of his country in the shock of bat- 
tle, and had been spared to return to the bosom of his family, fell lifeless at 
the feet of an assassin, wiio, coolly dismounting, roltbed him of his money. 

We next hear of them at Springville. Captain Phillip Bence, of the 
Thirtieth Iowa Infantry, was at his home in Springville, enjoying the society 
of the "loved ones at home," and a brief respite from the toils and privations 
of camp life, on leave of absence. The guerrilla chief rode up to the resi- 
dence of Cajitain Bence, and calling him out, spoke pleasantly to the Captain,. 
and inquired about his regiment. The captain was dressed in full uniform. 
They compelled him to take it otf, and put on a pair of light blue uniform 
pants and a jeans coat. They then robbed him of §550 in money, and then 
proceeded to kill him. I have been informed that Captain Bence approached 
the guerrilla ciiief, and in a low tone of voice, that lie might not be heard 
by his family, asked as a special favor that lie would not kill him in the 
presence of his wife. 

Kews of the depredations of this gang having a few moments before 
their arrival reached Springville, a number of the militia were engaged in 
getting their horses and equijiments; three or fourhorses were already stand- 
ing hitched to the fence. The guerrillas captured the horses, and took as 
prisoners Capt. Bence. William Hill, Dflvid Sanderson, Andrew Tannehill, 
and Joseph Hill. They asked Joseph Hill whether he had ever been a 
soldier; he said he had not, which was a slight equivocation; for I remem- 
ber to have seen him performing duty as a faithful member of Co. D, 45th 
Iowa. They demanded liis money, made him turn his pockets, and throw 
away his knife, and deliberated whether they had not better shoot him be- 
cause he did not throw the knife further off; they took his horse, however, 
and mounted the prisoners. Captains Bence and Sanderson, on the same 
horse, and rode off. 

They next went to the h'^use of Frank Dabnej-, saw him near the door, 
and ordered him to halt. He lefused, went into the house, tossed his pocket 
book on the loft, and passed 'out'of the door. They failed to find him, but 
took his horses. 

Not far from here they met William Losey, and inquired of him if ho 
liad heard of any rebels in the country. He told them he had, and was 
then on his way to S|U'ingville and Ssvannah to give the alarm and raise 
the militia. "We are the rebels," said the captain, "and do you fall in!" 
Losey was astounded, and was hesitating; but the click of a revolver and a 
word or advice from his neighbors, the prisoners, settled the matter in his 
mind, and he "fell in." They robbed him of $64. 

They now moved rapidly on to the house of Lieut. William Niblack, late 
of Co. D. 3d Iowa Cavalr}', whom they robbed of sabre, uniform, and some 
$30 in money. They iiKpiired of the lieutenant if he did not think lie^ 
ought to be killed. It was a grave question. I do not know how long the 
lieutenant was engaged in making up his mind; but I have no doubt he ex- 
pressed his calm, deliberate judgment, when he replied, "No, I don't think 
I ought to be killed; I have done my duty to my country faithfully." His 



■562 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

life was spared; wliy, we cannot tell. Tlie fiend, whose hands were reeking 
with the blood of Niblack's neighbors, turned away his hand and released 
its grasp on the deadly weapon at his side. ' 

The guerrilla chief lingered, while the murderous gang- passed on; soon, 
however, he overtook them, rode forward to the head of the column, and 
for a short time seemed absorbed iti his reflections. The sun was sinking 
behind the hills: a day of carnage and blood was closing. The avengers of 
blood were on their track; men wiio had faced death in the marshes and 
trenches, in tlie tangled woodlands and open fields, and toiled and fought 
their way up the slopes of Lookout Mountain, above the clonds, were on the 
"war-path." Night was closing around them, the only safety was in rapid 
flight, aided by the darkness. The prisoners would encumber their march 
— they must be disposed of at once. 

The chief reined in his horse, and dropped back to the rearof the column, 
and for a few moments rode in silence beside }'oung Power who, suffering 
from recent sickness and chilled with the night wind, was scarcely able to 
ride. Soon, however, the chief brightened up and commenced whistling, 
drew his revolver, and riding forward, placed the muzzle near the head of 
Capt. Bence, and fired. Capt. Bence and Sanderson were both riding on 
the same horse; both fell off at the crack of the pistol. Sanderson, stunned 
by the concussion, supposed for the moment that he, too, was wounded. 
Bence rose up on his elbows, put his hands to his face, and uttered a piteous 
moan. The cowardly fiend again fired on the dying man, sinking to the 
earth in exjiiring agony. His bosom heaved a few convulsive throbs, and 
the beatings of his heart were hushed forever. The following inscription 
written in pencil, was pinned on his clothing: 

"James Jackson, Lieut, commanding, Oct. 12, 18('>4:." 

I learn that a ]>aper bearing the same, or a similar inscription, was pinned 
on the clothing of Mr. Small. 

They now held a council to determine what should be done with the re- 
maining prisonei's; deciding to release them, they ordered them to dismount, 
and after extorting from them a pledge not to enter the Union army, and 
not to divulge anythins that they had seen until they had reached Spring- 
ville, they dismissed them. The )3risoners readied Springville near mid- 
night, fatigued and *(ire out with the exciting scenes through whicii they 
had passed. Young Power was almost exhausted, with nothing on his feet 
but an old worn out pair of socks which the raiders gave him when they 
took his boots and socks from him, without pants, sick and chilled with the 
night winds, he was near fainting when he reached the house of Dempson 
Hill, where he rested under the kind care of Mrs. Hill until morning. 

The expedition under Col. Weaver struck the trail at Hardy's, and fol- 
lowed it with rapidity and unerring pi'ecision until they arrived attheplace 
where Capt. Bence was killed. It was now 12 o'clock at night; they were 
in Missouri five hours behind the raiders, to whom every bridle path was 
familiar. It was impossible to track them. 

Procuring a conveyance for the body of Capt. Bence, they reluctantly 
retraced their steps homeward. The scence at the residence of Capt. Bence, 
when his lifeless form was laid down at the feet of his wife and children, 
cannot be described. The bruised and mangled heart of his poor wife, who 
liad so often leaned her head trustingly, like aweary dove, upon his manly 
bosom, sank beneath' the shock, and she swooned away. The piteous wail 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 563 

■of his little children, as they clung to that lifeless form, and called it "father," 
moved the stoutest hearts to pity, and bathed the seared and bronzed cheek 
•of the veteran soldiers in tears. God is just, and sooner or later the incar- 
nate fiends, whose crimes of pillage and murder have spread tiie pall of uni- 
versal mourning and woe over our people, will meet their just deserts. 

Every preparation that could be made, with the means at our disposal, 
was made for the defense of our county seat. Tlie army of Price was said 
to be oti this side of the Missouri river; tlie valley of the Des Moines, with 
its immense supplies of provisions and ibrage, was surely his destination, 
unless met and driven back by the P'edei'al army. The movements of our 
army seemed about this timesiirouded in niysteiy. The approacli of Price's 
invading forces seemed to many simply a question of time. Large raiding 
and foraging parties could at least be detached from his command, and in 
the absence of well drilled and organized troops, march through the border 
counties, carrying death and desolation to almost every heartlistone. 

The inhabitants of the county were fully aroused to the importance of the 
occasion; companies, armed and unarmed, were called out, and performed 
cheerfully the guard and patrol duties assigned tliem. 

An order was issued by Col. Yiall, of Lee county, Aid-de-Camp to the 
■Governor, and directed to Col. Weaver, instructing him to take command 
of the entii-e militia force of the county, and to put as many men on duty on 
the border as he thought the public safety required. On.e hundred mounted 
men and two commissioned officers were detailed by the cohmel and as- 
signed to duty along the south line of the county, with instructions to ]')atrol 
the roads day and night. Twenty-five men were detailed to do duty in the 
-county seat, and instructed to ari'est every suspicious looking stranger that 
could be found in the vicinity. The same instructions were given to the 
troops on the border, and the number of arrests that have been made since 
the order was issued attests to the faithl'ulness with which it has been 
obeyed. Over one hundred persons have been arrested and turned back to 
Missouri at one post (Savannah). Ceaseless vigilance was the order of the 
■day. A chain of couriers was appointed, reaching to every school district 
in the border townships, and every precaution taken to guard against sur- 
prise. 

On the evening of the 21st day of October, 1864, a courier arrived at my 
place of Inisiness from Pulaski, with the intelligence that a body of twenty- 
tive mounted men had been seen that morning, some three or four miles 
from Milton, in Van Buren county. Some forty men were immediately 
mounted on horseback. Many of them "pressed," for the occasion, and 
started in the direction of Milton, fifteen miles distant, under command of 
Colonel Weaver. On arriving at Pulaski, we learned that a scouting party 
had been sent out, leaving instructions to detain at Pulaski anj' forces that 
migiit arrive, until a courier should return from the scouting party with 
tidings from the scouts. Tiiis pi'ecaution was thought necessary, as the 
raiders might not be moving westward, but south of us. A scout soon ar- 
rived, bringing intelligence that they had encamped six miles south of Mil- 
ton. We moved on rapidly to Milton, where we found the militia of Troy, 
Pulaski, and other posts of the count}", with the forces in the vicinity await- 
ing our aiTival. Here we found, and conversed with, a lady, at whose 
house they liad taken breakfast that morning, who confirmed the statement 
of the number, but they had committed no depredations tliat we could hear 



564 HISTORY OF DAVIS COCNTY. 

of, except that they liad taken some man prisoner, whom they kept very 
closely, not suffering him to speak to the lady or any one else. We found 
other persons that had seen tliera and knew that they were encamped near 
the house of Mr. Billips. The column, being mounted again, moved 
cautiously south until within a quarter of a mile of Mr. Billips house. They 
dismounted, and groping their wa}' through the thick brushwood, surrounded 
the house and barn. So quietly was the whole done that the dogs were not 
aroused until the men were at the doors. We aroused the inmates of the 
house, and learned from them that twenty-five men had encamped there 
during the evening, fed tlieir horses and, after getting supper, lett about 
9 o'clock. 

It was now nearly daylight. The command was again mounted, and 
started in pursuit; but with some nine hours the start of us, it was impos- 
sible to overtake them. Their ti'acks indicated that they had divided into 
small quads, taking as man}' different roads. We scoured the country for 
some twenty miles in Missouri, and failing to find them, returned "every 
man to his tent." 

From that time until the 7th of Noveml)er, we liad comparative quiet; 
but the number of strangers passing and attempting to pass tiirougli the 
county kept our fears aroused, lest tlie southern fugitives from Price's army 
should concentrate somewhere near the border and make another raid for 
pillage and murder. 

On the 7th of November, si.x persons came into the county seat from the 
east, traveling in pairs. Two of tiiem stopped at the house of Mr. Hen- 
dricks, and in a rude, boisterous manner, demanded something to eat. Tiie 
lady declining to get dinner for them, they helped themselves to what they 
could find in the cuj^board, and left. They made their way to the liouse of 
Mr. Giire, and put up for the night. Thomas Duffield, Willi.un Wallace 
and his son, learning tliat they were suspicious looking characters, and that 
they had stojjped at (-rore's, resolved to arrest them. The militia at Troy 
had been apprised of tlie strangers' arrival, and was collecting for the pur- 
pose of arresting them; but Duffield and the two Wallaces believed that 
they could arrest them, and proceeded to the house. William Wallace en- 
tered the liduse, and levelitig his gun, ordered them to surrender; the two 
men affected a willingness to surrender, and stepping into another room,, 
almost instantly i-eturned, and with a revolver in each hand, commenced 
firing. The elder Wallace was killed almost instantly, and the young man^ 
now rushed in and received some seven or eight shots. The men now at- 
tempted to run. but were met by Duffield, whom they struck a heavy blow 
with a pistol, knocking him down; the}' leaped over him, and after turning 
to fire on him, broke and ran. 

Duffield was stunned with the blow, and young Wallace had fallen on 
him, which so encumbered him, it was difficult to return the fire; but dis- 
engaging himself as best he could, he drew up and fired at one of them. 
The fellow fell at the crack of the gun, but recovered and ran again. The 
militia fi-om Troy arrived shortly after. Pursuit was made, but in the 
darkness the men esca])ed. Young Wallace still survives; his sufferings 
have been intense, but he bears them with the patience and fortitude of an. 
old soldier. William Wallace was a good citizen, loved and respected by 
his neighbors. The lives of fen thousand such ruffians as those who killed 
him would not atone for his. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 565 

The militia captured their horses and equipments. Their saddle-pockets 
■were filled with powder, balls, percussion caps, bnllet-molds, horse-shoe 
nails. Everything abont their equippage indicated that they were rebel 
bnsh-whacl^ers, or confederate soldiers. 

In the hat of one was t'onnd a recruiting commission, issued from the 
lieadquai'ters of Shelby's division of Price's army, and directed to Captain 
AVest, with instructions to enforce the conscript law in Audrian. Adair and 
Monroe counties, of Missouri. 

The news of Wallace's death reached Bloomfiekl in a very short time 
after it occurred. The militia was called out, the roads were patroled and 
guarded in every direction. Quite a number of strangers had been seen 
during the day in diflerent parts of the county. Many believed that an at- 
tack was contemplated the next day — tlie da^' of tlie presidential election. 

For the purpose of arousing the whole country to vigilance, in the ab- 
sence of a piece of artillery, I ordered the firing of an anvil. Alfred Rudd, 
formerly of company G, second Iowa infantry, while discharging that duty, 
received a most dangerous wound by the bursting of the anvil. He will 
be crippled for many months, and ])erhaps for life. He has served his 
country faithfully, and it would be but just in the State to remunerate him, 
if not for suflering, for loss of time 

On the morning of the 7th of November two young men were arrested 
who, upon examination, confessed tliat they belonged to the gang of six 
men who came into the count}' the day before, and that the men who killed 
Wallace were also two of their number. They stated that they, with a 
number of others, had been conscripted by West; that they had attempted 
to get to Price, who was retreating; that West and his conscripts, being cut 
ofl:' by the Union forces, had disbanded; that afterwards. West, with six 
others, got together and determined to get out of Missouri, through Iowa; 
■one of their number turned back in Missouri, the remaining six came to ti.e 
Des Moines river and separated in pairs. West and his companion. Bob 
Clark, were going to winter near the city of Des Moines, Zach Poor and 
his brother were going to Texas, and these two (Mark Sharon and William 
Mason) were going to Nebraska. 

Other arrests were made from time to time, until we had in jail at once, 
thirteen as villainous lookino; scoundrels as ever went unhuna;. Two U. S. 
•detectives came along, and being arrested and confined with the prisoners, 
obtained much information of value to us in regard to the future move- 
ments in contemplation by the bands of scoundrels who have infested 
northern Missouri since the rebellion. The prisoned were all sent to Mis- 
souri, and placed in the hands of the proper authorities. Nnie contraband 
horses, with their equipments, have been captured by the militia, and sold 
by your order. 

The vigilence of the militia, stationed on the leading thoroughfares of 
the county, and the scouting parties patroiing in every direction, have had 
the efiect to turn tiie travel east and west of our county. I have no doubt 
but large numbers of rebels are quietly wintering in Iowa with a view of 
recruiting their horses and recuperating themselves, preparatory to a con- 
centration at some point in the spring. 

Our people should not relax their vigilence because the danger has 
seemed to have passed by; but watch closely the movements of every stran- 
ger; we should know who they are and where they come from. A good, 



566 HISTOET OF DAVIS COUNTT. 

loyal man will not take offense wlien he knows tliat our inquiries are inten- 
ded for tiie public safety; and if lie is not loyal to his heart's core, no mat- 
ter if he does take offense. Every loyal man along the southern border, ii) 
addition to the arms distributed by the State, should liave at least one 
good revolver, and have it always with him, so that he may be ready at a 
moment's notice. There is no safety but in "eternal vigilence." 

S. A. MOOKE, 

Lieutenant-Colonel and A. D. C. 

Davis county contained two militia organizations — the "Bloomfiekl 
Blues," organized June 2i, 1S63, with Samuel A. Moore as captain; and the 
"Davis Regulators," organized June 27, 1863, witli George M. Boal as 
captain. Aside from these, there were also two State militia regiments in 
the county — the eastern regiment organized November 10, 1864, with the 
following staff and line officers : Colonel David IST. Stute; Lieut. Colonel, 
G. D. Gray; Major J. A. Russell; Adjutant John W. Young; Quarter- 
master Joseph V. Evans. Company A, Iliram Sloan captain; Co. B, 
Henry H. Cramer captain; Co. C, James "W. Mulligan captain; Co. I), 
G. M. Garrett captain; Co. E, Jacob Christy captain; Co. F, W. W. 
Anderson captain; Co. ,G, Jesse P. Fortune captain; Co. H. John C. 
Scone captain; Co. I, James H. Beck captain; Co. K, D. W.French cap- 
tain. The western regiment organized November 10, 1864, with the fol- 
lowing staff and line officers : Colonel Jas. B. Weaver, Lieut. Colonel 
William Van Benthusen; Major, L. C. Thompson; Adjutant Enos T. Colej 
Quartermaster J. W. Corner; Surgeon D. A. Plurst. Comjjany A, J. H. 
Drake captain; Co. B, Jolin B. Parris captain; Co. C, W. H. Wilson 
captain; company D, F. M. Hockersmith captain; company E, David H. 
Fleming captain; company F, David L. Hannah captain; company G, A. 
King, captain ; company H, John W.Ferguson, captain; company I, W. 
C. Niblaek, captain; company K, T. L. C. McAchran, captain; company 
L, H. A. Wonn, captain. 

These organizations did such service in the county and State as occasion 
seemed to require. 

The record of the men who entered the military service from Davis 
county to suppress the rebellion, and thus preserve their country intact, is 
a good one — worthy of an intelligent, patriotic people; a record which his- 
tory will keep bright through time to come. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 567 

TOWNSHIPS, TOWNS, AND THEIR GROWTH. 

In the chapter entitled '"Townsliip Organizations," a brief sketch of the 
township system is given, in wiiich its origin is shown to liave been in 
Massachusetts as far bac]<: as 163.5. As there noted, in several of the states 
including New York and Michigan, the township system is quite inde- 
pendent in its organization and functions — as independent of the county as 
the county is of the State. They collect their own revenue; provide their 
own schools; take care of their own indigent; make and keep in repair their 
own roads, bridges, etc. Where this system prevails, it works well, and is 
more in consonance with our general form of government. The closer civic 
affairs are brought to the people, the more interest they ;take in them, the 
better they understand them, and the safer they are from the encroach- 
ments of the few, who too often seek, and do control them like commerce 
in the market centers, to their own advantage, and, not infrequently, to the 
detriment of the people. In England, where the local civic affairs are man- 
aged by a few — by the landed aristocracy of the shire or county, and where- 
the masses of the people have very little to say or do, smaller sub-divisions 
would not work well, for the landed interests would rather endanger it, if 
they were permitted to have a voice in local matters. But in this countr}', 
under our republican form of government, it is different. Here there is no 
landed aristocracy; here the day laborer has a voice equal with the million- 
aire in the management of the political affairs of the country; hence, the 
closer these affairs are brought to the masses pf the people, the safer they 
will be. 

It will be observed that the growth of the various townships of the county 
since their organization, as shown in the chapter on " Township Organiza- 
tions " preceding, and of which this is really a continuation, has been rapid 
and prosperous. From the wild prairie, as it was received from the red 
man, to fine farmsj with their meadow land, blooming fields of grain, and 
herds of cattle, is the work of the toiling husbandman throughout all these 
townships, and in some of them, wherever the steam horse has made his 
way, thriving towns have grown up, as a result of this development, which 
the pioneers made an easy possibility. 

BLOOMFIELD CITY. 
Population in ISSl, l,oJf5. It was named by the county commission- 
ers. S. W. McAtee proposed Jefferson; Abram Weaver proposed Davis; 
and Samuel Evans proposed Bloomfield; and Franklin Street, the clerk, 
drew Bloomfield, out of a hat. 



o68 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

This, the county seat of Davis count}-, has an existence coextensive with 
that of the county itself. 

The seat of justice of Davis county was laid off by three commissioners 
appointed by the Territorial legislature, John Brown, Thomas Wright and 
Charles H. Price. The following order is found among the very first rec- 
ords of the county: "It is ordered by tlie Board, that the county surveyor 
proceed to lay olF the seat of justice on Monday, the 29th day of April, 1844, 
and that he be authorized to employ three hands as chain bearers and stake 
drivers at a price not to exceed one dollar a day. It is ordered by the 
Board that the blocks to be laid off in the above named town of Bloomfield 
be three hundred feet square, tliat there be four main streets each sixty feet 
wide, that there be an alley crossing each block of lots sixteen feet wide and 
that they cross the blocks at the middle and that the ends of the lots front 
the alley, that there be eight lots in each block, that each lot be one hundred 
and forty-two feet long and seventy-five feet wide, that there be a public 
squre laid ofi" in the center of the quarter of land selected for the town of 
Bloomfield, three hundred feet square, and that it be bounded on the east 
by one of the main streets, on the north by another, on the west by another 
and on the south by another, and that the main streets pass through town 
in the same direction and the same distance apart that they do when they 
pass the public square, that each block of lots shall be surrounded with 
streets at least sixty feet wide, that the streets pass througli the town the 
whole length, crossing each other at right angles. It is ordered by the Board 
that the minimum price upon the eight lots cornering upon the public 
square be seventy dollars, that the balance of the lots fronting the square 
have a minimum price of fifty dollars, and that twent}' dollars be the mini- 
mum price fixed upon the back lots. It is ordered b}' the Board, that the 
terms of the sale of lots be as follows, to-wit, one sixth to be paid in ad- 
vance, the balance to be paid in three equal instalments of six, twelve and 
eighteen months by the purchaser giving notes of good security, the com- 
missioners to give a bond for a deed to be completed when a good title is 
obtained from the government. The first payment to be dispensed with 
when a person builds a house in town. It is ordered by the Board, that a 
public sale of lots take place on the second Mondaj' in July next in the 
town of Bloomfield, and that advertisements thereof be printed in handbills. 
It is ordered by the Board, that Franklin Street be appointed agent for the 
purpose of selling lots in the above mentioned town and be authorized to 
make bonds and sign them as such agent." 

The name of the seat of justice was determioed by lot, Bloomfield being 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 569 

the name drawn. The following is tlie deed by which the county acquired 
litle to the land which was laid out into lots, as the seat of justice. 

Jas. H. Cowlks 1 

TO I 

Wm. Walker, Isaac Atkrbery, Willis Faugiit, The [- Deed. 

Board op Commissioners of the County of Davis and | 

Teuritory ok Iowa. J 

Know all men bi/ these presents, That I, James H. Cowles, of the county of Davis, Iowa 
Territory, in consideration of the sum of one dollar in hand paid by William Walker, Isaac 
Aterbery and Willis Faught, as the board of commissioners of the county of Davis and Ter- 
ritory of Iowa, have bargained and sold and do hereby grant, bargain, sell and convey unto 
the said William Walker, Isaac Aterbery and Willis Faught as the boai-d of commissioners 
-of the county of Davis and Territory of Iowa, aforesaid and their successors in office and as- 
signs forever the following premises situated in the county and territory of Iowa aforesaid, 
and their successors in office and assigns forever the following premises situated in the county 
and Territory aforesaid and described as follows, to-wit., The north-east quarter of section 
twenty-five (2.5) in township number sixty-nine (69) north of range number fourteen (14) west. 
To have and to hold the said premises with the appurtenances unto the said William Walker 
Isaac Aterbery and Willis Faught as the board of commissioners of the county of Davis and 
territory of Iowa aforesaid and to their successors in office and assigns forever. And the said 
James H. Cowles for himself and heirs doth hereby covenant with the said William Walker, 
Isaac Aterbery and Willis Faught the board of commissioners of the county of Davis and 
territory of Iowa aforesaid, their successors in office and assigus, that he is lawfully seized of 
the above premises and that he will forever warrant and defend the same with the appurte- 
nances, unto them, their successors in office and assigns, against the claims of all persons 
whomsoever. 

Witness my hand and seal this second day of July 1846. 

Jambs H. Cowles [seal]. 
Attest. I. Kister, Stiles S. Carpenter. 

Territory OP Iowa, (^ 

Davis County. ) " 

On this 2nd day of July A. D. 1846, James H. Cowles personally came before the under- 
signed, a justice of the peace in said county, and acknowledged the signing, sealing and de- 
livery of the within conveyance to be his voluntary act and deed. The James H. Cowles is 
personally known to me to be the same person whose name is signed as a party to said deed 
of conveyance. 

Given under my hand this 2nd day of July, A. D. 1846. 

Jefferson Easley, 

Justice of the Peace. 
Recorded in Deed Record A, page 3. 

James H. Cowles, the above grantor, entered this land June 26, 1846. 
Before this, the county gave town lot bonds, for deeds, through their town 
lot agent, when they sold any lots. 

When the town was first laid off, by the surveyor and commissioners, 
the^' laid off eight streets running east and west, named as follows, com- 
mencing at the north: North street. Poplar street. Locust street, Jefferson 
street, on the north side of the public square, Franklin street, on the south 
ItJ 



570 HISTORY OF DAVIS CODNTT. 

side of the square, Walnut street, Chestnut street, and South street. And 
they also laid off eight streets running north and south, commencing on the 
east side with East street, then Howard street, Dodge street. Washington 
street, on the east side of tlic square, Madison street, on the west side of 
the square, Columbia street, Davis street, and West street. The alleys run- 
ning east and west. There were forty nine blocks, seven each way, and 
numbered, commencing with block one, in the north east corner, and run- 
ning back and forth like sections in a township. 

The original drawing of the town plat, made by Gabriel S. Lockraan, 
county surveyor at that time, is still preserved in the recorder's office, with 
a smell attached to it, which nothing but antiquity can give. 

On July 6, 18.52, a petition was received in the County Court, from' 
Thomas Davidson, S. W. McAtee, A. G. Doom, and thirty-seven other in- 
habitants of the town of Bloomfield, expressing their desire to be organized 
into a body corporate as a town, and the court being satisfied that the peti- 
tion was signed by more than one fourth of the legal voters of said town,, 
and that there are more than three hundred inhabitants in said town. It 
is ordered by the court that notice be given for an election to be held on 
Saturday, the 17th instant, at the court room in Bloomfield, the polls to be 
open from two to six o'clock, p. m., to decide upon the matter in question. 
It is further ordered that four notices of said election be posted in public- 
places in Bloomfield, at least ten days previous to said election. Leroy 
Hagan, J. J. Carson and S. S. Phelps were appointed judges, and Andrew 
J. Lee and Harvey Dunlavy, clerks. There were forty-two votes cast for 
the incorporation, and seven votes against it. And it was then ordered by 
the County Court that another election beheld on the 7th day of August,, 
to elect three persons to prepare articles of incorporation, and the same 
judges and clerks were appointed to hold the election. David P. Palmer 
S. G. McAchran and Horace A. Spencer were elected, and after preparing 
a charter, or articles of incorporation, and filing a copy with the court, it 
was ordered that another election be held on Saturday', October 16, for the 
purpose of voting on the question " for the charter," or "against the char- 
ter," and further ordered that William S. Ficklin, Henry B. Roland and 
J. J. Carson be the judges, and William S. Stevens and Harvey I^unjayy, 
clerks. A majority having voted for the charter, the court declared it 
adopted. 

February 19, 1855, there was a return made to the county of the result 
of an election held in Bloomfield on the 17th of February, for the purpose 
of electing one mayor, one recorder, one marshal and five councilmen; re- 
sulting in the election of William L. Oliver, mayor; James B. Weaver, re- 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTT. 571 

corder, John Headrick, marshal; and J. P. Ford, Milton J. Erencli, Calvin 
W. Phelps, John W. Vaniiook and George Duffield, councihnen. 

The next information ohtainable is from an old tile of the Clarion^ which 
shows tliat at an election held on Monday, Angiist 2, 1858, the following 
officers were elected : 

William S. Ficklin, mayor; J. L. Younor, recorder; J. W..Vanhook, mar- 
shal; councilmen, J. B. Glenn, Calvin Taylor, George Curl, S. G. McAch- 
ran, C. H. McBride. 

The officers who were holding office at the time of this election, were: M. 

B. Horn, acting mayor and recorder; treasurer, Geo. Duffield; marshal, II. 

C. Benge; councilmen, H. A. Spencer, C. W. Phelps, W. E. Stevens, Geo. 
Duffield, and J. W. Vanhook. 

At this time, 1858, the mercantile interests of the city were taken care of 
by the following : 

^(/.«7,:— Ellis and Pollard. 

Hotels — "Martins," and the "American." 

Neicitpi layers — ''Wards Own," W. G. Ward, editor, and "Democratic 
Clarion," A. P. Bentley, editor. 

Attorneys — H. H. Trimble, A. Ellison, IL_D^iinlavy, M. H. Jones, Wm. 
Hamilton, J. B. Weaver, II. B. Horn, Jas. I^alcer, D. P. Palmer, J. Kister, 
S. G. McAchran, Wm. Ficklin, John X. Neweomb and John L. Yonng. 

Physicians — John T. Druett, D. A. Hurst, J. J. Selman, John Trimble, 
Jr., J. G. Phillips, D. C. Greenleaf, Wm. McK. Findley, C. W. Phelps. 

Hchools — One high school, and four primary. 

Clmvches — M. E. church, Rev. S. Hestwood; Christian, Rev. W. Hartley; 
Baptist, Kev. Lyon; Presbyterian, Eev. Asa Martin. 

Lodges— Fva.\\\s\m, A. F. A. M., S. A. Moore, W. M. Bloomfield, I. O. 
O. F., and Davis I. O. O. F. 

The earliest city record which can be found, bears date Nov. 1, 1863, and 
shows that just previously, the following persons were elected city officers 
and sworn in at this time : Mayor, Wm. S. Ficklin; E. T. Cole, recorder; 
and Wm. J. Law, AVm. C. Johnson, John B. Glenn, John M. Denney, and 
Amos Steckel, trustees. 

There appears to have been another election in March 1864, as the record 
dated March 11th shows the following officers sworn in: Wm. S. Ficklin, 
mayor; E. T. Cole, recorder; Wm. C. Johnson, S. S. Carruthers, Amos 
Steckel, and John B. Glenn, trustees, and Martin Snoddy was elected mar- 
shal, by the board. 

During the year 1865, the officers appear to have been the same, except 
that the recorder, E. T. Cole was acting mayor. 



572 HISTOKY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

In 1866 the following officers were elected: H. C. Beiige, mayor; A. H. 
Hill, recorder; Geo. Duffield, A. D. Gibbon, and H. B. Kittleman, trustees. 

hi 1867— i. W. Scott, mayor; A. H. Hill, recorder; Geo. Duffield, A. D. 
Gibbons, Jas. Reiigans, and H. B. Kittleman, trustees. 

In 1868— F. C. Overton, mayor; A. H. Hill, recorder; Geo. Duffield, S. 
S. Carrutiiers, Amos Steckel, C. M. Burgess, and A. D. Gibbons, trustees. 

In 186.9— S. T.Ballard, mayor; A. H. Hill, recorder; J. B. Glenn, C. W. 
Sbaw, J. W. Kittieuian, R. Barton, and Amos Sleckel, trustees. 

I7i 1870— F. W. Eichelberger, mayor; H. H. Jones, recorder; W. S. 
Stevens, assessor; J. B. Glenn, Geo. Duffield, Joiin Duffield, John Headrick, 
and S. S. Carruthers, trustees. 

In 1871 — William J. Law, mayor; William S. Stevens, recorder and 
assessor; J. W. Ellis, J. B. Glen, J. S. McNair, S. S. Carruthers, and W. 
C. Johnson, trustees. 

In 1872 — M. B. Horn, mayor; F. AV. Moore, recorder; Asa Willson, 
J. J. Winey, F. W. Eichelberger, J. S. McNair, and J. B. Glenn, trustees. 

In 1873— M. B. Horn, mayor; F. W. Moore, recorder; Willson, Eich- 
elberger, W. J. Law, Headrick, and J. W. Campbell, trustees. 

In 1874 — William Van Benthusen, mayor; O. Dockum, recorder, who 
resigned one month after, and W. S. Stevens was elected to till the vacancy; 
John Baird, J. J. Weiney, W. C. Johnson, J. M. Brown, and James 
St. John, trustees. 

I7i 1815 — M. B. Horn, mayor; W. S. Stevens, recorder; J. B. Kelso, as- 
sessor; J. W. Baird, James St. John, T. A. Dunlap, W. C. Johnson, and 
Asa Willson, trustees. 

Ill 1876 — L Kister, mayor; W. S. Stevens, recorder; H. C. Traverse, N. 
Bennett, A. H. Hill, W. J. Law, and J. E.. Newton, trustees. 

In 1877 — I. Kister, mayor; F. W. Moore, recorder; H. Mendenhall, 
John Law, J. D. Trebilcock, J. E. Cooper, and William McK. Findley, 
trustees. 

In 1878 — F. W. Moore, mayor; W. D. Leach, recorder; M. Snoddy, as- 
sessor; M. B. Horn, F. W. Eichelberger, T. D. Doke, H. T. Mendenhall, 
and J. H. Stevens, trustees. 

In 1879 — William Votaw, Mayor; J. Beyer, recorder; H. C. Traverse, 
J. M. Logan, A H. Hill, W. H. Taylor, J. B. Kelso, and T. A. Dunlap, 
trustees; William S. Stevens, assessor. 

In 1880— ^WWam Votaw, Mayor; J. Boyer, recorder; J. R. Newton, as- 
sessor; H. C. Traverse and J. M. Logan, trustees. 

la 755i— William Votaw, Mayor; J. Boyer, recorder; J. R. Newton, as- 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 573 

sessor; M. B. Horn, and W. H. Taylor, trustees; and J. P. Toombs, 
trustee, to fill vacancy. 

At a meeting of the City Council in February, 1879, the following reso- 
lution was passed, introduced by F. W. Eiclielberger: 

) 
Kesoh-ed. Ry the T*\vn Councilof Bloomfield, lowu, that from and after this date, farm- 
ers are requested to bring- sheaf oats occasionally, instead of hay as heretofore, for the benefit 
of the town cows; also, that they bring- abetter quality of hay than heretofore; likewise, that 
no corn be brought in double box wagons as cows a-L-e apt to injure themselves in reaching- it; 
and that people should keep oft' the sidewalks as they crowd tlie pigs into the gutter. 

Bloomlicld was laid off on the claim of Dr. Noble C. Barron, and the first 
settlers were Col. S. S. Carpenter, John Bonebreak, Dr. J. J. Selman, J. W. 
Ellis, J. Kister, John Fitzgerald, Dr. J. H. Boon, B. Colopy, F. Street, G. 
W. Kidder, Mr. Cocklerease, Capt. E. G. Eeeves, and John B. Reeves. 

The first addition to Bloomfield, was Peak's Addition, laid off May 30, 
1856, by K. T. Peak, as guardian of the estate of Julia and James B. Ed- 
monson, minor heirs of J. B. Edmonson, deceased, to whom the land 
belonged. 

There was ten acres of it, off the north end of the nw \, sw ^, sec- 
tion 25, 69, 14. 

The 2nd addition to Bloomfield, was Ellis's platted and recorded in Sep- 
tember, 1869. It is located on the se \ of the nw J, and ]iart of the east half 
of the sw ^ of nw J, of section twenty-five. It was laid off by John W. 
and E. Jane Ellis. 

The ne.Nt addition was Kister's, laid off by Israel and Catharine T. Kis- 
ter, in Sejit., 1SG9, and is located in the ne J of nw J of 25, C9, 14, and part 
of the nw of ne. 

Peak's second addition to Bloomfield was laid off by R. T. Peak, April 2, 
1869, being part of the ne \ of the se \ of section 25. 

In October 1869, Jones' addition was laid out by M. H. and Emeline 
Jones. It is located on the east part of the north half of the nff\ of the nw \ 
of section 25. 

In August 1870, Clayton's addition was laid off by J. W. Clayton and 
wife, being located on the east side of the south half of the nw \oi the nw 
J of section 25. 

Bennett's addition was also laid off in August 1870, by N. Bennett and 
wife, being located on a pai't of the south halt of section 25. 

Peak's third addition, was laid off in August 1872, and is located on the 
n w J, sw J of section 25. It contains fifty lots. The Burlington and South- 
western runs through the north part of it. 

Benge's addition was laid out bv William Van Benthusen, I Kister and 



574 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTr. 

J. E. Shaffer, referees, appointed by the Circuit Court. In Deeeinl)er, 1875 
on an order to plat and sell the interest of Henry C. Benge's heirs, to-wit: 
Olive J. Lambert, Rosa Skidmore, Cynthia A. Benge, Cora E. Benge, 
Mattie E. Benge, Frank H. Benge, Ralph T. Benge, Ruth 0. Benge, Fred- 
die Benge, Rosa Benge and Solomon Benge, in and to tlCe svv ^ of the ne|- 
of the sw J of section 25. It is composed of thirty two lots. 

CHURCHES. 

The Methodist Episcopal Chnreh in Bloomfield, was organized by Milton 
Jamison, in 184'!, in the store room of Samuel Steel. The original mem- 
bers were, Miles Tatlock, leader, Harvey Sloan, Polly Sloan, Catharine 
Tatlock, Mrs. New and daughter, Richard Rawlings, Elizabeth N'elson, and 
Mrs. Cole. The services vvere iirst held in the log court house, or in pri- 
vate houses, as occasion required. The church building was erected in 1852 
a frame, at a cost of $3,500, ai)d was dedicated by Henry Clay Dean. The 
lirst pai'sonage was a log liousd of one room, afterwards sold to pay the debt 
on the church. The present ])arsonage is a new two story frame, valued at 
$3,500. The present membership is 187. The names of the different pas- 
tors in chai'ge of tiiis church, are as follows; J. L. Bennett, J. F. New, H. 

Gibson, Happy, M. S. Roberts, J. Say, A. W. Johnson, R. H. Harri- 

son, Joel Arrington, F. II. Cary, G. C. Clark, Charles Woolsey, D. Dickin- 
son, H. C. Dean, Frank Evans, J. Woodward, L. T. Rowlsy, A. Bussey, S. 
Hestwood, J. Burgess, J. B. Hardy, T. Andis, G. W. Byrkitt, R. B. Allen- 
der, M. Miller, J. H. Hopkins, J. W. McDonald, E. H. Coddington, W. 
Reiiiick, C. W. Shaw, Ira Kemble, E. L. Schreiner, J. W. Cheney and T. 
E. Corkhill. 

CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

The Christian Church in Bloomfield was organized January 1, 1873, the 
original members being J. M. Mayfieki, M. S. Mayfield, David Mendenhall, 
Eliza Mendenhall, M. J. Maskel, Mary A. Maskel, D. C. Van Duyn, M. P. 
Van Duyn, James C. Tarrence, Lizzie Tarrence, Greenville Hazlewood, 
Mary Hazlewood and others, in all forty-three. They erected a frame 
church building in 1875, at a cost of $2,198, which was dedicated October 
8, 1875, by Elder G. T. Carpenter. The different pastors have been, W. D. 
Swain, evangelist; A. H. Mulkey, G. T. Black, and the present pastor, H. 
A. Northcutt. They have a present membership of 225. The present offi- 
^ cers of the church are, elders M. Dowmng^ L. T. Hatton and E. M. Nelson, 
deacons Jacob A wart, Abram Wishard, S. B. Oneal and William S. Stev- 
ens. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 575 

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 

Tlie first Presbyterian Church of Bloomiield was organized August 21, 
1864, by Eev. James C. Siiaron with the following members: Mrs. Mary 
McGowan, Samuel Carpenter, Sarah E. Carpenter, Lydia McBride, Susan- 
nah Crawford, Mary J. Kirkpatriuk, Mrs. William J. Hamilton, Maria 
Hamilton, Grace M. Willey, Jennie Willey, Harriett N. Tisdale, Mrs. Gil- 
pin, Catharine Kister, Dorcas Lacon. This society erected a church edifice, 
a frame costing $2175 which was dedicated in the fall of the same year by 
liev. J. C. Shavon. They liave a present membership of sixty and have had 
the following pastors in charge: Revs. J. C. Shavon, R. C. Dodd, J. "W. 
Stark, C. Iv. Leighman, A. Axline, J. P. Rice and Henry CuUen. 

THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH 

Was organized in 1870, with the following members: Jacob Harris, Sam- 
uel Steel and wife, George Elliott and wife, Frank Elliott, Amos Stekel, 
Ellen W. Steckel, A. C. Brewster, and Nancy Brewster. They erected a 
frame church edifice in 1871, costing $3,500. They have a present member- 
ship of thirty-one and have had the following pastors: A. Axline, Thomas 
Merrill, J. W. Horner, David Jenkin, Thomas Baskerville. Since their or- 
ganization they have bad altogether sixty members. This church requires no 
other qualification for admission than an earnest desire to follow Christ. 
Each^member is allowed his individual opinion upon doctrine or creed, and a 
jnajority of all members decide all matters which require church action. 

EIRST UNIVEKSALIST CHURCH 

Was organized in this city -January 23, 1872, with the following members: 
Asa Willson and wife, Israel Kister and wife, Jacob R. Shaffer, William 
McAchran, J. D. Hamilton, George W. Fletcher, H G. W. Spencer, 
John Wilkinson and wife, Molly Findley, Henry Nutton, and Belle Nut- 
ton. They erected a brick church edifice in 1872 at a cost of $2,100. It was 
dedicated April 6, 1873, by Rev. John Hughes. The following are the dif- 
ferent pastors: Revs. John Hughes, T. H. Tabor, E. L. Briggs and the 
present pastor, one of the noblest of God's ministers on earth, Rev. Dr. 
Barry. They have a present membership of sixty. 

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. 

This church was organized in 1849, with the following members: R. T. 
Peak and wife, Mr. Pearson and wife, Mr. Kelly and wife, Mr. Carlow and 
wife, Mr. Frady and wife. They have a frame church edifice, erected in 



576 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

1853, at a cost of $3,000, aud which was dedicated that year by Eev. "Wil- 
liam Woodward. They iiave a present membership of 74. The following- 
have been their pastors: William Woodward, A. G. Doom, E. Kinman, 
— Paul, R. T. Peak, J. Jones, — Dunlap, S. Cox. J. B. Edmonson, D. S. Star,^ 
A. C. Edwards, T. M. Coffey. Dr. Fenton is the superintendent of the- 
sabbath school, which has an attendance of fiftj'. 

SECOND BAPTIST CHURCH, COLORED. 

This cliurch was organized in February, 1878, with the following origi naif 
members: Mrs. Caroline Diggs, Miss Mary Irwin, Nelson Brown, Rev, 
Brooker Fox, Samuel Prentiss, and Henry Woods. They have a frame- 
church building, erected in 1877, at a cost of $100. It was dedicated in 
1879, by Rev. William Washington, and they have had the following pas- 
tors :J. H. Bandy and Mr. Osker McClellan. They have a membership of 
eight. 

LODGES. 

Bloomtield Lodge No. 23, I. O. O. F., located at Bloomtield, Iowa, and! 
instituted by D. G. M. Thomas Evans, November Id, 1849. 

Names of charter members — S. S. Carpenter, P. P. Herod, H. W. Briggs,. 
I. A. Clark, J. P. Findley, L. A. Nelson, O. D. Tisdale, D. Ferguson, andi 
W. S. Culver. 

Officers elected—^. S. Carpenter, N. G.; J. P. Findley, V. G.; L. A. 
Nelson, Secretary; D. Ferguson, Treasurer. 

Offi,cers apjyointed — H. W. Briggs, Warden; W. S. Culver, Cond., Harry 
Ober, R. S. to N. G.; D. Mendinhall, L. S. to N. G.; J.' J. Selman, R. S. 
V. G.; James Gleason, L. S. V. G.; J. R. Craig, I. S. G.; J. J. Shelton,. 
0. S. G.; Riley Macy, R. S. S.; Arnold Childers, L. S. S.; Joel Arrington,. 
Chaplain. 

finance committee — D. Mendinhall, Andrew Morgan and C. W. Phelps.. 

Trustees — S. S, Carpenter, L. A. Nelson and W. S. Culver. 

Names of present offi.cers — G. Hazlewood, N. G.; E. K. Shelton, V. G.;. 
C. A. Presson, R. S.; F. D. Moore, Per. Sec; N. S. Johnson, Treasurer. 

Officers appointed— h.. E. McNeill, Warden; J. M. Brouhard, Cond.; J. 
W. Campbell, R. S. to N. G.; H. P. Skinner, L. S. to N. G.; W. H. Dilli- 
ner, R. S. to V. G.; S. H. Curl, L. S. V. G.; George Henry, I. S. G.; J, 
W. Kennedy, O. S. G.; M. C. Moore, R. S. S.; S. B. O'Neal, L. S. S.; F. 
M. Fenton, Chaplain; J. B. Kelso, S. P. G. 

Finance committee — J. B. Kelso, F. M. Fenton and W. S, Stevens. 

Trustees — W. L. Kinnick, G. W. Curl and Jacob August. 



HISTOKT OF DAVIS COUNTY. 57T 

The present membership is 127. 

Bro. J. H. Plank, the only Grand Lodge ofHcer, is G. H. P. of Grand En- 
campment, Iowa. There have been innitiated and admitted by card, about 
460 members, of whom a great many liave withdrawn and formed the other 
lodges in the county, viz.: Troy, No. 27; Drakeville, No. 8S; Stilesville 
No. 202; Floris, No. 272; West Grove, No. 237; and Mayo, No. 319. 

In 1870, Bloomtield Lodge erected a three story brick building at a cost, 
of about $8,000, of which they now own the two upper stories, being com- 
pelled by financial trouble a few years ago to sell the lower story and 
ground. 

The lodge has, since its organization, paid about. $2,000 in sick and funeral 
benefits. The lodge meets in its hall every Monday night. 

The following is an account of the First Rebecca Degree lodge in the 
world: 

THE FIRST IN THE WOKLD — EEBEKAH DEaREE LODGE NO. 1, OF BLOOMFIELD, 

IOWA. 

Bloomfield Legal-Tender Greenback, December 12, 1878. 

By request we publish the following, by Colonel S. A. Moore, on tlie his- 
tory, rise and progress ot Bloomfield Rebekah Degree Lodge. No. 1. It is 
taken from the Odd Fellows' Banner, of February 3, 1876. and shows that 
the Rebekah Lodge in this place was the first one ever organized in this or 
any other country: 

Bloomfield, Iowa, February 3. 
To the Officers and Members of Bloomfield R. I). Lodge, No. 1 — 

Bretukkn and Sisters: In obedience to a resolution of this lodge, re- 
questing me to collect and present the history of the organization and ]iro- 
gress of this lodge, I present herewith such facts as I have been able to- 
gather from the records and proceedings of the Grand Lodge of the United 
Slates, the Grand Lodge of the State of Iowa, and of our own lodge. 

The resolution instructing me to collect and report the history, rise and 
progress of Rebekah Degree Lodge, No. 1, at Bloomfield, Iowa, was no 
doubt prompted by a statement made bj' me in a short address to the lodge, 
"that we occupied the singular position of being the very first lodge of tiie 
Daughters of Rebekah organized on this continent. In point of date, we 
were the first in the entire woi'ld." 1 made the statement in good faith, 
believing the records would verify the assertion. 

Prior to 1868, the Degree of Rebekah was conferred in subordinate lodges 
on the wives of Scarlet Degree members, and the widows of such Odd Fel- 
lows as were in good standing at the time of tiieir death; but there were no 
separate independent lodges autiioi-ized to confer the degree. 

I have not before me the proceedings of the R. W. G. L. of the United 
States, for 1867, but from a resolution ofiered by Rep. White, of New York, 
at the annual communication of the R. W. G. L., in 1867, asking for some 
legislation on the subject, and that the petition was referred to a special 
committee, of which Rej). White was chairman, on Monday. September 21st, 
1868. 



578 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

On Wednesday/Septemher 23, 1868, Rep. White, from the special com- 
mittee, reported the foilowino; resolution, which was laid on the table, under 
the rule: 

Resolved, That the grand lodo;es, subordinate to this R. W. G. L., be, 
and they hereby are, authorized and empowered to institute Degree Lodges 
of the Daughters of Rebekah, at such jilaces as they may deem proper, 
M'ithin their territorial limits, to possess the powers and enjoy the privileges 
following: 

Here follows an enuineriition of the rights honors and privileges conferred 
upon the lodges by the R. W. G. L., which are too familiar to the members 
to require repetition. 

On Friday, September 25th, 1868, the special order, the report of the 
special .committee on the Degree of Rebekah, came up for consideration, 
and on a division of the question, the motion to accept the report and first 
resolution was decided in the affirmative by a vote of 69 yeas to 28 nays. 
The names of our representatives to the R. W. G. L.— P. G. M. Erie J. 
Leech, P. G. M. Thomas D. Evans, and our R. W. G. T., J. B. Glenn, are re- 
corded as voting in the affirmative. 

The question being on the adoption of the second, third and fourth reso- 
lutions, they were severally adopted. 

The authority was fully and completely conferred upon the several State 
Oi'arid lodges to grant, if they saw proper, dispensations for the organization 
of degree Lodges of the Daughters of Rebekah within their jurisdictions. 

The Grand Lodge of the State of Iowa convened on Wednesday, the 21st 
■day of October, 1S6S, and on Thursday, tiie 22d, Representative Hartman, 
from the committee on the state of the order, made the following report : 

* * * * * * "That whenever any lodge desires to 
organize a degree lodge of the Daughters of Rebekah, ten members of said 
degree in irood standing (five males aiid five females) may petition the M. 
W. G. M. for a dispensation to organize said lodge." 

"Upon the presentation of such petition, it shall be the duty of the M. 
W. G. Master and G. Secretary to grant such dispensation. The petition- 
ers, upon receipt of such dispensation, may at once proceed to organize a 
lodge of the Decree of Rebekah," which shall be so organized in accordance 
•with the following constitution for lodges of the degrees of the Daughters 
of Rebekah. 

Here follows the several articles of the constitution, adopted for the gov- 
ernment of all lodges under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of the State 
of Iowa. 

Within a few days after the close of the Grand Lodge, a petition signed 
by the following brethren and sisters was forwarded to Will P. Sharp, the 
Grand Master, asking him for a dispensation to organize Bloomfield Re- 
bekah Degree Lodge of the State of Iowa. 

J. B. Glenn, J. A. Hathaway, Sarah E. Price, N. L. Price, M. M. Hatha- 
way, S. H. Gleen, Belle Glenn, W. W. Kittleman, M. A. Kittleman, Joseph 
Von Achen, Margaret Von Achen, E. P. Cole, Henrietta Cole, J. R. 
SheafTer, Leroy Hagan and Jane A. Hagan. 

The dispensation was granted and the lodge duly organized December 
2d, 1868. 

The Gi-and Lodo;e of Illinois met a short time before the Grand Lodge of 
Iowa, in the year 1868; hence some have inferred that the authority to in- 
etitute separate lodges in that State would place Florence Lodge JNo. 1, of 



mSTORY OF DAVIS COUNTS'. " 579 

Ottawa, 111., in point of time prior to onr own. Not liaving the records to 
refer to, I cannot state the date of the organization at Ottawa. Illinois, but 
from the report of the Grand Secretary of that State for 1875, I find that 
the first lod^e of the Degree of Rebekah was organized only six years ago. 
He says : "After si.v years' trial of the experiment to sustain lodges of this 
degree under distinct charters, it has thus far proved a lamentable failure." 

This lodge having been in successful operation over seven years, we can 
say, in view of the date before us, is the first in the State, the first in the 
^Jnited States, the first in the world. 

And now, brethren and sisters, in view of our liistorical position, as the 
pioneer lodge of the world — the fii-gt to recognize the claim of the sister- 
hood to sit beside us and participate in our deliberations for the ameliora- 
tion of our race, in our temples and halls dedicated to Friendship, Love and 
Truth, and to listen to her words of counsel and encouragement, and to rec- 
ognize and appreciate her efibrts to aid us in cultivating the fraternal rela- 
tions designed by the Great Author of our being to make the earth, as the 
dwelling place of man, as grand and glorious as the Eden home where the 
flowers are fadeless and eternal. I say, in view of all this, and with a mem- 
bership of one hundred and thirty-six dpvoted men and women laboring to- 
gether in harmony and love to build up the cause of humanity at home and 
abroad, to cultivate the virtues that give grace and beauty to the character, 
let us labor earnestly and faithfully to perpetuate this branch of our insti- ' 
tution and hand down to our children the records and seal of Eebekab De- 
gree Lodge No. 1 without a wound or sear upon its name. And to this 
end let us so live with each other and the world at large, that when the 
summons shall come to us ''to set our house in order," and journey onward 
to that land which the Master shall show us — we may be able to sing the 
Tejoieing song which Miriam, the sister of Moses, chanted while the tones of 
.her timbrel echoed o'er the wild waste of waters : 

Sound tho loud timbre] o'er Egypt's dark sea, 
Jehovah has triumphed, his people are free. 

KRANKF.IN LODGK NO. 1-i, A. F. AND A. M. 

This lodge was instituted by Ansel Humphrey, G. M., and its charter is 
■dated June 7, 1S48. The first officers were H. B. Horn, W. M.; J. J. Sel- 
man, S. W.; J. W. Ellis, J. W. The present officers are J. P. Toombs, W. 
M.; J. M. Logan, S. W.; L. L. Bingaman, J. W.; W. J. Law, Treasurer; J. 
L. Allison, Secretary; D. R. Allender, S. D.; N. S. Johnson, J". D.; C. M. 
Burgess and J. M. Sloan. Deacons; and S. Hulet, Tyler. 

The present membership is about 90. They have a fine brick hall, built 
in 1870, at a cost of $2,500. They have no Grand Lodge officers now, al- 
though William J. Law has been P. Jr. G. Warden. 

INFIUMARY. 

Prominent among the notable institutions of Bloonifield is the infirmary 
of Dr. E. J. Shelton. The doctor, though in the prime of life, is an old res- 
dent of the county, and a practitioner ot long experience, thorough training, 



580 • HISTORY OF DAVIS COnNTY. 

and extensive research. He graduated from the Ohio Medical College, Cin- 
cinnati, in 1855-6, and at once began practice in this county. In 1863-4^ 
he graduated from Keokuk College of PJi^'sicians and Surgeons; and in 
1872-3 he took a course at Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York. 
The infirmary was established in 1869. It was the natural outgrowth of 
thedoctor's increasing practice and his reputation in thetreatment ofcertaini 
classes of diseases, and was designed to meet a want long felt in the circle- 
of his practice; that is, better facilities for treating a class of patients that 
could not receive the proper treatment at their homes. As the doctor's 
success in this line of practice and the advantages afforded by the infirmary 
became widely known, the number of patients that came in from abroad, 
and the consequent demand upon his time and the capacities of the institu- 
tion, continually increased. This necessitated enlargement of the building 
and increase of the facilities from year to year, until 1878, when a very large 
and elegant addition was made to the building, and improvements were 
made in every department. Since that time, the business of the infirmary 
has increased so much that another large two-story addition has been com- 
pleted to accommodate the needs of the culinary department. For a num- 
ber of years the doctor did not advertise; not so mucli as a card in a news- 
paper. But as his business began to increase, so as to take him from gene- 
ral practice, he began in a moderate way to advertise; first, by a card, and 
finally by a small circular simply announcing that he would treat cancer, in 
its various forms, hemorrhoids, fistula in ano, and nasal catarrh, and give- 
special attention to all chronic diseases, and diseases of the eye and ear, cur- 
viture of the spine, enlargement of the bones, club foot, and the whole range 
of the deformities of the human figure are made subjects of special study 
and treatment at the infirmarj'. In 1875, Doctor Shelton employed Mis& 
Sadie Toombs to take charge of the female department, which has been been 
under her care ever since. This lady is thoroughly' fitted by a long course 
of study for her position, and has proved an able and valuable assistant. In 
the past few years the surgical department of the infirmary has acquired a 
great reputation through the larger number of skillful and successful oper- 
ations performed by the doctor, with the assistance of Doctors J. W. Cald- 
well, W. H. Shelton, E. K. Shelton and F. M. Fenton. The recovery of 
patients under surgical treatment has been greatly facilitated by their being 
constantly under the immediate attention of Doctor Shelton and his assis- 
tants. Doctor E. K. Shelton, son of Doctor E. J., is associated with his 
father in the pi-actice. Great care and pains were bestowed upon the young 
doctor's education, and he entered upon the duties of his profession with a 
thoroughness of training and equipment which few physicians enjoy. The 



HI8T0ET OF DAVIS COUNTY. 581 

following outline sketch of the course of study pursued by him will show 
the ripeness of his attainments and the manner in which he grew into the 
practice. He attended Cincinnati College of Medicine and surgery from 
October], 1873, to March 1, 1874; was under instructions at home until 
-September 28, 1874; then attended the same college until March, 9 1875. 
From April 1 to June 18, was under private instructions in surgery and 
diseases of the eye in tlieCity, St. Louis and St. Luke's Hospitals, St. Louis. 
From that time to September 15 was spent at liome, in reviewing, with a 
little practice. Then he returned to Cincinnati College of Medicine and 
Surgery, and graduated March 1, 187ti. From that time until June 1 was 
spent iu the hospitals in St. Louis, for the purpose of gaining practice and 
perfecting himself in surgery and diseases of the ej'e. Then he practiced as 
home until January 1, 1877; then remained in the different wards of the 
hospitals at St. Louis until the following July; then practiced at home until 
November 15; then took another course in the St. Louis hospitals, ending 
February 15, 1878. 

THE SCHOOLS. 

The first school in Bloorafield was taught in 1846, in a private 
house, west of the northwest corner of the public square. The teacher was 
Mrs. Mary Gibson, wife of Kev. Gibson. This was a subscription school, 
with an attendance of twelve pupils. 

The first school house was built in 1849, at a cost of $300, a frame build- 
ing, 24x40. It was in the southeast part of tDwn, and gave accorpmodation 
to fifty pupils. School was discontinued in this building in 1858, as the 
year before the district had been divided and two brick school buildings 
ei-ected, one in the northwest part of town in 1857, and the other in the 
southeast part of town in 1858. They were 25x38 feet in size. The first 
teacher in the northwest building was Joseph McCart}'. In 1858 Mr. and 
Mrs. McCarty kept a select school in Bloomfield, and from their published 
report, found in an old newspaper published at the time, we copy the fol- 
lowing: "Whole number of scholars in primary department, 50 — wliole 
number in high school, 62 — total 112 — average attendance primary, 46 — 
average attendance in high school, 55 — average in both 101." 

The magnificent school building of which the city is now so proud, is 
74x83 feet in size, three stories iu height with a basement containing the 
steam heating apparatus, and was erected in 1875 at a cost of $22,500 
It occupies, with the play ground, an entire square, and is located one block 
northwest of the court house. The first teacher who had the pleasure of 
teaching in it was Mr. S. T. Ballard. The number of pupils enrolled in 
1876, was 426, the number now enrolled is 525. 



582 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

SOUTHERN IOWA. NORM SCHOOL. 

Tliis well known institution of learning was organized and the college- 
building erected in 1874; 40x50 feet ground plan, and two stories high^ 
containing six rooms. The cost of the building was $10,000, raised by sub- 
scrifjtion. The number of pupils attending the first term was about 100. 
Thomas Eavis purchased the building in 1878 and sold it to Prof. Summers- 
in April 1881. The school has six teachers, Jesse Summers, principal; Mrs. 
Rena Summers, S. H. Strite, Miss Sadie Gooding, O. H. Langwell, and 
Miss Bardu. The attendance at present is 125. 

BANKS. 

The banking house of Steckel and Overton was organized and commenced 
business January 1, 1879. They own and occupy the building formerly 
owned by the First National Bank, on the northwest corner of the square. 
They do business as a partnership, which makes all their private property- 
liable for the debts of tlie bank. They also do a general law, loan and real 
estate business. 

Bradley's Bank, located under the Trimble House, on the northwest cor- 
ner of the square, was established March 1, 1877, by William Bradley, and 
has a capital stock paid in of $25,000 and do a general banking business. 
The cashier, who has had entire control of the institution since its com- 
mencement, is William J. Law. 

PUBLIC LIBRARY. 

The Bloomiield public library was organized in 1869, with the following 
members: R. W. Dodd, T. Holmes, S. T. Ballard, A. M. Post, A. Streckel, 
L. V. Foster, A. Dodd, M. T. Paxtou, S. Rush, F. C. Overton, D. H. Payne, 
F. W. Eichelberger, J. B. Weaver, A. Plank, and J. A. Demuth. The li- 
brary commenced with 200 books in .1869, and now contains over 300. It 
is steadily progressing in usefulness. 

HOTELS. 

The Wilson House, originally the "American," was built in 1853 by 
James Cobb, for a store room and private residence. It was changed into ■ 
a hotel in 1856, and with the additions and other improvements it is now 
one of the best hotels in the county. 

The Trimble House commenced business July 11, 1881, and is first-class 
in all its appointments. 



HISTOET OF DAVIS CODNTT. 583- 

The Eagle House, originally "Martins Hotel," was built in 1857 by Wm. 
Martin, at a cost of $5,000. It now bears sad evidence to the power of time,, 
wind and water. 

FOUNDRY. 

The only foundry this city ever iiad was built by S. H. Horn in 187C,but 
closed up the succeeding year, and is now used by Wallace & Langenstein 
as a 

WAGON FACTOV. 

They commenced business in January 1880, and have invested in their 
business a capital of $5,000. 

PLOW FACTORY. 

Capt. Spencer built a plow factory and commenced business soutlieast of 
the square in 1850, and had an invested capital of $1,000. But in 1861, 
finding the business unprofitable, he closed up. 

Bloomfield is well laid with sidewalks to its remotest limits in several 
directions. The streets are also all planted with shade trees along either 
side, which gives the town a beautiful forest like appearance, and adds to 
the comfort and pleasure in warm weather. 

All branches of mercantile pursuits are carried on and seem to be in an 
exceedingly healthy and prosperous condition, evidenced by the immense 
amount of building which has taken place in the past year. Tiie trades and 
professions are all fully represented, and are handsomely supported by a 
magnificant agricultural and grazing country surrounding the city. This- 
city is made up of an intelligent, moral and thrifty class of people, peculiarly 
healthy, handsome, and happy. 

Another peculiarity, is the great eminence which some of her lawj^ers 
have attained, and the number of prominent oSices in the State; which have 
been filled by her citizens. In regard ti) three ot her prominent lawyers, 
we co])y the following anecdotes from the BurlliKjton Hawkeye. 

lawyer's jokes. 

two oood ones told ox .luuoe tiumisle, general weaver, and " mas. jones." 

The Haivlieye'S Keokuk correspondent is of a reminiscent turn of mind, 
and has unearthed the following good stories told of three eminent lowans, 
one of whom has recently returned to Burlington: 

And Hon. H. H. Trimble, an old-time lesident of Bloomfield, Iowa, and. 
the Nestor of the Davis county bar, has become, at least, a temporary resi- 
dent of Burlington. Risking the charge of telling tales out of school, we- 



58i HISTOKY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

will venture at least a couple of jokes by vva\' ofintrodneing Judge Trimble 
at liis new home, wliere he is already well known. 

Vanished Si'ikits. — Years ago, when there were not many railroads in 
Iowa, Judge Trimlde and M. 11. Jones, known as Mas. Jones for short, an- 
other Bloomtield attorney, had occasiun to attend court in Keosauqua. The 
means of conveyance then was l>y stages, and.it was nearly time for the ve- 
liicle to start, bearing the two Bloomtield lawyers to their homes. A par- 
ticular friend (if Judi;e Trimble, not finding him, saw Mr. Jones, and hand- 
ing a half pint Mask, tilled with choice liquid, remarked courteously: 

"Mr. Jtiiies, you are going out with Judge Trimble, and I can't find him, 
will you please hand him this bottle? It contains some very tine brandy." 

" With pleasure," retorted Jones with one of his most significent smiles." 

"All aboard," was the cry, and the two Bloomtield lawyers were soon 
rattling over the country road homeward bound as fast as the conveyance 
of that day would convey them. 

Some distance out on the road Jones thought of the bottle he had prom- 
ised to hand to Trimble, and taking it from his pocket he deliberately drew 
the cork, and just as deliberately emptied the whole contents down his 
throat. 

With a look as sober as that of a total abstainer he handed the empty 
bottle to the judge, remarking: 

" By the way. Judge Trimble, here is a bottle a friend of yours in Keo- 
sauqua requested me to hand to you." 

BuTTKEMiLK FOR Two. — It was on another similar trip that a trio of 
Bloomtield atturneys were caught out on the road somewhat fatigued 
from traveling. These were Judge Trimble, M. H. Jones and Gen. James 
B. A¥eaver, late greenback presidential candidate. General Weaver is a 
great temperance man and a stringent abstainer. 

Passing a farm-lionse it was suggested by General Weaver, we believe, 
that they alight and seek a glass of buttermilk. It happened that the lady 
of the house had just finished churning and that she was a whole souled 
hospitable Irish woman, but whose scanty surroundings showed that she 
was not able to contribute much and have anything left herself. 

Jones didn't want any buttermilk, so two brimming glasses were poured 
out for Trimble and Weaver. Smacking their mouths over the delightful 
beverage they pronounced it splendid, and insisted on Joues taking a glass, 
but Jones insisted on declining. 

Finally, when the glasses were emptied, the lady was asked the price. 
iShe had never sold any buttermilk and didn't have the slightest idea. 

They insisted on her fixing a price, while she continued to avow her ig- 
norance of the value of that quantity of the article. 

At last, with the courtesy and dignity characteristic of lawyers of the 
hairy nation, one of the lawyers suggested that Mr. Jones kept a number of 
cows, being an amateur farmer as well as lawyer, and they would leave it to 
him, as he was certainly an expert in the price of buttermilk. To this the 
lady very pleasantly and readily assented. 

" Well," said Jones, looking out of the near corner of his left eye, "I 
guess it is worth a dollar a glass." 

The matter had been left to arbitration, the damages awarded in an agreed 
case, and of course no lawyer could go back on that, so each of the attor- 
neys paid his dollar, but neither has ever since that time called in an ex- 
pert to fix the price of buttermilk for him. 



& 




li^V- 



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SfX^Tt. 



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j^.AJQr^^ fn..Jh 



SAVANNAH, IOWA 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 585 



BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP. 



Population in ISSO, 1,103. — This was originally, congressional township 
■69, range 14: but has now been cut up so as to be almost impossible to 
■describe. First, Drakeville township has been formed out of the northwest 
•corner; West^Grove township has taken part of the southwest corner, and 
large pieces have been added to it from Perry and Grove townships. We 
shall, therefore, refer the reader to the chapter on township organization, 
for a history of these changes. It was named from the county-seat. 

The following were the township officers elected inBloomfield township in 
Oct. 1858, for the ensuing year : Justices — W. L. Oliver, Wm. Cameron, 
S. Grreenleaf Constables — H. C. Benge, J. W. Vaiiliook, A. Morgan. 
Assessor— D. Sloan. Clerk— C. H. McBride. Trustees— li. M. Nelson, 
W. Peason, and H. A. Spencer. 

The officers who were holding at the time of this election, were : Trus- 
tees- — E. M. Nelson, Daniel Sloan, D. R. Peeves. Clerk — Richard Raw- 
lings. Justices — Wm. L. Oliver, W. Cameron, R. T. Peak. Constiihles — 
H. C. Benge, Jos. Willson, Jeff Easley. This township contains 26,104 
acres of land, and is divided into nine school districts. 

Among the earliest settlers were Charles and Leroy C. Evans, now in 
Missouri, who come here in 1840; Dr. Selman,who came in 1843, Noble C 
Barron, John W. Ellis, Col. S. S. Carpenter, Samuel Seele, Mathias D. 
Ham, George W. Lester, Loyd A. and Ephriam M. Nelson, Reason Wilk- 
inson, Israel Kister, John Baldridge, William T. Johnson, Frank Street and 
others. The original town plat is on the claim of Noble C. Barron. The 
settlement began in May, 1843, although some persons had been here 
selecting claims with a view to finding the center of the county, where they 
hoped to start a town that would be selected as the county-seat. 

Captain Horn, in speaking of the early settlement of this township, says 
that Abram Weaver and others made a snrve}' and determined the center 
of the county to be about two miles southeast of Bloomfield. Mr. A. D. 
Williamson, C. Dilliner and others also tried it, and located the center on 
the north side of Fox River, some two miles northeast of the present loca- 
tion of the county-seat. John W. Ellis, John W. Alley, Dr. Salman and 
others formed another party, and about the first of April, 1843, with com- 
pass hnd chain, made a survey for the purpose of finding the center of the 
county, and determined in their minds that the present location of the 
county-seat was tlie center of Davis county. Mr. Ellis and some others se- 
lected their claims, which they took possession of as soon as the Indians 
were removed, which took place some thirtv days afterwards. 
17 



586 HISTOET OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

The first child born in this township was Mary Jane Evans, daaighter of 
Leroy and Martha Evans, born January 1, 1842. 

The first regular physician was Dr. J. J. Selman, who still lives in Bloom- 
field. The first weaving of cloth was done by Mrs. Jonathan Evans, de- 
ceased, mother of Cliarles Evans, who deceased in 1874. The nearest mill 
for this township was Keosauqua, twenty-five miles away. 

DRAKEVILLE TOWNSHIP. 

Population in 18S0, including town, 599. — This township is composed 
of sections 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, and 18, congressional townsiiip^ 
69, range 14, and a part of section 31, township 70, range 14; more fully 
explained in the chapter on township organization. It was named for the 
Hon. J. II. Drake, now deceased, one of the early pioneers of the county,, 
and whose name stands among the most prominent in its history. 

Among the early settlers of this township were William Hawley, who' 
came here about the year 1840, and settled on section nine; M. English, who- 
came in 1841 and located on section nine; John A. Drake, wiio came in 
1846 and located also on section nine; John Grady, William Seaman, Willis- 
Fauglit, and C. C. Taylor, who came in 1S46; Joseph Hole, who came in. 
1843 and located on section six; C. M. Jennings, in 1843; Thomas Lockman,. 
A. y. Lockman, R. Housley, M. Childers and David Shields came in 1847,. 
and A. J. Guile in 1848. 

Drakeville township was originally a part of Bloomfield township, but 
those who settled in wiiat is now Drakeville township were L. N. English, 
Linzy Towbridge, Ezra M. Kirkham, Joseph Vials, John Fitzgerald, Mr. 
Fitzpafrick and others. 

A story is related of L. N. English, of this township, and the wa}' in' 
which his appointment as Territorial Justice was procured. It is stated that 
Mr. Van Caldwell had a claim in dispute, and ascertaining the opinion of 
Mr. English touching the validity of his claim, he went to Burlington to 
get Governor Chambers to appoint him. . The governor had some personal 
knowledge of the unfitness of English for the position, and declared that lie 
would not give him the appointment, as he was a notorious drunkard. Cald- 
well was willing to admit that his- friend English drank some- "sod-corn 
whisky," and that in case of emergency he would get drunk on "corn in the 
shock," but contended with the governor that there was but one other man 
in Davis county that was qualified for the position, and that he was liable 
to indictment for having two wives. English was appointed and Caldwell 
gained his suit. 

The first death which occurred in the township, was a son of Silas Kirk- 



HISTOET OF DAVIS COUNTY. 587 

liam, who died on section two in 1843, and is buried in the Breeding ceme- 
tery. 

Dr. East was the first physician in the township. He came here from 
Muscatine, and died in Taylor county, Iowa, in 1867. 

The first minister in the township was Levi Fleming, of the Christian 
church, and the first services were held in a log scliool house in Drakeville. 

The first school in the towns!)ip was a subscription school taught by Ben- 
jamin Cyler, in Drakeville. He had fifteen pupils. He is now living near 
Orleans in this county. The first school house was built of logs, in Drake- 
ville in 1845, b}' donations. 

The first weaving of cloth was done by Mrs. Trobridge, who died in Put- 
nam county, Missouri, in 1879, at the age of 69. 

The nearest mill in those early days, was atBentonsport, forty miles away, 
and all supplies were hauled from Alexandria, Missouri. 

CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

The Christian church in Drakeville was organized in 1846; the original 
members were Hon. John A. Drake and wife, John Baldridge and wife, C. 
M.Jennings and wife, EzraKirkham and wife, C. Rail and wife, John Ed- 
wards and wife, Thomas Edwards and wife, Alexander Breeding and wife, 
Ephraim Nelson and G. W. Luster and wife. Their church building was 
erected in 1853, a frame, costing $60v. The different pastors have been Levi 
Fleming, who preached for the first twenty-seven years, having associated, 
with him Jesse Higbee for the last four years; Elder Tiiompson, Amos 
Buchanon, Leander Lain, H. Northcutt, Elder Stanley, A. Mulkey, D. Mor- 
Jr, and J. H. Hedricks. 

' LODGES. 

Jefferson Lodge, No. 86, A. F. & A. M. was instituted by J. Sanford, Feb. 
16, 1856. The charter is dated June 5, 1856, and the charter members 
were "Wm. C. Johnson, W. M. ; Alexander Gaston, S. W. ; J. W. Baird, J. W. ; 
Wm. Van Benthusen, secretary; A. J. Guile, treasurer; J. Hickman, S. 
D.; P. B. Marcy, J. D.; Samuel Stackhouse, tyler. They being the first 
officers as well. 

The present officers are Richard Calvert, W. M., Amos Williams, S. W.; 
Alonzo Hannah, J. W.; H. A. Wonn, treasurer; J. R. Shepherd, secretary; 
The membership June 1st, 1881, was 52. The lodge meets on Friday night 
on or before full moon of each month, in a rented hall. 

Drakeville Lodge, No. 88, I. O. O. F., was instituted at Drakeville, Iowa, 
Feb. 23, 1856, by D. D. G. M. Greenleaf, of Bloomfield, Iowa. The char- 



6S8 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

ter members were Jolin W. Baird, Tlios. Hale, Amos Williams, E. S. Truett, 

A. C. Tniett, F. M. Drake, W. Y. Jolly, Jas. M. King, H. B. Green, and 
S. W. Sayles. 

The first oflicers were Thos. Hale, N. G., John W. Baird, V. G.; E. S. 
Truett, secretary; J. M. King, treasurer. Officers appointed : F. M. Drake, 
Cond.; W.Y. Jolly, warden; A. C. Truett, LG.;E. S. Truett, R. S. toN.G.; 
J. M. King, L. S. to N. G.; Amos Williams, R. S. S. and L. S. V. G; H. 

B. Green, L. S. S. and R. S. V. G. 

J^'imince Covimittee : J. M. King, E. S. Ti uett, J. W. Baird. 

Tnif^teen : H. B. Green, W. \ . Jolly, Amos Williams. 

This lodge was prosperous till iliu war broke out, when most of the mem- 
bers enlisted, and so depleted their ranks that they snrrendei'ed their char- 
ter; the last meeting being held Oct. 11, 1862. The charter, books, etc., 
were returned to Wm. Garrett, Grand Secretary, Burlington, Iowa, and 
soon after were destroyed by fire. 

The lodge was again organized under a warrant issued in lieu of the 
charter, February 6, 1875, by D. D. G. M. J. B. Kelso, of Bloomfield. The 
charter members, on reoi-ganization were: S. W. Sayles, A. W. Stewart, 
William G. Baldridge, Amos Williams and C. M. Hurless, William Truax, 
and L. T. Hatton, joining by card. Officers elected: William Truax, N.G.; 
Amos Williams, V. G.; S. W. Sayles, secretary; A. W. Stewart, treasurer. 
OflScers appointed: Alexander Dawning, conductor; Marion Taylor, war- 
den; H. P. Sayles, I. G.; W. H. Lockman, R. S. N. G.; John Hously, L. S. 
]Sr. G.; Samnel Latham, R. S. Y. G.; William Crawford, L. S. Y. G.; L. T. 
Hatten, O. G. Finance committee: S. W. Sayles, Marion Taylor, Amos 
Williams. 

The present officers are Charles O'Neal, N. G.; L. A. Canady, Y. G.; 
William Truax, secretary; Alex Fouts, permanent secretary; Amos Wil- 
liams, warden; Peter Rhodes, conductor; A. W. Stewart, treasurer; T. B. 
Jennings, R. S. K. G.; J. M. Kutch, L. S. N. G.; David Benyle, R. S. Y. 
G.; George Hamilton, L. S. Y. G.; E. L. Hotchkiss. I. G.; Josephus Hewry, 
O. G.; W. J. Coons, R. S. S.; Fielding Smith, L. S. S. The present mem- 
bership is fifty. The lodge meets in a rented hall, everj' Saturday night. 

Amos Williams is the only original charter member now belonging to 
the lodge; A. W. Stewart came in by card at its first organization and is 
still a member; S. W. Sayles, one of the original charter members, died in 
Febi-uary 1881, they being the most active members of the lodge. 

The C, R. I. ik P. R. R., or Southwestern branch, was built through this 
township in 1871, and the first shipment over the road from Drakeville 
Station was March 20, 1871, being one piano and stool to William Clark, 



HISTORV OF DAVIS COCNTV. 589 

Centerville. William Truax is the agent, and has held the office since the 
road was built. 

This township contains 7,808^ acres of land, including the town of Drake- 
ville, which is the only postoffice and railroad station in the township. The 
township has only two school districts, one being the town. 

DRAKEVILLIC. 

The town of Drakeville is located on sections 4 and 9, township 69, range 
14, west, on land originally owned by John A. Drake, it was surveyed by 
Thomas G. Given, county surveyor of AVapello county, on the 12th day of 
February, 1847, and in 1850 it contained 108 inhabitants. The town plat 
now covers forty-two acres. The general history of the town and township 
are so nearly' synonymous, that we have given it all under the township. 

FABIUS TOWNSHIP. 

Populaticn. in 1880, 1,063. — This is all of congressional township 67, 
range 15, north of the Missouri State line; and also three tiers of sections 
on the south side of congressional township 68, range 15, except a strip otf 
the north tier of sections, now belonging to West Grove township. It was 
named from Fabius creek, which rises in the west side of the township, and 
flows easterly across it. This township contains 27,000 acres of land, and 
is divided into six school districts. 

William llensen, Levi Reeves, Archibald Toombs, Benjamin Ethell, 
Thomas Wisdom, William Eaton and the Veatch families were the early 
settlers of Fabius township. Samuel Russell, one of the early settlers in 
this township, is one of the heaviest sheep raisers in southern Iowa. See 
his biography. 

MONTEREY. 

The towrt of Monterey, in this township, was laid off and surveyed March 
14, 1851, by J. W. Ellis, county surveyor, and is located on the nw qr 
of the ne qr of section 33, township 68, range 15; on land originally 
belonging to Daniel Moyer. It has a post-office, and does quite a large 
business, and is one of the oldest towns in the county. 

The first child born in this township, of wliich any authority can be ob- 
tained, was John F. AVisdom, who was born in September, 1843, and deceased 
at the age of 21. The first female child born was Elizabeth Newton, born 
in 1845. 

The first death was Mrs. Lorena F. Kelly, who died in November, 1843. 

The first regular physician in the township was Doctor Warner, of Mis- 
souri. 



590 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

The first minister was Rev. Dooley, a Baptist preacher. 
The first school was taught by Emilj' Cartiss, in 184S or 1849. 
At the first election in this township polls were kept open in the same 
place for Iowa and Missouri. 

FOX RIVER TOWNSHIP. 

Population in ISSO, 765. — This is congressional township 69, range 15, 
with the exception of the south tier of sections, and a fraction of the next 
tier north, now belonging to West Grove township, more fully explained in 
the chapter on township organization. It was named from Fox River, 
which passes through the township from west to east. This township con- 
tains 17,093J acres of land, and is divided into four school districts. 

Fox River township was first settled by Martin M. Jones, Joshua Patter- 
son, Mark Noble, Conard Scott, William Crow, Joseph McCoy, Morris 
Geo, William Wilkinson, Matthew Noble and others. 
— Xncretia Downing, from the best authority we can find, was the first fe- 
male child born in the county. &he was born September 22, 1840, and is a 
sister of Hon. Sam Downing, of this township. 

Tho first marriage in the county also took place in this township. It was 
between Thomas King and Elarriet Downing, which was solemnized by Is- 
rael Kister, March 27, 1847. 

The first birth in the township was Ale^xander Downing, a son of A. and 
Elizabeth Downing, born in October, 1843. 

The first death occured in June, 1843, Daniel Bane, who is buried in the 
Harvard graveyard. 

The first regular physician was Dr. Selman,of Bloomfield. 

The first school was a subscription school taught by Thomas King in a 
cabin owned by T. Junk, in the winter of 1844 and 1845; the tuition be- 
ing $1.50 per scholar. 

The first school-house was built at Elm Grove, in 1846, by volunteer la- 
bor. 

The first weaving was done in the winter of 1843, by Mrs. Margaret 
Gleason. 

GROVE TOWNSHIP. 

Population in ISSO, IfiOO. — This is all of congressional township 67, 
range 13, north of the Missouri State line; and also congressional town- 
ship 68, range 13, except the two upper tier of sections, and a part of others 
added to Bloomfield township. (See township organization.) It was named 
from the number of small groves scattered over it. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 591 

This township contains 25,985 acres of land, and is divided into eight 
«chool districts. 

STILES, 

Or Stilesville, as it was called, is a tliriving little town located in the south- 
ern part of this township. It was named from Stiles S. Carpenter, a verj 
prominent man in tliis county in an early day. It is situated on the ne J 
of section i, and the nw ^ of section 3, township 67, range 13. In 1858, 
it had a population of 100. 

\ STILESVILLE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 

Was organized in August, 1850, witii tlie following members: Henry 
Wright, Sarah Wright, Leonard York and wife, Elijah Warn, Irene Bum- 
ford, Nancy Bridewell, Jessellunt, M. Yorkand wife, Jacob Martin, Emily 
Bumford. They have a nice frame church, erected in 1870, at a cost of 
-about $1,500, which was dedicated by J. C. Cevey. They have had the 
following pastors: Elder Foster, John Humphreys, Elder Wright, Samuel 
Jordan, Daniel Morris, S. B. Do wning, J. C. Cevey, S. H. Hedrix. The 
present membership is 175. \ 

LODGES. 

Stilesville Lodge. No. 202, I. O. O. F., was instituted September 6, 1870, 
by acting Gr. M., J. B. Glenn, with tlie following members: T. F. Collins, 
J. Petefish, F. M. Millihen, Levi Loyd, John Holt, G. W. Johnson, Marion 
Taylor. The names of the present officers are: T. F. Collins, N. G. ; N. 
Fox, acting V. G.; A. G. Wright, secretary; PI. E. Nemitz, treasurer; S. 
'H. McLaughlin, R. S. N. G.; W. L. Beacham, R. S. V. G.; John Holt war- 
den; N. Fox, conductor; Levi Loyd, I. G. They have a present member- 
ship of twelve, and have a nice frame hall, built in the spring of 1872, and 
■costing about $300. 

Quitman Lodge, No. 217, A. F. and A. M. was organized with the fol- 
lowing members: Anthony Rader, W. M.; J. J. Stokesberry, Thomas Wray, 
•George Wra}', Levi Blanchanp. The present officers are: James Stokes- 
berry, W. M.; D. N. Dooley, S. W.; A. M. Longfellow, J. W.; J. A. Ins- 
Jjeep, secretary; T. F. Collins, treasurer; John McFadden, S. D.; William 
Penny, J. D.; D. Jiles, tyler. They have a present membersliip of twenty- 
two. In 1S80, John W. Wright, a member of this lodge, was G. C. of the 
vGrand Lodge of Iowa. 



592 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

LICK CREEK TOWNSHIP. 

Population in ISSO, 1,J>J. — This is congressional townsliip 70, range 
13. It was named from Lick Creek, a stream running through tlie town- 
ship. A postoffice was estahlished in this township in the year 1847, on 
the application of Dr. O. C. Udell and George Diiffield, and called Floris^ 
at the suggestion of the doctor. 

In July 185-i, J. W. Hoisington, owner of the land, had it laid off on the- 
w hf. of section 14, and e lif. of section 15, township 70, range 13. Uncle Pe- , 
ter Hoobler, a Pennsylvania Dutchman, was one of the early settlers, and 
'Squire Stout was one of tiie first justices in the township. 

Tliis township contains 22,418^ acres of land, and is divided into nine 
school districts. Lick Creek township was first settled by D. P. Crumrine, 
Josiah Stark, Delaney and Elijah Swinney, William Garretson, S. C.Allen, 
D. Niles, Hanson Wooden, Robert Merchant, and otliers. These pioneers, 
came here as soon as the Indians left, in 1843. 

-The first birth in the township was Thomas Wooden, born in the fall of 
1844, son of Ranson and Elizabeth Wooden. He was drowned in the Mis- 
sissippi at Burlington wlien three years old. 

The first death was Mother Jones, mother of Michael Jones, who died hi 
1844, and was buried on Soap Creek, north of Floris, in Peytons burying 
ground. 

The first regular physician was Dr. Phelps, who came from Agency City 
in 1S44, and afterwards died in Texas. 

The first minister was Rev. Gibson, a Methodist circuit rider, who trav- 
eled around preaching in private houses. 

The first school was taught by Polly Throckmorton, in Jerry Starks' 
shop, in 1846; it was a subscription school with eight scholars. The first 
school house was built on section twenty-nine in 1847, by Jerry Stark, be-- 
ingpaid for by subscription, and costing §300. 

The first weaving of cloth was done by Mrs. Lottie Stark and Mrst 
Woodin. 

There were only two roads in the township in that day, the "Bee Trace,"' 
and the "Mormon Trace." The bee trace being from West Point, in Lee 
county, to Chariton Point, now in Lucas Co., and settlers were compelled' 
to go to the east line of Van P.uren county for provisions, and further down 
the Des Moines river to mill. 

In the spring of 1844, D. P. Krumrine, Josiah Stark and R. S. Rose, 
caught an enormous wolf, and the day after, the people gathered from all 
the surrounding country to see a great wolf and dog fight, which was a 
great sport in those days, especially for the dogs that got "licked." 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 593- 

The Chicago and Soutliwestern Railroad runs throiigli this township in 
a southwesterly direction, and has one station in the township, which is also 
a postoffice, called Floris. 

The first marriage in this township was between M. H. Rullman and 
Sally Harp, in the fall of 1844:. 

The first female child was a daughter of Mike Jones, born iu 1844. 

THE CHEQUEST UNION BAPTIST CHURCH, 

Was organized in 1848, with the following original members : D. Swinney 
and wife; I. B. Stark and wife; Geo. Aid ridge and wife; Thos. Richeson and 
wife; Isaac Swinney and wife; "Win. Baker and wife. Their church is a 
frame, erected in 1860, at a cost of $5ti0. 

Their present membership is 145; and they have had the following pastors: 
Dr. Doom, O. Dooley, C. Woodward, A. M. Green, John Ferguson, Wm. 
McEwen, F. McEwen, F. Dickinson, John Pry, M. W. Akers, Wm. Beards 
and I. W. Seamster. 

MARION TOWNSHIP. 

Popul<dion in 1880, 8.'f.7. This is congressional township 70, range 15.. 
It was named after Gen. Marion of the Revolutionary war. 

This township contains 22,237 2-15 acres of land, and is divided into 
eight school districts. 

Marion township was settled first by David Wedmore, Obadiah Lowe,. 
John J. Shelton, James Culbertson, Samuel T. and Benjamin Adams, Mil- 
ler Shelton, Elisha B. Townsend, and otliers. 

The Chicago and Southwestern runs through the south part of this town- 
ship, east and west, and has one station, Belknap, which is the junction of 
that road and the Wabash, running north and south, from St. Louis to 
Ottumwa. It is quite an enterprising little town, and is quite an e.\tensive 
shipping point. It is the postoffice for this township. Marion township 
has three postoflices, Albany, Ash Grove and Oak Spring. 

The first marriage in the township was between William Shelton and 
Miss Melissa Lowe. 

The first hirst birth was Jesse, a son of Samuel and Ruth Robb, and the 
first female child born was Annie, daughter of Orange and Lydia Bailey. 

The first death was Mrs. Bailey. 

The first physician was Dr. Ilolliday, from Missouri. 

The first ministers were Rev. Ockerman and Rev. Purse. 

The first school was taught by Harriet Grout, with 25 pupils. A sub- 
scription school. 



594 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

The first scliool-honse was built by volunteer labor, in the fall of ISii, on 
tlie claim of George Moots. 

The first spinning of flax was done by Mary Moots. 

THE WESLEY CHAPEL 

M. E. Church was organized in 1850, by Joseph Roberts, Sr,. and wife, Jamea 
JIuflF and wife, Abner Roberts, John Moore, G. A. Hart and wife, A Ro- 
land and wife, J. Bartlett and wife, S. Adams and wife, and B. Adams. 

Their meetings were first held in a log church, built in 1844. It burned 
•down and a new frame church was erected in 1850, at a cost of $400. 

Their present membership is about 70. 

The last of the debt on this church, $65, was payed by a dying soldier, 
J^li Roberts, as his last dying bequest. 

PERRY TOWNSHIP. 

Population in ISSO, 703. — This is conffressional township 69, range 13, 
except seven or eight sections in the southwest corner, added to Bloomfield" 
township. (See chapter on township organization.) It was named after 
Commodore Perry, who fought the battle of Lake Erie. 

This township contains 18,580 acres of land, and is divided into six 
school districts. 

Among the earliest settlers in Perry township are mentioned the names 
of Samuel Mize, "Wesley Young, Riley Macy, S. L. Saunders, C. Dillner, 
R. C. Miller, A. D. Williamson, G. S. Lockman, Samuel Evans. 

To this township I have been correctly informed, belongs the honor of 
building the first house of worship in the county. It was owned by' the 
Presbyterian denomination, and I have been told has never been closed 
against any religious denomination. 

'The first marriage in this township was between A. C. Brewster and 
Nancy Dilliner, February, 1844. 

The first male child born was Allen Macy, son of Riley Macy. 

The first female child was Nancy Williamson, daughter of A. D. Wil- 
liamson. 

The first death was that of a colored woman who came here with Samuel 
Evans, having formerly been his slave. 

The first physician was William McK. Findley, from Ohio, who after- 
wards died in Bloomfield. 

The first minister was Rev. Ewing, Presbyterian, who afterwards died at 
Winterset. 

The first school was taught in the fall of 1845, in a log house on the farm 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 695 

of Andrew Leacli, by David Forsytbe. Tbere was an attendance of twenty 
pupils, and it being a subscription sciiool, tbe tuition was $1.50 a piece. 
This was also the first school-house. 

The first weaving of cloth was done, among others, by Mrs. Mary Evans. 

SHUNAM PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 

Was organized April 2, IS-tl, with the following members; Samuel Evans, 
Elizabeth Evans, Matilda Evans, Mary Swanson, Samuel Swanson, Robert 
McEvans, William Shields, Mary A. Shields, John Taylor, Eebecca Taylor, 
find Ellenor Swainger. Their church is a frame, built in 1857 or 8, costing 
about $900. They have a present membership of fifty-three. Their pres- 
ent pastor is Rev. Hugh Marshall. 

PR-MRIE TOWNSHIP. 

Population in 1880, 750. — This is congressional township 68, range 12, 
excejjt a strip a mile and a half wide on the south side, added to Roscoe 
'township. It was. named from the beautiful prairie of which the township 
is composed. 

This township contains 17,358|- acres of land and is divided into three 
school districts. 

The first settler in this township was Z. S. Bryant, who settled on the sw 
qr. of section two, in the year 1839; and the first frame house built in Davis 
county was built near his cabin on the same section, and is still standing. 

The first female child born in the township, as near as can be learned, was 
Clarissa Fountain. 

The first deatl) was William Hardesty, who died in the spring of lSi2. 

The first preacher was Rev. Kirkpatrick, a Methodist minister, who 
preached in the cabin of William Hardesty, in 1839 or '40. 

If is also claimed that B. W. Craven and B. W. Redmon settled on 
section twenty-five, in 1838, which, if true, would make them the oldest 
settlers. 

The first marriage was between James Gleason and Miss Sarah Downing. 

The first birth was W. H. Craven, son of B. W. and Nancy Craven, ne6 
Tracey, and born December IS, 1842. 

The first physician was William R. Wallace, M. D., from Milton. He 
was probably the first Mason in the county. 

The first school in the township was a subscription school, taught by Sim- 
eon Fountain. It was taught in a log house, near where Wilson Jones re- 
sides, and was long since burnt up. The first school house was like other 
first school-houses, built of logs, with clapboard roof, punclieon floor, and 



596 HI8T0KY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

split logs hewn down for seats. All groceries and provisions were tlieu 
brought by team from Keokuk and Alexandria and the nearest mill was at 
Waterloo, Missouri, and the settlers frequently liad to wait two or three 
weeks for their turn after they got there. 

A. Cochran was the first justice of tlie peace in tlie township. "Old Joe"' 
Fountain at one time killed a wolf and took the scalp to Squire Cochran, 
who gave him an order for " two bits" on the county treasury, tiiat being 
the bounty, and county orders being worth only 75 cents on tlie dollar at. 
that time. 

The only town in this township is 

PULASKI. 

It was surveyed and laid off October 12, 1856, by Tliomas Unffield, county 
surveyor, on parts of sections 7, 8, 17 and 18, township 68, range 12, owned 
by J. J. Plank, John Sauer and William Hill. Samuel Miller, deceased, 
built the first house in Pulaski, in 1855, and Jacob Stover came the follow- 
ing year and built a store and was followed the same year by W. Scarbor- 
ough, who erected a blacksmith shop. Andrew Myers and A. Hopkins also 
erected houses in 1856. J. J. Plank liad previously erected a steam saw 
mill, which was the " boom" which started the town. The town has been 
slowly and steadily growing ever since, and has now about 200 inhabitants. 

The Eurlingtou and Southwestern i-ailroad runs through this township 
east and west and makes a station of Pulaski, from which more stock and 
grain is shipped to market in a year than from any other point in the 
county. 

Pulaski was named by Columbus Hains, the first posti^aster there, after 
the great Polish officer, who fought in onr Revolution, Count Pulaski. This 
postoffice was established in 1850. 

The different branches of mercantile enterprise are well represented here 
now, as the following list will show: J. W. Milligan, general merchandise; 
W. M. Brunk, the same; C. C. Hotchkiss, drugs, medicines, etc. ; A. V. 
Smith, grocery; J. M. Smith, hardware; Kirk & Reed, agricultural imple- 
ments; J. J. Plank, grist mill and saw mill; W. H. Shelton, physician and 
surgeon; J. E. Reed, justice of the peace; Smith & Hotchkiss, grain, lum- 
ber and live stock dealers; Misses Milligan & Taylor millinery and dress- 
making; Mrs. A. H Griffin, the same; Cooner Bros., blacksmiths; D. G. 
King, wagonmaker; Weber & Sliulte, harness and saddles; S. Rity, boot 
and shoe maker; J. E. Heskett, livery stable; James Muir, Pulaski House; 
J. M. Smith. Iowa House; J. Tntewilder, American House; Fryberger & 



HISTORY OB- DAVIS COUNTY. 597 

Elrod, carpenters and builders; A. J. George, the same; Stepliensou & 
Masters, creamery. 

Twenty-live new buildings have been erected the present year, among 
•which is the iinest flouring mill in the county, erected by J. J. Plank; a 
public hall, by Keed & Kirk, both filling wants long felt by the community. 
Also, a church by the Christian society. This burg can boast of two cliurches, 
a tine steam flouring mill, and the best school building in the State for a 
town of its size, graded in two departments. 

Tills town is a station on the Burlington and Southwestei-u Railroad, and 
is one of the most wide-awake, enterprising little cities in southern Iowa. 

Tiie pastor of the M. E. church is Rev. Jesse Craig, and the pastor of the 
Christian cliurch is Rev. James A. Shepherd. 

LODGES. 

Mnyo Lodge. I. O. O. F., No. 319, was instituted in Pulaski, July 9, 
1875, and its charter is dated October 4, 1S75. The charter members were 
E. G. Conner, O. P. Lundy, J. W. Milligan, James H. Allen, and R. M. 
Maxwell. The first oflicers were R. G. Conner, N. G. ; R. M. Maxwell, V. 
<T.; O. P. Lundy, treasurer, J. W. Milligan, secretary. 

The present oflicers are J. D. llartzler, N. G.; W. T. Smith, V. G.; J. M. 
Smith, secretary, and C. C. Hotchkiss, treasurer. Their present member- 
ship is thirty, and they have a nice frame building containing their hall, 
built in 1879, at a cost of $300. F. E. Wilson, P. G., has been D. D. G. M. 

Elensis Lodge, A. F. & A. M., No. 358, was instituted September 4,1875, 
by William J. Law, D. G. M., and their charter is dated June 7, 1876. 
The charter men)bers were W. H. Taylor, W. W. Power. J. E. Reed, John 
' Davis, J. H. Berry, A. S. Power, William Plank, D. L. Scarborough, S. H. 
Thomas, W. H. Shelton, J. W. Scarborough, P. W. Yost, A. V. Smith and 
J. W.Collins. The first officers were: W. H. Taylor, master; D. L. Sear- 
borough, S. W.; ^^\ AV. Power, J. W.; P. W. Yost, treasurer; J. E. Reed, 
secretary; J. H. Berry, S. D.; A. V. Smith, J. D.; J. W. Collins. Tyler; 
and the present officers are A. V. Smith, master; J. W. Milligan, S. W.; 
A. S. Power, J. W. ; W. H. Shelton, treasurer; J. E. Reed, secretary; E. 
L. Kirk, S. D.; F. E. Wilson, J. D.; W. .W. Powers, tyler. The present 
membership is twenty-five, and they meet in the Odd Fellows" hall, which 
they rent at $25 a year. 

ROSCOE TOWN.SHIP. 
Population in 1880, 668. — This is all of congressional township 67, 
isiTige 12, north of the Missouri state line, and a strip of sections one and a 
half miles wide on the south side of townshi]) 68, range 12. 



598 HISTOKT OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

This township contains 16,355 5-6 acres of land, and is divided into five 
school districts. It is tlie southeast corner township of the county, and is 
settled with an extremely enterprising and intelligent class of people, who- 
take a deep and lively interest in the prosperit}' and advancement of the 
general interests of the county. 

The postoffice in this township is called Ajax, although a great many of 
the residents here get their mail at Pulaski, or Milton in Van Buren county. 
Some of the early settlers of this township were Frank Pinnell, W. Like^ 
Geo. Like, Jas. Haney, Jacob Bromley, J. M.Moore, Garman and sons, Jas. 
Gleason, T. J. Wray, J. Hayden, D. Burns, S. L. Hubbard. 

The first death was a daughter of W. E. Brown. The first physicians 
were Dr. Snodgrass, Dr. Bonner, Dr. Wm. A. Shelton, and Dr. Wallace. 

Tlie first ministers were Kev. Ballenger and Rev. Hotchkiss. 

The first school was taught by Z. B. Rooker. The first school-house was 
built at Round Grove, a frame building, costing $350. 

Mr. Pinnell came here in 1837, and is the only one of the oldest settlers 
who are now living here. 

It is claimed that James Hawley, a son of Wm. J. and Ellen Hawley, 
born in 1838, is the first person born in the township, and probably in the 
county. S. L. Hubbard was the first justice of the peace. 

The first church was Round Grove, which was organized in Nov. 1856. 
It was a Methodist church. A rather laughable incident is related by Mr. 
Pinnell, which is too good to keep; a roving band of Pottawattamie Indians 
were camped where Drakeville now stands. Mr. Pinnell owned a large 
dog, in good flesh, which the Indians bought. It was customary in those 
days to visit the Indians and eat "venison" with them. On a certain Sun- 
day, in company with Thomas, William and Smn. Downing, and "Wm. 
Hawley, he went to the Indian camp, and took dinner with the chief, eating 
very heartily of what they supposed to be venison. Mr. Pinnell being the 
only one of the party who could speak "Injun," complimented the chief on 
the excellence of his venison. The reply came in deep gutterals : '■'■No Buck y 
Dog.-' The efi'ect can better be imagined than described. 

SOAP CREEK TOWNSHIP. 

Population in 1880, 997. — This is congressional township 70, range 14. 
It was named from Soap Creek, a stream flowing eastwardly across the 
township. This township contains 22,298 acres of land, and is divided into 
nine school districts. 

Among the early settlers of this township were Elijah Putman, Jesse C. 



In 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 59&' 

Clankenship, Abram Weaver, W. W. Rankin, David Shoey, Joel and Jesse 
Harbor, Charles M. Jennings, Calvin Taylor, Thompson R. Crosswait, Pat- 
rick Dawson. William M. Morris, Evan C. Evans, and others. If correctly 
informed the first settlements were made in this township in 1843. Mr. 
Jesse Blankenship, who still owns and occupies the same place he first set- 
tled in this county, and Mr. George Lester, were elected delegates from this 
county to the first constitutional convention of Iowa, in 1844. 

The first marriage took place in 1S43, between Madison Mclntyre and . 
Ha rriet Ma rtin; they were married by W. W. Rankin, the first justice in 

the township. ^' -^* ^"-^ -^ ^"- '"-^- '-^— ^^'■^-' '^*'' ;;^^^y^^ 

The first female child born in this township was Caroline Blankenship. <^-' 
The first regular physician was Dr. Barron, of Bloorafield. '^v...- 

The first minister was William Brooks, of the M. Church. " -^ 

The first school-house built was the Harbour school-house. 

SALT CREEK TOWNSHIP. 

Population in 1880, T3o6. — This township is congressional township 70,. 
range 12. It was named from Salt Creek, a stream flowing north through 
the township, into Soap Creek. This township is the northeast corner town- 
ship of the county; it contains 22,625 acres of land, and is divided into 
seven school districts. The Des Moines River flows through the northeast 
corner of this township, in a southeast direction. 

Salt Creek township was first settled by James H. Jordan, Van Caldwell, 
Jesse Testament, Job Carter, William Higgins, Henry Smith, John Toll- 
maTi, Peter Woods, and others, in 1837 and 1838. 

The first mill in the county was built by the government in this town- 
ship, in 1837. It was destroyed by the flood in 1838, rebuilt in 1839, and 
was consumed by fire in 1840. 

The first marriage in this township was between Daniel Woodin and 
Emily Paris. 

The first birth of a female child was Sarah Conaway, daughter of Aquilla 
and Margaret Conaway, and who died three months afterward, and was bur- 
ied in the Litner graveyard. 

The first regular physician was Dr. Barron, the second was Dr. Finelj', 
and the third was Dr. Greenleaf. 

The first religious service was held in a log school-house near the Liten 
graveyard, by Franklin New, a Methodist minister. 

The first school was taught by Grant Tousey; it was a subscription school 
with about fifteen pupils, at about $2.00 a term. 

The first school-house was built of logs, in district No. 5, in the year 1844. 



-600 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

The first weaving or making of cloth was done by a Mrs. Bigsby. 

Tiie hardships passed through by the early pioneers in this township 
•were the same experienced by all early pioneers; going twenty five or thirty 
miles to mill and for provisions, and going withont many things which are 
now considered necessaries. 

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 

"Was organized in this township in the tali of 1850, and the original mem- 
bers were Henry Wright and wife, Leonard York and wife, A. Taylor and 
wife, A. Botts and wife, S. P. Penny and wife, and Mr. Andrews. A frame 
church was erected in 1870 at a cost of $1,500, and dedicated by J. C. Cevey 
and Elder Wright. The names of the pastors are Cevey, Morris, Iledrix, 
and A. J. Shepard. The present membership is eighty. 

The postoflices for this township are Eldon and Floris, neither of them 
in the township. 

James H. Jordan is said to be the oldest living settler in the State, and is 
also in Davis county, of whom a more extended account is given in the 
chapter on pioneers, is a genius, preminently the product of our western 
civilization. He came to this State in 1822, before it was even a territory, 
He settled in the northeast corner of this township in 1836, on the east side 
of the Des Moines river, on the richest land in the State, where he has lived 
ever since. Considering the hardships and disadvantages of their early 
life, the cultnre, refinement and intelligence displayed in Mr. and Mrs. 
-Jordan, and the taste shown in their surroundings indicate a high natural 
order of intellect. 

At the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia in 1876, Mr. Jordan re- 
ceived the first premium for the best corn grown in the United States, be- 
ing a diploma and a medal. 

UXION TOWNSHIP. 

Population in ISSO, 1,236. — This is congressional township 69, range 12. 
It was named from the union of States: emblematical of strengtii. 

This township contains 23,314 acres of land, and was divided into tei 
school districts. 



"Union township* was first settled in 1840 along the Van Buren county 
line near where the village of Troy is situated. The earliest settlers were 
Fleming Mize, Samuel Evans, Samuel Swearengen, William McCormick, 
Joel Staley, B. F. Wilson, Tariton Elder, Peter Marson^Tevi Piclcens, Wil- 
liam D. Evans and others. 

*Col. Moore. 



1 



\ HISTOKY OF DAVl/ COUNTY. 601 

\ / 

■ "The first sennoii preached in the county, Capt. Horn tells us, was preached 
in this township by a pioneer of the Methodist church, Rev. Thonaas Fitz- 
patrick, at the house of Wi^lliam McCormick, early in the year 1841. Rev. 
W". L. Rankin organized in fhe same year a church of New School Presby- 
terians. The Fox River church was organized in this township in 1812 by 
Elder Post, a Baptist minister. To tliis townshij) belongs the credit of 
building the first school-house in the county. It was built in the spring of 
1841 of hewed logs on the claim of Mr. Samuel Swearengen. 

"The second mill built in the county was built in this township, near the 
«ounty line between Davis and Van Buren counties, in the spring of 1841, 
■by Peter Marson and a Mr. Brunnelle, a Frenchman. It i-an by horse 
■power, and of course its capacity was not sufficient to supply the settlers 
■with corn meal, especiallj' if the story of the little mill's trials and beset- 
ments are true. It is related that the speed of the mill did not at all inter- 
fere with the usual avocation of the miller on his claim. That after care- 
full}- measuring the grist, and as carefully and honestly taking liis toll, that he 
would start the horse to going, and would himself start to his plowing, leaving 
his little mill to the care of the ground squirrels that assembled, and placing 
oneof theirnumber ^t the shoe, would catch the grain as fastas it appeared in 
sight, and before it reached the eye of the stones. And when one got his 
jaws full he would fall back in good order, and another squirrel would take 
his turn at the mill. Candor, and a sense of justice to the memory of those 
who- had enterprise enough in those early days to erect a mill of any kind 
compels me to say that this story does not come to me backed up and forti- 
fied by that amount of testimony that forces a conviction of its truth. 

"While speaking of mills in this township, I am tempted to trespass a 
moment longer on your good nature to relate a story which was current, 
when I came to this county. My old friend, John Brown, the one I men- 
tioned as keeping three yoke of oxen to haul his corporeal frame, owned a 
mill on Fox river, near Striugtown, in an early day. Mills were very 
scarce in the county, and, as a consequence, were over-tasked and crowded 
with work. Our old friend Brown was clever and in his anxiety to accom- 
modate all of his patrons, sometimes failed to get the mill stones within 
speaking distance of each other, and the customer was sometimes at a loss to 
determine by the grist in his sack whether it had been through the mill or 
not. It is related that on one occasion a little boy came to old Brown's mill, 
and after his grist had been safely deposited and marked, he approached the 
old man, and in a pleasant, silken voice, said: "Mr. Brown, mother told me 
to ask yon to grind this grist a little finer than you did the last one." "Tell 
your mother," the old man replied, "that I am so hurried with my custom- 
ers that I can only promise to grind corn so fine it won't grow." "Oh!" 
re])lied the boy, "that's all mother expects you to do; but she mixed up 
some of the last srist and it sprouted before she could get it into the skil- 
let." 

Tiie first orchard planted in this count}' was in this township. It was set 
out by Mr. Fleming Mize. And it is also claimed that the same gentleman 
sowed the first field of wheat in the county. May he never want for a loaf 
of bread, and may long life and health attend him to pluck the fruit of the 
first trees jdanted in this fi'uitful county by his hands in the days of his 
early, hopeful manhood. Others have followed his example until mansion 
18 



602 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 



and cottage and cabin alike are surrounded with fruit-bearing trees, and 
shrnbs and vines, and adorned with flowers, promising abundance and 
luxury. 

The first marriage in this township was between Fleming Mize and Miss 
Harriett Briggs, which took place in 1840. This marriage, if we have ob- 
tained the correct date, was the first marriage in the county. 
A The first birth of a male child was to William Evans, in 1841. 
The first female child was M. Victoria Rankin, born August 10, 1841. 
The first death was Mrs. William M. McOormick,who died in July, 1841. 
The first regular physician in this township was Dr. John D. Elbert. 
The first minister was William Taylor, Methodist. 

The first school was taught by Z. Bryant, who received fifteen dollars a 
month, to be paid in corn and coonskins. 

The first school-house was built by volunteer labor, and built without 
nails or glass. 

The fii-st justice of the peace was W. W. Eankin. 

OHUECHES. 

Hickory Grove Baptist church was organized December 11, 1875, by El- 
der S. E. Nelson, with the following members: Martha E. Pherigo, O. P. 
Mongler, M. C. Mongler, Charles Mongler, William Mustard, Sarah Mon- 
gler, E. Powell, Peter Mongler, Nancy A. Mongler, Charlotte Mongler, 
Martha Vorhis, James A. Wise, J. F. Padclifl", and R. Hopkins, and they 
have a present membership of thirty-four. The difierent pastors have been 
S. E. Nelson, N. Hays, William Beard, and John Leamstie, the present pas- 
tor. They have no house of worship, but meet in a school-house, services 
being held the third Sunday of each month. 

Bethel M. E. church was organized about the year 1846, with the follow- 
ing members: Samuel Mathew, Rachel Mathew, Caroline Mathew, Na- 
than Hall, Permelia Hall, Rev. William Taylor and wife, and some others. 
A frame church building was erected in 1863, at a cost of about $1,000, and 
dedicated in 1864 by L. T. Crowley, P. E. The present membership is 
about thirty, and the following have been their pastors: William H. Har- 
rison, F. H. Gary, I. P. Teter, C. Morey, G. W. Friend, — Waymon, — 
Lathcm, C. W. Slie])herd, — Cheney, — Dailey, — Adams, — Patterson, 
— Fawcett, — Hurt. 

LODGES. 

Prosperity Temple, No. 21, was instituted by D. B. Bernard, of Kirks- 
ville, Missouri, and the present officers are, R. M. Pierson, M. T. ; Ruth A. 



HISTOET OF DAVIS COUNTY. 603 

McRLugb, A. T.; H. M. Arney, L. T.; H. W. Rullinan, chaplain; A. Pier- 
son, T.; Z. L. Rullman, A. T.; C. W. Taylor, F. T. They hold their meet- 
ings in a school-house. 

Unioji Star Grange, No. 11 -tO, was instituted March 26, 1873, by J. M. 
■ Randall, of Ottutnwa. The names of the present officers are: G. W. Tibbs, 
W. M.;- J. Tharp, O.; J. Taylor, L.; D. H. Tayers, S.; F. Penrod, A. T.; W. 
Taylor, C; J. A. Steele, T.; H. H. W. Eullman, secretary; J. T. Arney, G. 
K.; T. E. Tayres, Ceres; M. Johnson, Pomona; Z. L. Eullman, Flora; H. M. 
Arney, L. A. Steward. They have a present membership of twenty-nine. 

STRINGTOWN. 

This was the first town in Davis county. It was first called Harpersville 
then Dover, then Stringtown. The town was on land originally owned by 
B. F. Wilson, situated partly on the ne qr. and the nw qr. of section 35, town- 
ship 69, range 12, about a mile and a half south of the present town of 
Troy. It was surveyed and platted February 8, 184:8, by John W. Ellis, 
ciounty surveyor. One of the earliest settlers was Berney Carter, a whisky 
seller, and the poi)ulation in 1851 was thirty-two. This town is long since 
dead, and the only record of it is in the mind and i-ecollection of the early 
settlers. 

TEOY. 

The town of Troy was surveyed and platted by John W. Ellis, county sur- 
veyor, February 15, 1848, on land belonging to J. I. Earhart, James A. 
Sawyers, J. C. Ewing, and D. Haine, and named by J. I. Earhart, after 
Troy, Ohio, where he came from. The population of this town in 1851, 
was 101. Here is located the well known pioneer educational institution 
of Davis county, 

TEOr ACADEMY. 

This school was commenced about the year 1853, and has now entered 
upon its twenty-eighth year with bright prospects for the future. A large 
number of the most prominent citizens of this and adjoining counties ac- 
quired their education within her classic halls. Prof. C. E. Foster at pres- 
ent has charge of the school. The trustees are B. F. Shreve, Pres. W. H. 
Rosser, W. M. Evans, W. Parks, and E. M. Lock, secretary. 

WEST GROVE TOWNSHIP. 

Population in ISSO, 1,093. — This township lies partly in four congres- 
sional townships, and the reader is referred for a fuller description of its lo- 
cation, to the cha])ter on township organization. It was named from Dead 
Mail's Grove, where the remains of a murdered man were found, in the 



604 HISTORY OF DA-VIS COUNTY. 

early settlement of tlie count}'. This township contains 23,187f acres of 
land, and is divided into seven school districts. 

One of the first settlers in this township was Jeff Hoekersmith, who set- 
telcd here in the sprinf^ of 18-18, and laid out a land warrant on section 25, 
where lie has since resided. 

The tirst marriage in the townshij) was Roland Sout to Jane Beard. 

The first birtii was Grady Hockei-smitli, born September 5, 1848. 

The first deatli was John Owens. 

The first physician was Dr. Selman, of Bioonifield. 

Tiie first minister was Rev. Dooly, of the I-Jaotist church. 

Tlie first school was taught in a log cabin, built by donation, by Jack 
Grady, J. Hoekersmith and others. The first teacher was Dick Rawlins. 

WKST (tKOVK. 

The town of West Grove was surveyed by Major William H. Cheever, on 
the sw qr swqr section 35, township 69, range 15, and nw qr nw qr section 2, 
township 68, range 15, on the 20th day of November, 1853. The land was 
owned by E. H. Sawyers, known as "Uncle Peck." 

This town is located on the Burlington and Southwestern Railroad, about 
nine miles southwest of Blootnfield. It is now a thriving town and grow- 
ing steadily, and is surrounded by a splendid country. 

THE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 

Of West Grove, was built in the summer of 1881. It is a good frame 
building, costing about |1,500. It was dedicated by Rev. T. R. Lester, of 
Cedar county, and the pastor is Rev. IJ. W. Bryant. Tliis church was or- 
ganized in October, 1845. The present membership is about 118. 

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 

Of West Grove, was organized about the year 1870, with the following orig- 
inal members: I. N. Short and wife, E. L. Field and wife, E. L. Baldridge 
and wife, Joshua Eastburn and wife, and Mrs. Benjamin Morris. They oc- 
cupy a nice frame church, built in 1873, costing about $1,000. Rev. J. T. 
Black was the first regular pastor. The succeeding pastors are S.^B. Down- 
ing, Moses Downi'igi M. M. Boyer, J. ISforthcut, Elder Carr, Elder Nor- 
ton and Elder Samuel Jordan. The present membership is about 40. 

WYACONDAH TOWNSHIP. 

Population in .1880, li2^]8. — This is all of congressional township 67, 
range 14, north of the Missouri state line; and also congressional township 
68, range 14, except six sections taken from the northwest corner, in form- 
ing. West Grove township. It was named from Wyacondah Creek which 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 605 

flows soutlieastwai'dly across the noi-theast cornei' of tlie township. Tliis 
township contains 30,028^ acres of land, and is divided into ten school 
districts. 

Wyacondali townsliip liad atnon;^ its early settlers Henry Dooley, Joel 
Fenton, Saninel and Ileul)en Riggs, James Rigsly, Snow Sailing, Jona- 
than Kiggs, Anderson Willis, Abner Tharp, Joseph Carter, Adam Smith, 
William Etissell, John Bragg, David Howell. 



"The Iliiirv Nation originally was confined to what was knovvii as the 
forks of the Wyacondali, embracing the settlements between and along the 
margin of two streams, and wiien anyone spoke of the Nation, its locality 
was understood as here described. But in pi-ocess of time tiie whole of 
Wyacondali township was denominated the Hairy Nation; and for many 
years past persons at a distance have recognized anyone hailing from Davis 
county as a resident of the "Hairy Nation." 

"Our senators and representatives from this county have always been 
recognized at the capital of the State, and hailed as representing in face, 
figure, language and garb the peculiar people whose fathei-s pitched their 
tents, erected the jiole cabins and watche<l their tiocks in the valleys and on 
the table lands of what was then known as the Wau-kin-daw. 

"I am indebted to Judge McAfee for many incidents connected with the 
early settlement of the county, and for many humorous anecdotes illustra- 
tive of the times and of the people who first settled the Hairy Nation. I 
learn from him that somewhere in the mountainous regions of Kentucky 
or Tennessee there was a settlement of trappers and hunters whose wild, 
rude, mode of life, their foniliiess for the ruder sport of di-inking, horse- 
racing and fighting, gave to that particnhir locality of their mountain home 
the name "Hairy Nation." And that some of the settlers, not all by any 
means, in their wild mode of life so nearly resembled the denizens c)f that 
liunting, ti'apping. drinking and fighting region that they assumed the name 
of "Hairy Natic^n." And with your indulgence I will relate an anec- 
dote told me by the Judge as illustrative of the character of some of 
those who coiitriliuted to fasten the n.aiiie on that beautiful part of our 
county, that has long since ceased to be the theatre of scenes like the one 
here described. 

"The Judge tells me that on his first visit to the Nation, he was on horse- 
back, and was hunting for the blacksinithsliop of one Jefi". Sailing, to get his 
horse shod. While riding along through the brush, and wiien near the 
place where Morris McCracken now lives, he heard a most unearthly thump- 
ing and stamping, accompanied with the wild "yip" and "war-whoop" 
peculiar to the "Ingiir' in those days. Bending down the bushes, and 
peering in the <lirection of the noise, he discovered a little cabin with the 
door standing open, and a tall man, bare-headed, with a shock of wild, 
shaggy, straggling hair, shirt collar and bosom open; the veins in his red, 
turkey-gobbler like neck distended like whip cords, with no other clothing 
save his shirt and a primitive pair of breeches, swinging his hairy, naked 
arms high inair, and dancing a wildtlance of triumphant joy, backand forth 
across the puncheon floor. Discovering the Judge, he yelled out through 



*Colonel Moore. 



606 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. * 

liis iron lungs: "Hello, there; come in; you shan't be hurt; won't you 
wait? I'm old Dan Sailing. The boys in the Nation liave been bantei-ing 
me to come up and take a spree; said they would drink me blind. But 
come in, stranger. Look thar!" and at the same time raising a puncheon 
in the floor. "Look in thar, stranger; tliere they are, all three of 'em. I've 
drunk 'em dead drunk, throwed 'em in the tater hole, and I'm dancin' over 
their graves." The Judge failed to get his horse shod, for Jeff., the black- 
smith, was dead drunk in the "tater hole." 

I -liave been told that in the very early days of the settlement of the Hair}' 
Nation good water was rather scarce; but whisky was cheap, and it was the 
custom to buy a barrel of that kind of moisture, and leaving it on the 
"liazrd," or "bob sled," in the brusii, each man went on his own motion with 
his bottle, jug or coffee pot, and took wiiat he wanted, kept his own ac- 
counts, and reported at tlie proper time to the owner the amount consumed, 
and that he was not required to specify and itemize the quantities used for 
medicinal mechanical, culinary or sacramental purposes. 

SAV.^XNAU. 

The oldest town in this township is Savannah. As early as 1849, there 
was a post office established here, called "Tippo," from Tippo Williams, an 
old settler, and who became the first post-master. 

October 7, 185L John McCullough, the owner, employed John W. Ellis, 
county surveyor, to survey the present town, on the nw qrofthe ne qr of sec- 
tion 10, township 67, range 14. Tlie name was then changed to Savannah) 
and John M. Denny ]Mit up the first store in the town, and afterwards sold 
out to David Wells. 

MARTINSVILLE. 

This town was surveyed and laid off August 30, 1856, by Thomas Duf- 
field, county surveyor, on the se qr of tlie nw qr, and the ne qr of the sw qr, 
of section ?>0, township 68, range 14, of which Ezra W. Martin and W. 
H. Bunch were the owners. 

SrEINGVII.LIC. 

This town, located at "Carters Springs," oti the nw qr of the swqr, of sec- 
tion 34, township 68, range 14, on land belonging to Mrs. Jane S. Barnes, 
was surveyed by Thomas Duffield, county surveyor, March 15, 1857. 

Tlie fii'st marriage in Wyacondah township was between John Burton 
and Miss Saraii Attoberry, the exact date of which we cannot give. 

The first birth was Wm. Fenton, born April 24, 1840. The first death 
was a child of Abrani Mays, who died in February 1850. 

The first minister in this township was Ki^v. J. Dooley, a Baptist preacher. 

Tlie first school was taught in a log school house; built on section 11, b}' 
volunteer work. 

The first election held in this townsliip was in the spring of 1844, being 
the first held in the coimty. It was held at Mr. Fenton's. 



BioGAPHiCAL Sketches. 



All men cannot be great; each has his own sphere, and the success of his 
life is to be measured by the manner in which he fills it. But men may 
be both true and good, may be morally great, for in true living there are no 
-degrees, there is no respect of persons. The word sketch, as here used, im- 
plies an outline or delineation of anything, giving broad touclies by which 
only an imperfect idea, at the best, can be conveyed. It is not designed to 
•include <il,l the several and separate acts of a man's life, important or other- 
wise, for that would necessarily be botli comprehensive and minute; nor is 
any single sketch purely biographical, which would im])ly a review of the 
life and character of each person. The design is to give tlie merest outline, 
with particular reference, however, to the public life of the persons named. 
To go into each man's private life, or into his home life, would be both un- 
warranted and valueless. Few care to know these facts, and many of them, 
perhaps, had best be forgotten. As a rule one's neighbors know full enough 
about him, and to afford them correct data for information may deprive 
them of the topic of quondam conversations. 

Here will be found few, if any, who are not entitled to a place in public 
■confidence. The names are, in great part, those of men who have been 
closely and ifor along time identified with the interests of the county and 
their respective townships. If in their lives no mention appears of the 
hardships they endured in the early days of the county's- history it is because 
these are the common experiences of pioneer life, were not exceptional in 
their character, and have already been referred to in other pages of this 
volume. A repetition here of individual experiences would be absolutely 
void of both interest and aim. To the residents of the county the names of 
none of its earliest settlers are without interest. So far as they could be 
gathered they illustrate quite fully the character of the early settlers; if the 
names of any such do not appear in these pages it is because facts were not 
accessible, or that an inauspicious destiny had arrested their career. Their 
place was already marked. To have obtained sketches of their lives at first 
hand, would have been, next to the consciousness of duty fulfilled, the high- 
est of gratifications. Their lives would obtain, and justify all sympathy, aud 



608 niSTOET OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

even their names recall heroic examples of whicli the men of to-day, witli 
better fortunes, though with less daring, are neither the companions, the 
rivals nor the masters. In the great majority of instances the battles in 
which many persons named have been engageil are suppressed, not because 
they are valueless, but because the engagements of the several Iowa regi- 
ments may be found elsewhere in this work. This lias not been generally 
the case with regiments outside of the State. 



BLOOM FIELD CITY. 

ANDERSON. REUBEN W., County Superintendent, Bloouifield, whose 
portrait appears in this work, was born in Pike county, Ohio, January 4, 18.54. 
When three years of age he came with his father, Captain W. Anderson, to 
Roscoe township, this county, where he grew to manhood, helping his father 
on the farm and goingto school; attending Troy academy four terms, taught 
his first school vv lien fifteen years old; teaching six tei'ms, then. In 1873^ 
went to Ohio and taught two terms, then attended two terms at theNational 
Normal at Lebanon, Ohio; then, after teacliing two more terms, attended 
the college at Delaware one year; tlien taught two terms at I'iketon, Ohio, 
first as assistant, then as principal; then took charge of his uncle's farm 
one year, and, in 1878, returned to this county. Taught one term in his 
home district, then took charge of the Pulaski schools, as principal, for one 
year, and in the fall of 1879, was elected County Su])ei'intendent on the 
democratic ticket, by a majority over the greenback ticket of 114, and over 
the republican ticket of 222. He was elected principal of the Bloointield 
schools in June, 1881, where they have one of the best graded schools in 
the State. He was married May 9th, 1877, to Miss Plana Hayes, of Ross 
county, Ohio, who died May 9. 1878, and he married again to Miss Celina C. 
Plank, daughter ot J. J. Plank, of Pulaski, Iowa. Mr. Anderson is a mason^ 
an odd fellow, and a member of the M. E. church. 

Professor Anderson, though still young, has attained a proud position 
among the school workers of the State, and during the short time lie has 
been connected with the Bloointield schools, has more than met the most 
sanguine expectations of his friends. As an organizer he has few equals and 
no superiors. He owns a nice farm near town, and is making himself a 
home. 

ALLENDER, REV. R. B., Bloomtield; one of the pioneers of the gospel 
in Iowa, was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, March 25, 1816, where 
he lived till 1839. He united with the church August 25, 1837, and in the 
fall of 1839, came to Jefferson county, in what was then the territory of 
Iowa. He entered a farm of the government, where he lived till 1853, 
when he was ordained a minister of the M. E. Church, and sent to Monroe 
circuit, two years; Centerville circuit, two years; Agency circuit, two years; 
Osceola circuit, one year; Kuoxville circuit, two years; then the war com- 
ing on, he accepted the call of the Twenty-second Iowa infantry. Colonel 
Stone, as chaplain, and was out with the regiment eleven months. Then 



HISTORY OF DAVIS GOUNTV. 60& 

resis^ned, and returned t(j Knoxville, tlien was sent to Atica, tvvo years; 
Knoxviile, one year; Albia district, two years; Ottmnwa, two years; Ajjencyj 
three years; then, in 1871*, superannnated, and came to Blooiiitield. Pie 
was elected jiresiding eider, ot Albia district, Iowa conference, Bishop 
Ames, presidincf. Mr. A. has received into tiieclinrcli, 3,000 persons. He 
was married July C, 1839, to Almyra Frauzey, of Bedford county, Pennsyl- 
vania, and they have had eight children, D. 11., John C, R. B., Emma J.,. 
Olive E., and three deceased; William IL, of Third Cavalry, received a mor- 
tal wound at Jackson, Mississippi; Francis A., of Third cavalry, killed at 
Big Blue, Kansas. IJev. A. is located in this city, where he has spent nine 
years of his life. 

ALLENDEIi, D. H., dentist, is a native of Iowa, born September 29^ 
1815, in Jefferson county. He commenced the study of dentistry in 1868, 
at Knoxviile; after studying two years, he came to Bloomfield, and commenced 
practicing, which he has since continued. He was married in April 187;3^ 
to Miss Anna Clark of this city, and they have three children. May, Fred 
Clark, and Almy Maud. Mr. A. is a mason, and a zealous member of the 
M. E. Church. 

AWALT, JACOB, blacksmitli,Bloomtield, was born October 2, 1822, in 
Bartholomew county, Indiana, where he lived until 1819. He was raised a 
farmer, and at seventeen learned blacksmithing with William M. Hobbs, of 
Columbus Indiana, where he remained three years, then worked for himself 
till 1847, und then, after two years farming, he cniiie to this county, and 
settled ill Union township, where he woi'ked at his ti'ade till 1860. Jn the 
spring of that year he went to Bike's Peak, where he remained about eigh- 
teen niimths eni;aofed in mining, then returned home and commenced work- 
ing at his trade in Bloomtield. tour years later going to Monlton, for seven 
years, in the hotel business. He then returned to Bloomtield, where he has 
since resided. He was mai'ried June 20, 1811, to Elizabeth Mick es, of 
Columbus Indiana, and they have nine children, all living, Mary J., I'. M., 
Nanny E., Abby, Mattie M., Amanda M., William, Ella and Ida. Mr. A. 
does a large business at his trade, and is highly respected by the entire 
community. 

BOY Ell, J., express agent and e.x-post-inasfer, Blooinfiehl; was born in 
Maryland, April 20, 1821. When quite young his father, Martin, moved 
to Frajiklin county, Pennsylvania, and at the age of seven his father died, 
and his mother moved to (Jumberland county. In 1832 they moved t<i Perry 
COuntv,Ohio, wheie he spent his youth, receiving his education in the comuKjii 
schools. At the age of sixteeti he commenced to learn tailoring, as appren- 
tice with Richard Collum, ;it Zanesville, Ohio, about five years; then work- 
ing at diflerent places. In 18-18 he started for Iowa, spending the winter 
in Van Buren county, the next summer in Fairfield, and in August, 1849, 
came to this county where he has since lived, working at tailoring till 1861, 
when, on May 6, he was apjiointed post-master of this city, and served till Feb- 
ruary 12, 1S79. In the winter of 1862 he was appointed express agent at 
this city, and has held it ever since, showing -the confidence the company 
have in him. He was married in December 1843 to Miss Sarah Lisk, of 
Dankins Falls, Ohio, and they have had two children, Benjamin F. and Syl- 
vester J. For the last forty years he has been an active worker in the cause 
of temperance, being once a member of the Grand Lodge of Good Templars. 

BAER, FRANKLIN" P., foreman in the clothing department tor Hill, 
Herr & Co., Bloomfield; was born in Soap Creek township, in this county, 



610 HISTORY OB^ DAVIS COUNTT. 

August 30, 1852, a son of David and Clarisa B., wlio still live on tiie old 
home farm. Mr. B. spent his early youth in agricultural pursuits, and at 
"the age of nineteen entered the noiinal scliool at Troy, where lie studied 
two years, tiien tauorlit school for three years and in 1876 visited the Pacific 
■coast with L. C. Baer, who was traveling for his health. Jiemained. there 
■one year then returned to thiscounty and clerked eighteen months for John 
Blackmore at Drakeville, and accepted the position he now holds, in Feb- 
ruary, 1880. He was married at Drakeville December 25, 1879, to Miss 
Mary J., daughter of James L. Dysart, of this county. They have one child, 
■Cleora, born March 14, 1881. Mr. B. is a member of the Odd Fellows lodge 
at Drakeville. 

BROOK, ALLEN, foreman of the boot and shoe department, for Hill, 
Herr & Co., of Bloomfield, was born in Yorkshire, En<;land, a son of Geo. 
and Eliza B. His parents dying when he was a small child, he was raised 
hy his uncle, William Haywood. He came to America in 1878 with Ebb 
Hill, and was at once employed by the above firm. He was raised a leather 
currier, and received a good common school educaton. He was married 
here in 1878, to Miss Augusta Rochlitz, a native of Germany, and they had 
•one child, Clara, who died July 11, 1881. Mr. Brook is one of the finest 
salesmen in southern Iowa, and has built up a steadily increasing trade for 
his employers. 

COLONEy,CHAS. E , J. P., Bloomfield, was born Oct. 29, 1830, in St. 
Albans, Vt. His parents came to Ackron, O., in 1833, and at the age of 
fourteen he went to Indianapolis, to learn the painter's trade, with his 
father, and remained there about a year. Then went to Memphis, Tennes- 
see, for two years, then returned to Ackron, Ohio, and remained until 1854, 
when he went to Galena, Illinois, where he remained till 185(3, and from 
there went to Chatfield, Minn., as chief clerk in the Register's department 
■of the government land ottice, where he remained till 1860, when he moved 
to Pi-eston, Fillmore county, to make an abstract of the title of lands in 
that county, and the same year was die democratic candidate for Register 
■of Deeds of the county, and was defeated by 33 votes. In 1862 he moved 
to Winona, Minn., where he was burnt out, and moved to St. Louis, Mo., 
.and in the fall of that year enlisted in Co. B. 40tli Missouri Infantry, where 
he served as telegraph clerk at Gen. Rosencrans' headquarters. Before this, 
in May 1860, he' had been Deputy U. S. Marshal for Southern Minn. In 
1862, while on duty in St. Louis, he was commissioned a 2d Lieutenant in 
Co. B. 5th U. S. infantry regulars, and ordered to Denver, Colorado, on Gen. 
Upton's stafl:' as A. A. 1. G. of Colorado. He remained there till May 21, 
1866, when Gen. Upton was east, and then went to Fort Laramie, on the 
staff of Col. Maguadier; commanding as Provost Marshal, the district of the 
Platte, in which capacity he remained till June 30, 1866, when he resign- 
€d and went back to Ackron, Ohio, and worked at his trade until the fall of 
1872, when he went to Detroit. In November 1875, he came to Milton, Van 
Buren Co., Iowa, where he opened a grocery store, and ran it till March, 
1880, when he came to Bloomfield, and in November, same year, was elected 
Justice of the Peace. He held the same oftice while in Minnesota. He was^ 
conversant with all the Indian tribes of the west; was at the bogus treaty of 
July 4, 1866, and was the otticer who took the notorious Capt. Jack Curtis 
of Ihe 10th Kansas Regiment to the Missouri penitentiary. He was mar- 
ried in March 1872, to Miss Elizabeth N. Brainard, of New York. They 
have had two children, Jesse June, and one deceased. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 611 

.' CLAYTON, J. W., iarmei', section 25, Bloomiiekl, is the owner of 410 
acres, in this townsliip, ail in cultivation, and 200 acres of land in south- 
west Missouri. Hfe has a sjilendid residence one-half mile due west of the 
courthouse. He was horn in Siielby county, Indiana, May 28, 182S, and 
there grew to manhood on a farm, receivina; a high school education. In 
February, 1865, he came to Tazewell county, Illinois, and in February, 1868, 
landed in this county, and settled on his present farm. He was married 
April 9, 1850, to Miss Martha Plielps, a native of Indiana, and by this union 
had three children, FLira, wife of W. H. McAchran, and two deceased. 
Mrs. Clayton died in February' ISoS: and he was married again November 
30, 1858, in Davis county to Miss Eliza J. Van Beiithusen,a native of Indi- 
ana, and the}' iiave had ten children, Tommy J.,Mai'y E.. Henrietta S., Kate, 
'Geoi'ge S., Hallie G.,Mattie L., Jolni W.,and two diseased ;Wm. T., and Julia. 

Mr. Clayton is the Secretary of the County Agricultural Society, which 
position he has held for three years. He was elected county auditor in 
1873, and reelected in 1875; being in office at the time the new court house 
■was built. He is sei-ving hi^; 9th year as school director. Mr. Clayton has 
a very fine property, and has an abundance in store, to comfort him in his 
old age. 

CARRUTHEKS, S. S., attorney, Bloomfield, was born August 20, 1837, 
in Wheeling, Virginia. In 1844, his parents moved to New Madrid Co., 
Missouri, now Pemiscot Co. And in 1847, they moved to Slielbyville, 
Indiana, atid i-eturned to Wheeling, A'irginia, in 1853; and in July 1854. 
Mr. Carruthers came to Iowa, and located in liloomfield. Witli a common 
sciiool education, he commenced studying law with Trimble & Baker, in 
1857; and in September 1860, was admitted to the bar. at Keosanqua, by 
Judge Townsend. He then began the ]iractice, and in 1861, succeeded to 
tlie business of Trimble & Baker, they botii having gone into the army. 
Baker, as Colonel of Second Iowa Infantry atid Trimble, as Lieut. Colonel 
of the Third Iowa Cavalry. Mr. Carruthers continued to attend to this 
large business until January, 1867, when Judge Ti'imble retired from the 
liench, and they formed the firm of Trimble & Carruthers, which has con- 
tinued to the present. In 1876. Palmer, a son of Judge Trimble, was ad- 
mitted to the firm. They are the attorneys for the W^abash, St. Louis and 
Pacific Raili'oad Company, the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific, and Bur- 
lir)gton and Southwestern, and have done the leading liusiness in thecounty, 
which is evidenced by the large estates whicii they have accumulated. Mr. 
Carruthers has always been a staunch democrat, but never had inclination 
for office. He is now chairman of the democratic county committee. He 
was married Oct. 29, 1871, to Miss Lucretia Ann Kenaga, a native of 
Urbana, Ohio, and thev have tiiree children. Belle, W. K. and Iowa. 

Cl )FFE Y. N. F. & J. IL, grain elevators, Bloomfield. Mr. N. F. Coffey 
was born in Pike county, Illinois, August 31, 1848, where he grew to man- 
hood, receiving his education at Griggsville, Illinois. He came to Bloom- 
field in 1871, and was married October 14, 1876, to Miss Ellen Martin, of 
tills city, and they have two children, Anna E., and Earl. Mr. C. is a 
member of the Baptist churcii. He has a nice residence, and is surrounded 
with every comfort. 

The firm have shipped in the last twelvemonths, from Bloomfield station, 
oats, 120,000 bushels; corn, 75,000 bushels; rye, 5,000 bushels; wheat. 1,000 
bushels; timothy seed, 1,800 bushels; Hungarian seed, 1,000 bushels; hay, 
300 tons. From West Grove they have shipped: oats, 33,000 bushels; 



612 HISTORY OF DAVIS CODNTY. 

corn, 13,000 bnsliels; rye, 1,000 bushels; wlieat 500 bushels; tiniotliy seed, 
1,200 bushels; Hnnuarian seed, (300 bushels; hay, 150 tons. From Belknap 
they have shipped: oats, 15,000 bushels; corn, 5,000 bushels; rye, 1,500 
bnsliels; hay 50 tons. Tliis firm started in business in 1871. Since liieii 
they have rebuilt, and their trade has been increasing at the rate of 75 per 
cent; They draw their ti'ade from all the surrounding country, fri.m Van 
Bnren county, and from Missouri. They are energetic men — the kind of 
men who always succeed. 

DAVIS, C. F., editor and ]>ro]')rietor of the Letjil Tender Greenback, 
Bloomfield; was born January 20, 185-1, in Iroquois county, Illinois. He 
came to this county with his parents, J. R. and B. J. Davis, when he was 
eighteen months old, they locating oti a farm in Perry township, where he 
lived for about seven years, coming then to Bluonitield, where he has lived 
ever since. He obtained his education in the Blooiufield common schools; 
when thirteen years old he commenced teaming between Ottnmwa and 
Bloomfield until the railroad was built. After working in the post-office 
here for awhile, in 1872 he learned telegrapliin<i:, and entered the Wabash 
depot as assis ant agent and operatoi'. where he remained about a year. He 
then learned the pi'inter's trade in the office-s of the Gran(jer\'i Advocaie^ 
The C<rmvwiiweulth. the T'epuhllcan, and Dem.orrat, being only a sliort 
time in each, and then tor awhile in the Odd Pellows'' Baiuner office. In 
the S])ring of 1877, he bei,'a'i studying law wiih M. H. Jones, and the next 
winter taught scliuol in Lick Creek, and the following April was admitted 
to the bar. In June of the same year he established the Le(ial-Teniler 
Greenh<tck\ the organ of the Greenl^ack party in soritliern Iowa. Iiaving pur- 
chased the material of the defunct Coiuinonwi altli. His paper has giMwn 
wonderfully, has now a circulation of over 2,000. He \vas married Mai-ch 
31. 1880, to Miss Mamie Hagan, a native of this city, daughter of Leroy 
and J. A. Hagan. They have had one chihl, Vallie M., born February 14,. 
1881, and deceased August 3. 1881. Mr. and Mrs. Davis are meml)ers of 
the M. E. church, and lie is an Odd Fellow and Good Templar. He wiis 
township clerk in 1877; was ji deiegate to the Ponieroy National Conven- 
tion, held at St. Louis, March 4, ISSO; was Secretary of the State Green- 
back Editoiial As-^ociation for 1879, and ISS", and has attended all the Stite 
conveniions of his ]>arty as si delegate. He olitained the county printing 
when his ])aper was six months old, and the first day he ever solicited sub- 
scribers he obtained 48. He possesses the prime attributes of success, and 
wields a powerful influence. 
^ DOWNING, M., Bloomtield; was born January 19, 1833, in Fountain 
county, Indiana, and came to Davis county, Iowa, with his mother in 1848, 
his father having died while he was very young; they located in Salt Creek 
township, where he gi-ew to manhood on the farm, being educated in the 
common schools. At the age of 20 he commenced teaching, and taught 
during the winter for 23 years, and farmed during the summer. In 1863 
he began preaching in the Christian church, continuing it for fifteen years. 
In 1869 he was elected County Supei-intendent, and lield the office one term. 
In 1878, he came to Bloomfield and accepted the office of deputy treasurer, 
where he remained two years; then taught one term in the city schools, 
after wdiich he clerked in stores, being now engaged with Moore, Dilliner 
& Co. He was ordained a minister in the Christian church in 1863, and 
has performed more marriage ceremonies than any other man in the county, 
nnmbering 191; the first being February 22, 1863, Conrad Ritz to Miss- 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 613 

Ellen Bales. Mr. Downing was married May 2S, 1850, to Miss Martha 
Robbins, a native oflndiana, and tlieyliave had six children: W. A., Augus- 
tus A., Elnia C. O. M., and two deceased. 

DUNSHEE, DR. J., furniture dealer, of the tirin of Gnernsey, Llojd & 
Co., Blootntield; was born July l(_i, 1S23, in Washington county, Pennsyl- 
vania. In 1832, he removed with his parents to Ilicliland count}-, Ohio, 
where he grew to manhood on the farm, and received jiis education in tlie 
common schools, Milan academy, and Mansfield high school. At the age 
of 22 he began the study of medicine with Doctor Abernethy, of Lexington, 
Ohio, and attended the Western Reserve Medical College, at Cleveland, and 
graduated with credit. He began practice in Johnsville, where he remained 
four years; then moved to Albion, Indiana, where he remained till 1870, 
when he came to Iowa, locating at Bloomtield, and retired from practice. 
He was married December 2, 184-7, to Miss Isabel B. Richie, of Richland 
county, Ohio, and they have had four children: Lillie E., R. R., Anna M., 
and one deceased in infancy. He became a member of the firm he is now 
connected with, in fr.rniture and hardware, in October, ISSl, using his own 
store rooms. Dr. D. also owns a nice residence, wliere he lives, surrounded 
with ever}' comfort. 

DAYIS, JOHN R., senior memberof the firm of Davis & Son, manufactur- 
ers of well augers, Bloomfield ; was born on the north shore of Lake Ontario, 
Canada, May 8, 1829. When nine years old he came with his father, S. 
Davis, to Benton county, Indiana, where he grew to manhood, getting his 
edui'.ation in the common schoDls of that time. In IS'47 he removed to Chi- 
cago, where he lived four years, engaged in ship-carpentering. ■ He then re- 
turned to Benton county, and worked two years. In ■ August, 1855, he 
landed in this county, where he has since resided. He worked at carpen- 
tering and milling till 18t)3, when, April 16, he secured a patent on the 
American well auger. In October, 1878, he built his present shop, where 
he manufactures them. They are now in use from Manitoba to Texas, and 
from Indiana to Colorado. It is without doubt the best auger in use, the 
bore being from three to five feet in diameter. Two of his sons, W. S. and 
J. T., are partners in the business, and they employ from six to ten men. 
Tliey also take contracts for boring for coal. Mr. Davis was married in 
December, 1851, to Miss J. B. Crawford, of Benton count\% Indiana. 
They have had ten children : C. T., now editor of the Lcqal Tender Greenback^ 
W. S., J. T., R. F., Jenny, Wilda, Ella D., Lorette, Maud, and Charles, 
deceased. Mr. D. is a mason, and in politics is a greenbacker. 

DILLINER, W. H., merchant. Bloomfield, of the firm of Moore & Dil- 
liner, was born June 27, 1848, in Davis county, Iowa. Hei-e he got his ed- 
ucation, and followed the plow until 1S7'4, when he came to Bloomfield and 
bougiit grain for N. F. & J. H. Coffey one year, then clerked for George 
Duffield about two and a half years, then for Mendenhall and Oneal, two 
and a half years, and in February 1880, went into business for himself, with 
Mr. F. D. Moore, in dry goods and groceries, in which they are now en- 
gaged. They are doing a thriving business, much exceeding their expecta- 
tions. He was married August 21, 1868, to Miss Olive L. French, a native 
of Indiana, and they have three children: Mary M., Lalie M., and William 
Ellsworth. When he commenced his married life his capital stock con- 
sisted of one horse, one cow, and $20 in cash. 

DUFFIFLD, CAPT. J. M., jeweller, and member of thefirm of Bur- 
gess & Duffield, was born April 15, 1835, in Jefi'ersou county, Ohio. In 



61-i HISTORY OF DAVIS COnU'JT. 

1S44 his parents caine to Van Buren county, Iowa, and in 1845 came tO' 
Lick Creek township, this connt}'. He has lived in tiiis county ever since, 
and every vote he ever cast, except while in the army, was cast here. He 
enlisted in April, 1861, in Company G, Second Iowa Infantry, which was 
the first regiment to leave the State. He was promoted second and first 
sergeant, and in the fall of 1861 to second lieutenant. In the fall of 1862, 
he was promoted to captain, and in April, 1863, resigned on account of dis- 
ability. He was in all the battles in which the gallant Second participated, 
(except Fort Donelson,) while he was in the service. In 1863, he went into 
mercantile business in Bloomfield witii his brother, about two years, then 
engaged in the stock business for several years; then opened a drug store,, 
and a few years later commenced farming and dealing in stock. In Octo- 
ber, 1878, he opened liis present jewelry house, which he has continued ever 
since. He has always been a strong republican, and a stalwart politician,, 
alwaj's helping others, but never seeking ofSce himself. He was married 
May 19, 1863, to Anna M. Findley, only daughter of Dr. William McKay 
Findl}', a native of Henry county, [owa. They have had three children:. 
William, Findley, and Mary E., deceased. 

DOOLEY J. C, A. M., county superintendent of Davis county, whose 
portrait appears elsewliere, was born in Wyacondah township, this county, 
May 3, 1860. His parents, Jesse and Mary E., settled here in 1840, and 
hence were among the ver}' earliest settlers of that township. The Indian 
chief Keokuk then resided with his band on his grandfather's claim, now 
his farm. Here young Dooley was reared, taught to labor on the farm, and 
received the rudiments of an Englisli education. In 1866, at the age of 
sixteen, he with his parents removed to Missouri, and a year later lie re- 
turned, took charge of and conducted his grandfather's farm for several 
year's. At the age of twenty-two he entered tlie North Missouri State Nor- 
mal School at Kirksville, leaving the farm under the immediate care of his 
brother, O. Dooley. He entered the school in 1872, took a complete course,, 
besides extra studies, and taught as an assistant in the Normal every term 
while there. He graduated with the class of 1878. He then closed out his 
interest in the farm, and went direct from Kirksville to the Iowa State Uni- 
versity at Iowa City, and there took a selected couse, and after graduation 
took an advanced course in physics, chemistry and astronomy. He did 
three years of school work in two, in the years 1879 and 1880. He then 
took charge of the Bloomfield schools, which he conducted for one year to 
the satisfaction of everybody. On account of failing health he declined a. 
re-election and accepted the greenback nomination for county superintend- 
ent. He was elected by a majority of 143 ovei- the republican candidate, 
and 224 over the democratic candidate. Although he had been a voter for 
ten years, this was his first experience in politics. October. 20, 1881, he 
entered on the duties of his office, filling out the unexpired term of Mr. 
Anderson, and January 1, 1882, lie qualified for the term lor which he was- 
elected. He was married July 29, 1880, to Miss Emma Kinman, daughter 
of Rev. E. Kinman, of this county. She is a member of the Baptist Church. 
Mr. Dooley is a member of West Grove Lodge, I. O.^ O. F., and also a 
member of the Knights of Pythias. 

DAVIS, JEHU, county sheriff', Bloomfield, was born September 4, 1836, 
in Monougahala county, Virginia. When about two years of age, his par- 
ents moved to Greene county, Pennsylvania, and there he grew to manhood, 
and was educated in the ancient log school house, with its slab seats, and 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 615 

greased paper window lights. At the age of seventeen he commenced 
learning the saddlery and iiarnessniaking, witii Mr. J. A. Billingsley, of 
Mt. M:irris, Pennsylvania, after a tiiree years apprenticeship, and one year 
more, he started a shop iiimself, for about live months, then moved to Dav- 
istown, in same county, and a year or two later, to Taylortown. In the fall 
of 1803, he came to this county, and farmed one year, then moved to Pu- 
laski, bought a harness shop and carried on the business iintill 1879. wheit 
he was elected sheriff, and moved to Bloomtield. He was married Septem- 
ber 4, 18(50, to Miss Rebecca L. Garrison, a native of Pennsylvania; 
they have had seven children: Arrie B., Annie V., Sarah E., Martha G., V. 
J. C., Gracie, and James C. deceased. 

EICIIELBERGER, FRANK W., of the firm of Payne & Eichelberger, 
attorneys, Bloomlield, was born August 7, 18-H, in Piqua, Ohio. In ISii 
his parents moved to Springfield, Ohio, and came to Iowa in 1854, and loca- 
ted in Muscatine, wjiere he grew to manhood, being educated in the com- 
mon schools. In 1862 he became local editor of Muscatine Journal, and 
continued till 1866, except a short time when he was city editor of the Mem- 
phis Bulletin, and army corres|)ondent of the Chicago Tribune. In 1866 
he began the study of law with Judge Williams, of Ottumwa, and was ad- 
mitted to the bar in 1868, by Judge Trimble, at Ottumwa, and began the 
practice of law. In 1870 he formed a partnership with Judge Traverse, 
and in 1880 formed the firm of Traverse, Payne & Eichelberger, and when 
Judge Traverse went on the bench, the firm became Payne & Eichelberger. 
He has been mayor and councilman of Bloomtield, and it was through him 
that the city ordinances were revised and made to hold water. He was 
married June 16, 1866, to Miss Ella A. Pratt, of Muscatine; they have had 
one child. May, deceased. 

EPPLEY, SAMUEL M., county treasurer, Bloomfield ; was born in Lick- 
ing county, Ohio, Fel)ruary 14, 1830. In 1832, he moved with his father 
toJLogan county, and in 1839, to Miami county, and in 1844, to Montgom- 
ery county, working with his father at the millwright business. In 1846 
they came to Springfield, Ohio, where he went to school, working in a gro- 
cery evenings and Saturdays to pay his board. In 1847 he entered the 
foundry of Hatch and Ferrell as apprentice. In 1849 he went to Hunting- 
ton county, Indiana, and assisted his father to build a saw-mill at Mt. Etna. 
In 1854 he moved to Keokuk, Iowa, and entered the foundry of Vail and 
Armitage, for about seven or eight years. In the fall of 1866 he came to 
this county and bought a farm near Stilesville; after meeting with many 
misfortunes he rented !iis farm, came to this city and took charge of the well 
auger foundry; loosing a good deal of money, and his wife being in poor 
health, he had a hard time to make both ends meet. In the spring of 1879 
he went to work in a sawmill with J. H. Plank, only working three days 
when he was accidently caught on the saw, having his left arm cut off and 
his bowels cut open, which has disabled him for life; lying in the house for 
three months, during which time his wife died, which left him alone with 
his children. Pie was married December 3, 1850 to Miss Amanda J. Hoff- 
man, of Ohio, and they had twelve children, nine now living. In 1879 he 
was elected county treasurer on the Republican ticket, and still holds the 
office. He was married again April 15, 1880, to Miss Eliza Ellen Bishop, 
of Champaign county, Ohio, and they have one child. Mr. E. was defeated 
for reelection as treasurer in 1881 bv the greenback candidate by a very 



61 G filSTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

small majority. He is a man of sterling honesty and leaves the oftice with 
a record to be proud of, and one that will be a herita<je for his children. 

EARHART, JOSIAH I., retii'ed fanner and merchant, Bloomlield; was 
born in Pennsylvania in 1813, and at four years of age came with his par- 
ents, Adam and Julia A. E., to Franklin county, Ohio, where he grew up a 
farmer, receiving a common school education. In 1841 he moved to Iowa, 
where lie has since lived; has voted at thirty-nine elections in this county, 
and has never lost a vote since the county was organized. He was in mer- 
cantile business in Troy for twelve years, and in the stock business at the 
same time, and about seven years was in the mill at Troy, and has been a 
farmer the rest of liie time. He was one of the first justices elected in the 
county when it was organized. And prior to the adoption of the State con- 
stitution he was elected probate judge two terms. In 1870 he moved to 
Bloomfield and has been elected justice here. He was married in Ohio in 
1839 to Miss Rebecca Wood, a native of Ohio, and they had seven children, 
Elizabeth, Malissa, George, Adeline, Julia, and two deceased in infancy. 
Mrs. E. died in 1854, and two years later he was married to Louisa Ander- 
son, a native of Pennsylvania; they have three children, Fannie, Willie and 
Grace. Mr. and Mrs. E. are members of the Presbyterian church. 

ECKARD, W. S., of the firm of Hill & Eckard, butchers. Bloomfield; 
was born April 29, 1844, in Huntington county, Pennsylvania. Here he 
grew up, being educated in the common schools, and learned the plasterer's 
trade. At the age of nineteen he enlisted in coin^iany D. Twenty-second 
Pennsylvania Cavalry and served in the Shenandoah valley, and was mus- 
tered out in March, 186t; again enlisting July 4, 1864, in company B, Two 
Hundred and Eighth Pennsylvania Infantry, in the ninth army corps, army 
of Potomac; with which he participated in the siege of Petersburg, in the 
charges on Fort Steadman, and fort "Hell;" being the iirst man into the 
■works of Fort Steadman. Was in pursuit of Lee, and at the grand review, 
and mustered out in June, 1865. He returned to Pennsylvania, plastered a 
•while, then, in 1871, worked as car inspector on the Pennsylvania Central 
R. R.; came to Iowa in 1876, worked at butchering at Grinnell till Novem- 
ber, 1880, when he came to Bloomfield and engaged in the same business. 
He was married December 25, 1868, to Miss Mary Kennedy, a native of 
Pennsj'vania; they have four children, Emma, Aldis, Eliza and Blanche. 
Since writing the abbove Mr. E. has sold out his business and is engaged in 
plastering. He is a man of enei-getic habits, and has a good record. 

FINDLEY, DR. WILLIAM McK., deceased, was born in Dayton,Ohio, July 
30, 1816. He was for more than forty years a medical practitioner in Iowa. 
His father, Rev. John P. Findley, was for years jiresident of Augusta Col- 
lege, Kentucky, and his grandfather, Robert W. Findley, was a Methodist 
minister for sixty years, dying in his ninetj'-sixth year. The Findleys 
are of Scotch-Irish descent, pioneers in North Carolina, and a large number 
of them have been clergymen. The mother of William was Sarah Strain, 
. her father being with Gen. Washington at the crossing of the Delaware. 
John P. Findley died in 1825, and Rev. Dr. Henry Bascom became guar- 
dian of William McK., who spent two or three years in the college, then 
spent two years with his uncle iit the Wyandotte mission, studying with the 
Indian boys and becoming an interpreter. He read medicine with Dr. Sa- 
bin, of Troy, Ohio; attended lectures at Pennsylvania University, and grad- 
uated in 1837. After practicing one year in Shelby ville, Indiana, he came 
to New London, Henry county, Iowa,"^and in 1843, settled permanently in 



HTSTOEY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 617 

Blooinfield, Davis county. J)r. Findley was one of the great pioneer physi- 
•cians of the west, endearing himself to tlie early settlers by sparing no pains 
to respond to the calls of the sick. In 1863, he became surgeon of the 
Fonrth Iowa Cavalry, and remained at his post of duty till the close of the 
war. Dr. Findley was anti-slavery in politics, and joined the republican 
party at its formation. He was a member of the M. E. Church. He was 
married October 3, 1830, to Miss Mary Bangs, in ^ew London. She was 
the daughter of Captain John Uangs, of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Of 
seven ehildren, the fruit of this union, only three are now living: Anna M., 
wife of John DufSeld; John !'., druggist, and Samuel P., a jeweler, allliv- 
iug in Bloomfield. 

"FINDLEY, J. B., druggist, Bloomlield, is a son of Dr. William McKay 
Findley, and was born September 1, 1848, in Bloomfield, Iowa. Here he 
has been raised and educated. In 1866 he went into the drug business on 
his own account, having clerked for J. B. Glenn and Gibbon for three years 
previous, and became master of the trade. He has continued in the busi- 
ness since. Be is a K. P., and has made all his moiiey himself His father 
was surgeon of the Fourth Iowa Cavalry, and division surgeon during the 
war. He was married N^ovember 15, 1S71, to Miss Mollie E. Moore, a na- 
tive of Indiaiux, and they have had live children. Park, Olga, John B., and 
two deceased. 

FINDLEY, S. P., jeweler, Bloomfield; was born April 28, 1851, in 
Bloomfield, and has since lived on the same lot on which he was horn, grow- 
ing to manhood and educated here, in the schools of the town. In 1871, he 
went into the drug business with his brother with whom he remained 
until 1876, when he bought out the jewehy business of J. R. Shafl'er, and 
has continued in the trade ever since. He carries the largest stock of jew- 
elry in the county, or southern Iowa, and enjoys a trade second to none. 
This lie has accomplished through strict attention to business. He was 
married February 22, 1877 to Miss Ella Wray, of Oskaloosa. Mr. F. is a 
son of the well known Dr. William McKay Findley. • 

FENTON, F. M., M. D., Bloomfield : was born August 25, 1833, in Boone 
county, Missouri. When eight years old, his parents came to Wyacondah 
township, this county, where they entered the land they still live on. Here 
be grew up on the farm and was educated in the common schools and Troy 
Academy. In the spring of 1849, he caught the gold fever, and crossed the 
plains to California, where he remained two and a half years, then returning 
home the same way. He went to school one year, and taught six months, 
when he began tlie study of medicine with Dr. E. J. Shelton, and in the 
winter of 1857-8, attended the Medical College at Keokuk, Iowa, and re- 
turned to Pulaski and began ])racticing. In the winter of 1862-3, he grad- 
uated at Keokuk, and then practiced till March, 1871, when he bought a 
farm in Perry township, moved on to it, and practiced at the same time. 
In June, 1880, he sold out his farm and came to Bloomfield, where lie has 
since devoted himself to his practice, which is now second to none in the 
county. He was married April 15, 1858, to Miss Sarah J. Shelton, whose 
father was one of the early settlers of Davis counts'. They have had eight 
children: Elizabeth, W. E., Joel N., and five deceased in infancy. 

FORTUNE, W. F., of the firm of Fortune Bros. & Fryberger, Bloom- 
field; was born January 9, 1853, in Davis county, and here has grown to 
manhood on a farm and educated in the common schools. He farmed till 

19 



618 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

the fall of 1879, when he came to Bloomtield and went into the firm of Hill) 
& Fortune, liardware, and has been in the trade ever since. Tiiey carry a 
large stock in their line, and sell tiieir goods at bottom prices; this has se- 
cured them a large trade. He was married November ^5, 1879^ to Miss- 
Laura Hill, of this county. 

FORTUNE, C. D., of the iirm of Fortune Bros. & Frjberger, Bloomfield;; 
was born March IS, IS55, in Davis count}'. Here he grew up a farmer's- 
ho}', and was educated in the pnl)lic school, and the habits of industry he- 
learned on the farm are making his business life successful. He worked on 
the farm till the fall of 1880, wlien, after clerking in the clothing house ot" 
Gutliman ik, Co. for a year, he became a member of the above firm in the- 
hardware trade. He was married October 19th, 1881, to Miss Mary Taylor,, 
a native of Davis county. 

FRYBERGEPt, W. E., of the firm of Fortune Bros. & Fryberger, Bloom- 
field; was born November 30, 1854, in Wabash county, Indiana. His 
parents came to Fairfield, Iowa, in 1862, and there he grew upon a farm,, 
and began to learn the printer's trade when he was sixteen, with J. B. King,, 
of Bloomfield, and followed it six years. He finished his education in 
Axline's College, Fairfield. He came to Davis county in 1872, and located 
in Bloomfield, where he has remained. August 16, 1881, he became a part- 
ner in the above firm, of which he is now a member. He was married Feb- 
ruary 25, 1879, to Miss Belle Fortune, a native of Davis county, and they 
have onechild, Blanche. 

GIBBONS, A. D., druggist, Bloomfield; was born September 26, 1833,. 
in Prince George county, Maryland, and while an infant his parents moved 
to Indiana, and in the fall of lS-14 came to this county, and located about 
two miles north of Bloomfield. Here he grew to manhood and graduated 
from the log school house. February 14, 1856, he entered into partnership 
with Dr. Greenleaf in the drug business, on the southwest corner of the 
public square, in Bloomfield, and after about eighteen months sold out to 
Mr. Sloan, who sold to Mr. Denny, and in February, 1866, he bought out 
Mr. Denny, and has run the store ever since. He has been a member of 
the city council several times, and has always been a public spirited man. 
He was married November 10, 1860, to Miss Martha C. Spencer, who died 
July 1, 1877, and he married again April 7, 1878, to Josephine A. Welch, a. 
native of Illinois, and they have had two children, both deceased. When 
Mr. G., commenced business, in 1856, he had $425, and to-day he has a fine 
business, and owns his business house and a dwelling. He has been a mem- 
ber of the M. E. Chnach for 28 years, and is also a member of the Masonicr 
and Odd Fellows lodges. 

GOOD, W. H., deceased, was born in Halifax, Virginia, February, 23,. 
1798; where he ijrew to maidiood, then emigrated to Kentucky. In 1850y. 
he came to this county settling in Wyacondah townshij), l)eiiig one of the 
pioneers of that township, where he lived till his disease; he was married 
July 29, 1860, to Mrs. Mary A. French, of Bloomfield, in Hamilton county, 
Ohio, and they had two children, Edward E., now a young man of 18, in 
Bloonifiekl; and Eva J., a young ladj' of 16, attending school. Mrs. Good 
has a nice farm of 124 acres, well improved, with fine brick residence, good 
barn, and one of the best orchards iu the township. She lives in Bloom- 
field, owning a neat cottage, with every comfort. She has been a member- 
of the Christian church since she was 17. Mr. Good was a man upright in. 



HISTORY OF UAVIS COUXTY. 619 

his dealings, and had the confidence and respect of everybody. He died 
trusting; in the Lord. 

•GKEENLEAF, D. C, M. D., Bloomfield; was born March 21, 1823, in 
Switzerhind county, Indiana, and there he crrew to manhood and was edu- 
cated in the log school house, and Greensburg Seminary. Began the study 
of medicine in ISii, with Dr. Wm. Armington, of Greensburg, and during 
his studies he taught school and took a trip through the South, and into 
Texas before the annexation; went to Galveston and enlisted in Co. D, First 
Texas infantry, for the Mexican war, under Gen. Taylor's call, and served 
about five months, when he returned home to his medical studies, began 
practicing in 1848, at Shelbyville, Indiana, and in 1850, went to St. Louis 
and graduated from the medical department of the University of Missouri. 
He came to Bloomfield in the spring of 18.>0, and began practicing. He 
opened the first drug store here, and in 1859, went* to St. Louis, and when 
the war broke out, thinking the atmosphere not congenial, he returned. 
In May 1863, he was appointed assistant surgeon, of the Fourth Iowa 
Infantry, and being ])romoted full surgeon, he remained with it till the 
close of the war, when he again returned to his practice. In 1855, he was 
elected to the legislature, as a Whig, and served his constituents with great 
credit, for one term. He was married in July 1852, to Miss Amanda 
Young, a native of Pennsylvania, who died in 1857, leaving: two children, 
Stephen and Eugene Y. He was married again in Dec. 1858, to Augustine 
Y., a sister of his first wife, and they have eight children, Horace C., Mattie, 
Delia. Gertrude, Ruth, Edmund, Daniel and Inez. Kutli's life was saved at 
one time when she had the dyptheriac croup, by her father performing 
Tracheotomv. 

HAMILtOX, JOHN JUDSON, was born at Harrisville, Butler county, 
Pennsylvania, iNovember 10, 1854. In the spring of 1866, his parents re- 
moved to Floris, in this county, having purchased a farm near that village. 
October 31, 1868, his father died, at the age of fiftyyears. January 3, 1871 
he entered the State University of Iowa at Iowa City. In September 1873, 
he was appointed Frst Assistant Librarian of tlie University, which position 
he tilled for five years. His first experience in journalism was acquired as 
associate editor and business manager of the University Reporter. In No- 
vember, 1876, he represented the University as orator in the annual con- 
test of State Inter-Collegiate Association at Cedar Rapids, being awarded 
the second honors. In June, 1877, he graduated, taking the degree of A. 
B. The next few months he devoted to sociological researches in the South, 
traveling nearly l.OOii miles a foot through Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, 
Tennessee and Kentucky, giving especial attention to the condition of the 
freed.nen. Returning north in the fall, he continued to act as Librarian 
of the University, and prosecuted the study of law, besides teaching in the 
Iowa Citv High school. In August, 1867, he went south again, and made 
an extended study of the condition of the colored people of Southern Vir- 
ginia, remaining in Dinwiddle county, for the purpose until December. 
Returning to Iowa, he took editorial charge of the Davis county RejnilUcaii 
March 31. 1879, and has continued to fill that position ever since. In June 

1880, he took the degree of A. M. at the State L'niversity. In the fall of 

1881, he was the republican candidate for the lower house of the State leg- 
islature from Davis county. He is a genial batchelor, and a prince of good 
fellows. His standing in this county, and State as well,, is that of a cul- 
tured, intelligent gentleman. 



620 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

HARTZLER, J. D., pio])rietor Blooiiifild creamei^; was born Marcli 28, 
1S49, ill Cliainpaig'ii county, Ohio, beine;- there reared on a farm and at- 
tendinn; sciiool. At tiie ao-e of twenty-one lie went to Cass county, Mis- 
souri, for tliree years, tlieii to Elkliart, Indiana, wiiere lie learned the car- 
penters trade, and a year or two later returned to Missouri for a short time, 
then coiTiiiii; to this county, where he is now engaged in the creamery busi- 
ness. He was married on September fi, 1881, to Miss A. Stutzman, a na- 
tive of Fairtield county, Ohio, a lady of fine intelligence of character. Mr. 
H. is a man of very tine business CM|>acity. and is bound to succeed. 

HARWARD, L. S., general merchant, Jjluomiield; was born June 17, 
1842, ill Van Buret) county. Iowa. In 1843, his parents came to Davis 
county, and located in Salt Creek ti)wnship. where tliey entered the land on 
which they still live. Here he grew up and finished his education in Tro}' 
Academy. At the age of twenty, he clerked two years for his brother at 
Floris, then taught school three years, and in 1S72 formed a partnership 
with lis brother at Floris, and two years later bought him out. In 187fi, he 
moved his stock of goods to Bloomtield, and in Januarj', ISSO, took into 
partnership Mr. J. V>. Young, but bought him out asain in August, 1881, 
and has since been alone. He carries a large and well selected stock, and is 
making money, which shows what a live Hawkeye is capable of doing in 
the wa}' of business, when he has amind to. He was married, June 14, 
180(3, to Miss M. E. Jay, a native Hawkeye, born in Davis county, and they 
have two children, Edgar L. and George D. 

HAZLEWOOD, GREENVILLE, i^-oprietor of Hazlewood harness shop 
Bloomfield; was born in October, 1813, at Lynchburg, Virginia. At twelve 
years of age lie went to Samuel Schoolfield as an apprentice for eight years. 
Then he came to Salem, Indiana, and for twelve years engaged in harness 
making. Coming to Iowa in the fall of 1849, he settled in this county. 
From 1849 to 1861 he was farming and milling in West Grove township, 
then coming to this city he has been in the liarness busines ever since. By 
good work and fair dealing he has acquired a large trade, amounting last 
year to $10,000. He was married in June, 1832, to Mary Clare, of Virginia, 
and they have had ten children : Ann R., George C, Greenville, Jr., now in 
business with his father, Josiah C, Charles B., David and four deceased, 
Robert, Henry, John M., and Mary L. Mr. H. is a Mason and a worthy 
member of the Christian church. Thee of his sons were in the army, Green- 
ville, Jr., enlisted October 16, 1862, as bugler, company A, Third Iowa Cav- 
alry, mustered out in August, 186.5; G. C. enlisted August 1, 1861. as ser- 
geant company E, mustered out in August, 1864; J. M., enlisted in August, 
1861, bugler, company A, mustered out August, 1865. 

HERR, B- F., of the linn of Hill, Herr & Co., Bloomfield, was born Au- 
gust 11, 1849, in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. There he grew to mau- 
liood and was educated in the common schools, and at the age of fourteen, 
went into the store of Henry Uhler, of White Horse, in the same count}', 
and remained about five years. In 1868, he came to Iowa, then to Glen- 
wood, Missouri, where he clerked for Newton Shelton about two years, then 
went to Stilesville, I)avis county, Iowa and clerked for A. Brnnk about two 
and a half years, when became to Bloomfield and opened a grocery (where 
Welch now is), under the name of Herr & Co. Pie sold out in the spring 
of 1875, and bought an interest in the store of Hill, Myers & Co., the name 
being changed to Hill, Herr & Co., and now occupying the finest store 
room in southwestern Iowa, and carrying the largest stock. He was mar- 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 621 

ried July 11, 1876, to Miss Ella, daughter of William Hill, a native of Davis 
county. 

HILL. A. H., of Blooinfield; deputy county clerk; was born January 13, 
1836, in Putnam coiint)^ Indiana. At the age ot" twelve his parents came 
to Iowa, Ideating in Wyacoiidali township, and tliere he grew to manhood 
and received his educiition in the public schools and Troy Academy. He 
farmed until lie was twenty-two, then m August, 1861, enlisted in company 
A, Third Iowa Cavalry, and served until July, 1863, when he was honora- 
bly discharged on account of the loss of his left ai'm from a wound at the 
battle of La Grange, Arkansas, May 1, 1863. After returnina; home in 
this condition he did but little until 1864, when ne was elected county re- 
corder and ret'lected in ISCifi, holding the office four years, and in 1868 was 
elected clerk of the District and Circuit C-ourts. which position he held by 
reelection for eight years. Thus showing the high esteem in which he was 
held by his comrades, neighbors and frieutls. He has been deputy clerk 
ever since, a position he now holds. He was mai-ried in A])ri!, 1869, .to Miss 
Mary E. Millsap, a luitive of Illinois. 

HILL, EBB., of the firm of Hill, Herr, <k Co., Bloomfield; was born in 
this county, two mi'es east of Bloomfield, April 'iG, 1856. He received a 
common education, his early youth being spent partly on a farm and ])artly 
in the store with liis father, William Hill. For two years he was a member 
of the firm of Hill. Taylor & Fortune, hardware. He was married October 
26, 1881, to Miss EmmaMutz, a native of Shelby county, Indiana, a daugh- 
ter of Jacob Mi'.tz. Mr. H. is of Yankee descent on his father's side, and 
English on iiis mother's. Mr. and Mrs. H. are starting in life with the 
brightest prospects before them, and the well-wishes of all their fnends and 
associate.*. Mrs. Hill's father was elected to Congress in 1858, and again 
in 1862, from the Shelby county district, and his family consists of si.x chil- 
dren: Dr. Charles M., of St. Louis; Katie; Dr. Francis, of Indiana; Etoyle, 
wife ot Dr. Pearson; Philo J.. (3scar, and Emma. 

HILL, ISAAC, farmer and stock dealer; postoffiee, Bloomfield; is a native 
of Shelby county, IiuJiana; born December 4, 1848. When two years old 
his parents came to this county, livetl here about a year, then returned to 
Indiana, whei'e his father dieil, in 1851. Two years after, he, with his 
mother, returned to Davis county. At the age of ten ho staited in life for 
himself, and from tiiat time since he lias "paddled his own canoe." He has 
lived in Illinois,. Nebraska, Kansas, Indiana and Iowa. In June, 1880, he 
settled in his ]iresent business. He was married in Indiana, in 1871, to 
Miss Susan Davidson, a native of Indiana, and they have had four children: 
Cora F., Lorana, Ninia M., and Delia E., deceased at the age of two j-ears 
and eight months. Mr. H. is a member of the Baptist Church. 

HILL, AVM., senior member of tiie firm fif Hill, Herr & Co., Bloomfield; 
was born November 20, 1829, in AVarren county, Ohio. There he grew to 
the age of maturity on a farm, and has always owned and operated one or 
more of them ever since. He was left an orphan at the age of thirteen, when 
he was thrown upon his own resources, and began working on a farm at 
f 50 a year. In 1848. he came to Indiana, and there farmed for two years, 
ami in 1850, came to Iowa, and located three miles east of Bloomfield, and 
remained there till 1857, wdien he moved to Pulaski, where he laid out that 
town in 185S, and bought cuit Mr. Miller, and went into mercantile business, 
which he continued about one year, when he again turned farmer, till the 
fall of 1862, when he came to Bloomfield, and again went into mercantile 



622 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

trade, in which lie has been engaged ever since. In 1863 he went to pack- 
ing pork, and continued it eacli year till 1871. During all this time he has 
had several partners. He has now associated. with him his son, D. F. Hill, 
and his son-in-law, B. F. Herr. They have a store at Stanberry, Missouri, 
where they carry a large stock, under the supervision ot" his son, D. F. 
They have the iinest store room in Bloomlield, and carry much the largest 
stock, Mr. Hill being the oldest in the business of any man in the city. 
He owns his store building and six otlier business houses, which he rents, 
and several dwellings, besides a number ot'fine farms. He has alwavs been 
identified with the railroad, and other interests for building up the county. 
He was married February 15, 1849, to Miss Emily Jones, a native of 
Indiana, and they have had twelve children, Mary A., wife of Wm. Holmes; 
Julia A., wife of Wm. M. Saunders; D. F., Lizzie, wife of Baptist Hardy; I. 
E., Laura, wife of Frank Fortune; Ella, wife of B. F. Herr; Sadie, wife of 
Stephen Hardy, Anna E.; Flora; Wm. Jr., and Thomas; all living. 

HORN, M.'B., Bloomlield; was born October 29, 1832, in Kentucky. In 
1835 his parents came to Indiana, where he grew to manhood on a farm, 
and was educated in the common schools. At the age of si.xteen lie learned 
the painter's trade, at which he worked about two years, when he again went 
to farming till 1853, when he came to Iowa, and located in Blooirilield, en- 
tering the store of Manning and Horn, as clerk, remaining with them till 
185H, when he went into the drug store of Greenleaf and Gibbons, remain- 
ing about a year, and then went back to his brother's store, until 1860, 
when thoy opened a store at Newbern, Marion county, to close out some 
stock; from there, in 18()-i, he went to Chariton and clerked for O. L. Palmer 
about two years, then with W. H. Simpson a year, then with Beem and 
Waynick for two years, and then went back to his trade, until 1870, when 
he farmed one year, and in 1871 returned to Bloomfield and bought out the 
abstract office of Slialler and Gibbons, and has since followed that and the 
real estate business. He has been mayor of Bloomtield three times, and jus- 
tice of the ]ieace three time, which otHce he now holds. He has also been 
twice elected councilman, a posion he now holds. He was married May 18, 
1858, to Miss Josephine M. Custer, a native of Missouri, who died April 6, 
1871, leaving four children: George K., Susan, Maud and Mary. He was 
married again, April 25, 1872, to Miss Virifinia C. Custer, sister of his Urst 
wife, and they have live children: Lulu V., Martin B., Ella, Grace and a 
baby. 

HULL, (/APT. J. A. T., present Secretary of State of the State of Iowa. 
The subject of this sketch is a native of Ohio, where he was born in Clin- 
ton county, on the first of May, 184:1, but while yet an infant his parents 
removed to Ross county, in the same State, and resided in that county un- 
til the year 1849, when his parents removed to Polk county, Iowa. He re- 
ceived his education at the Asbury University in Indiana, at the Weslyaa 
University at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, and graduated from the Law School at 
Cincinnati, Ohio, with the class of 1862, and immediately returned to his 
jiome in Iowa, and enrolled himself among the defenders of his country, 
enlisting as a private soldier, but before leaving the city of Des Moines, he 
received a commission of first lieutenant, and during the sameyear was pro- 
moted to captain of company C, of the Twenty- third Iowa Infantry, which 
position he continued to till with great credit until the close of the war, and 
was engaged in soiue of the most hotly contested battles of the war, among 
which were Port Gibson, Magnolia Hill, Raymond, Jackson, Champion 



HISTORV OF DAVIS COUNTY, 623 

Hill, and Black River Bridge, in which last engagement he was severely 
■wounded (on the 17th of May, 1863), which disabled him ior about five 
■months; at the end of which time he returned to his post and continued 
'Until the close of the war, when lie returned to Iowa and settled in Yan 
Bureii county, and commenced tiie practice of his profession and continued 
'Until 1873, when lie assumed control ot the Davis County RepuhJlcan^^^ 
Bloomfield, which he managed with such skill as to attract universal attention, 
and bring its young and accomplished editor into universal notice and favor. 
And was undoubtedly the immediate cause of his nomination and election to 
the exalted enviable position of Secretary of the great and proud young com- 
tuonwealth of Iowa. However, prior to this time, by reason of his valua- 
ble service as a soldier, he liad gained some notoriety, and as early as 1868, 
he was elected iirst assistant secretary of the senate; and in 1870 was re- 
•elected to the same position, and 187"2 he was elected to the position of sec- 
retary of the senate, which position he tilled until 1878, never having one 
"vote cast against him. In 1876 he aspired to the position he now tills, but 
■was defeated in convention by Mr. Young, the then incumbent, by only 17 
votes, in a convetition numljering nine hundred votes. In 1878 he was nom- 
inated and elected without opjiositiou, and in 1880 was reelected and polled 
the heaviest vote ever receivad by a candidate on the Republicati ticket. He 
was married on the r7th of July, 1868, to Miss EmmaG. Gregory, a native 
•of Faj'ette county, Ohio, who is a very intelligent and cultureii lady. Their 
married lives have been happily spent, and tlieir union blessed with four 
■children, three of whom are still living, Annette, Albert G., and John A. 
Little Dazie is deceased. 

HULETT, CHARLES E., blacksmith, Bloomfield; was born August 24, 
1826, in Portage county, Ohio. At five years of age became with his father, 
IFrancis. t:) Jackson county, Missouri, where they lived about five years, then 
wenttolllinois,and in 184-1 came to Yan Huren county, Iowa,and in IS-IOcame 
to this count}'. He enlisted in July, 18-1:6, in tlie Mormon Battallion, and 
served one vear. He began to work at his trade in 1847, and in 1849 came 
to Bloomfield. He learned his trade with L. Spencer, of Stringtown. He 
■was married in July, 1853, to Miss Josie Waddle, of this county, and they 
have ten children, eight now living: Byron F., C. E., Allie, W. S., Fred, 
John C, Arthur, J. C. and two deceased, Pierce and Hattie. Mr. Hallett 
•is situated south-east of the square, where he does a good business in black- 
smithing and job work. He is a mason, and is a man highly respected. 

HULETT, S., blacksmith, Bloomfield; was born in Portage county. Ohio, 
August 24, 1826, where he lived about five years, then, with his father, 
T'rancis Hulettj cfime to Jackson county, Missouri, and five years later to 
Adams county, Illinois, then to Hancock county, and then to Warren 
■county. In 1841 he came to Yan Buren county, Iowa. In 1846 enlisted 
in the Mormon battalion ibr the Mexican War, and after serving one year, 
•he returned home and worked at his trade with L. Spencer at Stringtown. 
In 1849 he moved to this place and worked with H. Spencer three years, 
and then commenced for himself. He was married in July, 1853, to Jane 
Waddle, of this county, and they have had ten children: 13yron F., C. E., 
who is now in business with his father; Allie, W. S., Fred, John C, Ar- 
thur, J. C, and two deceased, Percy E. and Hattie. Mr. H. is located south- 
east of the public square, where he is doing a good business at general 
blacksmithitig and job work. He is a Mason, a member of Franklin lodge 
No. 14. In politics he is i-epublican. 



624 HISTOET OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

HUMPHREY, B. C, mannfactnrer and dealer in fire arms, Bloomfield;-. 
was born September 25, 1S50, in Van Bnren county, Iowa, where be grew 
to manhood, and was educated in the common schools of the county. At 
the age of tliirteeu lie commenced to learn his trade, gunsmithing, with his 
father, who was a native of Virginia, and came to Iowa in 1S3S, wliere he 
married Miss Pei'melia Stanley, a native of Illinois. The subject of this 
sketcli, being quick to learn, his father gave him the u.'^e (^f his tools at an 
early age, and at twenty he was master of his trade. At twenty-one he left 
it and went to blacksmithing for the ne.xt eight years. In 1879 he came tO' 
Bloomfield and resumed his trade, in which he lias been very successful 
ever since. He was married March 28, 1879, to Miss Mary F. Giles, of 
Pulaski, this comity, and they have two children. Earnest and Guy B. Mr, 
H. is a republican in politics, and i.s a wholesouled gentleman. 

JOHNSON, NEWTON S., grocer, Bloomfield; was born October 4, 
1843, in Milwaukee county, Wisconsin. There he grew to manhood on a 
farm, and was educated in tlie common schools, in Milwaukee Academy, 
and in Beloit Hali, Beloit, Wisconsin. He enlisted May 17, 18(11, in com- 
pany B, First Wisconsin Infantry, three months men, and enlisted again, in 
October, 1861, in company E, First Wisconsin Cavalry, and in the spring 
of 1863 was iionorably discharged for disability, returned home until fall, 
when he clerked in a dry goods store in Kaleigh, Illinois, about a year, flierr 
formed a partnership with Mr. Hale in the same business, and was also ap- 
pointed postmaster, receiving his commission unsolicited and without his 
knowledge until it came. In the fall of i860, he sold out and returned 
home to Wisconsin, on account of his father's deatli, and three months later 
came to Bloomfield, Iowa, December S, 1866, a^id clerked for M. Monheimer 
for about eight months, when he went into a commission house in Keokuk, 
where he remained till May, 1868, and then returned to Bloomfield, and 
soon after went into the grocery business, and has remained in it ever since.. 
His is the oldest grocery house in the county, although he has occujiied dif- 
ferent buildings. He owns liis store building and a nice home, as there- 
suit of indnstry and perseverence, although at the time of the panic he lost 
from five to si.x thousand dollars, by the banks and other sources. He i& 
president of the school board, and always takes a lively interest in education, 
and the general upbuilding of the community. He was married September 
27, 1867, to Miss Galena Jones, a native of Springfield, Mo., and they have 
four children: Edgar B., Marian B., Ivy E., and Daisy E. 

JONES, M. H.", reformed attorney, Bloomfield: was born January 7, 1828,. 
in Putnam county, Indiana, (no milk sickness,) and there grew to manhood 
on a farm, and was educated in the fence corner and in the highway, except 
what he received at Asbury University, at Greencastle. In 1849 he began^ 
the study of law, with Delane B. Eckles, of Greencastle, and was admitted 
at Terre Haute, in 1851, by Judges Eckles and Naylor. He came to Iowa 
in 1851, taught school one year, and starved out. Then began the practice 
of law, witli Harvey Dunlavey, until they dissolved in 1856; he then 
formed a partnership with William J. Hamilton until 1861, and from 1866 
to 1869 it was Jones & Traverse. He was then alone until 1872, when it 
became Jones & Moore, until 1874; then alone until 1878, when he took his- 
son into partnership until 1880, when he retired, and turned the business 
over to his son and Steel. He was township clerk, member of the board of 
supervisors, and was district attorney from 1870 to 1874, aiul declined a 
renomination. He was married June 17, 1852, to Miss Emeline Spencer.. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS CODNTr. 625 

a native of New Hampshire, and lias tour children: Charles B. S., Samuel, 
Alice, and Maston A. 

JONES SAMUEL, attorney, of the iirm of Jones & Steele, Bloomiield, 
was bora in Bloomtield, May 10, 1857, and has lived here all his life. He 
was educated in the Iowa Wesleyan Universit}', atMt. Pleasant, from which 
heg-raduated in 1S77, x^t the age of seventeen, he began studying law 
with his father, was admitted to the bar in 1878, by Judge Sloan of the 
Circuit Court, and at once commenced practicing in Blooinfield, and is now 
associated with Mr. Steele, nnder the firm name of Jones ik, Steele. Al- 
though a young tirin, they already stand high in the confidence of the peo- 
ple, and bid fair soon to outstrip some of their older colleagues. Mr. Jones 
was marrieil August 11, l.SSl, to Miss Sarah Young, a native of this county. 

KELSO, J. B., carperter and contractor, Bloomtield; born in Cumberland 
county, Pennsylvania, October 8, 1825. When six years of age he moved 
with his father, William, to Richland countv, Oliio, where he resided till 
1850, his early youth being spent on the farm and attending the common- 
schools. Li 1S45 he commenced to work at carpentering with Samuel 
Beaty of Mansfield, Ohio; worked there two years, then one year with O. 
Black, alter which he worked at different places. In 1S50 he started for 
California, overland, and remained two years engaged in mining, then re- 
turned to Richland county, Ohio, and soon after, went to Noble county, 
Indiana, where he worked at his trade three years, then in the fall of 1866, 
came to Bloomtield. He was married March 11, 1855, to Miss Catharine 
S. Bonar. of Noble county, Indiana, and they had five children, Ettie J., 
Emma, William C, James E. and Mary Y. Mrs. K. died July 17, 1866, 
and Ml-. K. married again March 20, 1868, to Miss Jose|)hine Elms, of this 
city, and they have had three children, Ama M. Katie, and Winnie. Mr. 
K. is a member of the Presbyterian church, aiul'ian Odd Fellow. By good 
work and honerable dealings he has secured the confidence of the entire 
community. 

KINNICK, ELIJAH B.. stock dealer, Bloomtield; was born in Davis 
county. North Cai'olina, and at the age of about ten years, he came with his 
parents, John and Sarah K., to Johnson county, Indiana, and four years 
later, they came to this count}'; was born Januai-y 25, 1839; was raised a 
farmer, receiving a common school education. He now owns a fine farm 
si.x: miles southwest of Bloomtield, all in culti\«ation, except thirty acres of 
timber. lie was married in this county in 1860, to Miss E. E. Carson, a 
native of Indiana, and they have had twelve children, Amanda A., May C, 
Etta O., Minnie E., Ida, Jennie, Robert B., Lovey and Lewie, twins; John, 
Agnes B. and Carcie, his eldest son, deceased at the age of sixteen months. 
Mr. K. enlisted in in 1861, in company' C Second Iowa Infantry, and 
served nine months, being discharged, on account of gun shot wound in tlie 
head and shoulder, received at Donelson. lie was also in the battle of Shi- 
loh. Mr. K. is a member of the Bloomtield Masonic Lodge No. 23. 

LAW, WM. J., cashier of Bradley's bank, Bloomtield, was born March 
19, 1826, in Frederick county, Virginia. When three years ot age, his 
parents moved to Perry county', Ohio, and there he grew up and received 
his education. At ten, he went into the saddler shop of his father to learn 
the trade. In 184-5, he went into the tanning business with his father, and 
learned that and followed it until 1855, when he came to Fairfield, lowa,^ 
and went into the Jefferson house as proprietor. In the fall of 1857, he 
came to Bloomfield, and went into the American House (now the Wilson), 



<)26 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

which he ran till 1862. In 1864, he was elected clerk of the courts, and 
served two years, and in January 1S67, he was appointed by Gen. Weaver, 
chief clerk of Internal Revenue Assessor's office, wiiicii he held until it was 
done away with iu 1872. He then went into mercantile trade until March 
1877, wiien he assumed control of Bradley's baidc, which position he now 
occupies. It has a capital of $25,000. He married Miss C. C. Brnner, Oct. 
16, 1845, and they liiive had six children, Florence M., wife of C. L. Pen- 
inin^ton, Effie 0.; W. J., Jr.; and three deceased. 

LESTER, A. C, county recorder, Bloomtield; was born July 6,1847; in 
Pike county, Illinois. At the age of nine, his parents came to Bloomfield, 
iind here he has grown to manhood; educated in the jiublic sciiool, and 
teaching for ten or twelve j-ears, mostly in this county. In the fall of 1876, 
lie was elected county recorder, and reelected in 1878, and also in 1880. He 
■was married June 16, 1878, to Miss Linnie Corrick, a native of Ohio. They 
Slave one child, Eva L. Mr. Lester is highly esteemed by every one, and 
lias the respect and confidence of all political jiarties. 

LOGAN, J. M., station agent, Bloomfield; is a native of Connellsviile, 
Indiana, born in JVovember 1850. When two years old lie came with his 
lather to Hancock county, Illinois, where he giew to manhood, on a farm, 
and attended the common schools. Tiien in the telegraph office at Lomax, 
Illinois, some nine months. Then employed by the C, B. & Q. for two 
3'ears and five months, then returned to Lomax, about eight inontlis, then 
to Lee county, Iowa, about eighteen months, then came to this city with 
the Burlington and Southwestern; four 3'ears and eleven months, as agent, 
then taking charge of the Wabash office. June 21, 1881. He was married 
an February 1878. to Anna McAdair, of Frsa, Illinois. She died March 6, 
1874. He was married again April 11, 1875, to Levina J. Simmons of 
Dallas, Illinois. The_y have had two children. Edgar Harris, and Andrew 
Wesley. Mr. Logan is a mason, and iielongs to tiie Royal Arch Chapter, 
and the Knights of Pythias. He was elected a member of the city council, 
on the temperance ticket, in March 1879, for three years. Mr. Logan is 
one of the most obliging agents on the Wabash road. Mr. Logan is also a 
member of the M. E. Cliureh. 

MoCARTY, J., of the firm of Higbee A: McCnrty, dealers in hardware, 
implements, stoves and tinware: was born February 3; 1826, in Morgan 
county, Ohio. There lie grew up and was educated in the common schools 
and Alleghany College. Meadville Pa., where he graduated in 1854after which 
he taught one year in Marietta, Ohio. In 1855 lie came to Iowa and located 
in Drakeville, where he taught about two years and a half, when he came 
to Bloomfield and taught four years, and then six months in Agency City, 
and then went to Oskaloosa, where he took charge of the public schools 
about four years. In 1866 he went to the Iowa Wesleyan University at 
Mt. Pleasant where he taught two years, and in 1868 was appointed to take 
charge of t,lie State Reform School in Lee county, which was moved to El- 
dora, Hardin county, in 1873, and he was continued in ciiarge until 1875, 
when he resigned and returned to Bloomfield, where he formed a partner- 
ship with Mr. Higbee in the hardware business, which tliej' have continued 
since. In 1867 he was elected county superintendent of schools but re- 
signed the position. He was married July 7, 1856, to Miss Mary B. Lock- 
man, a native of Indiana. They have no children. 

— McCORMICK, W. F., teacher room No. 5, Bloomfield high school; was 
born January 16, 1858, in Bloomfield, Davis county. Here he has grown 



HISTORY OF DAVrS COUNTY. 627 

to manhood and received liis education in tlie public school, jjjraduating in 
1878. He lias since taught three terms of school, one in Bloonitield town- 
ship, one in Wyacondah township, ar.d is now teaching in the Bloonitield 
high school. He was brought up a brick maker, which business he has fol- 
lowed a number of years. He oaiis half of a nice tract of land on the 
north side of the city. He was married on the 6th day of March, 1880, to 
Miss Dora I']. Mendenhall, of Bioomtield, who was also educated in the 
same school. Tiiey have one child, Grace Elinore. Mr. McCoriiiick has 
been obliged to give up in a measure iiis brick business, by reason of an 
injury received from a runaway team. He is a fine educator and has the 
confidence of tjie entire communit}-. 

MP:NDENHALL, a. W , of the firm of Mendenhall & O'Neal, mer- 
chants, Bioomfield; was born November 20. ISil, in Indiana. In 1843 his 
parents came to Fairfield, Iowa, and in 1844 came to Davis county and lo- 
cated about two miles north of Bioomfield where they still reside, and here 
he grew to manhood on the farm. At the age of eighteen he went to Fair- 
field and clerked in a store about two years, then he went to California 
where he freighted for two years, and then went into the dairy business for 
three years. In 1869 he returned to Bioomfield and followed the brokerage 
business until 1872, when he went into mercantile trade, in which he still 
remains. He was married, February 22, 1871. to Miss Ella M. Hawkins, a 
native of Indiana. They have had five children, Cliarles. Nellie, Willie and 
two deceased. This firm carry a heavy stock of goods and enjoy a good 
trade, which they have established by strict integrity and square dealing 
witii their customers. 

MILLER. JOHN A., insurance agent, Bioomfield; was born August 26, 
1852, in ]Mechanicshni-g, III., and there grew to manhood on the farm, and 
was educated in the common schools, Mochanicsburg Academy and Rut- 
ledge et Davison's commercial school, at Springfield. At the age of eighteen 
he began teaching, and followed it most of the time till 1879, since when 
lie has worked at insurance, and is now considered;', boss insurance man. 
He came to Iowa, and located in Adams county in May, 1874, and was mar- 
ried in June, 1874. to Miss Margaret E. Prather, a native of Marion county. 
They have three children: Eustice M., Julian A., and Rose E. His father- 
in-law. Pleasant Prather. was shot down near his house in Adams county, 
in February, 1S64, by a copperhead neighbor, on account of jiolitics. The 
assassin was taken from jail and hung to a tree, by an infuriated community. 
Mr. M. came to DaVis county in 1879. 

MOORE, F. W., deputy auditor, Bioomfield; was born December 13, 
1846, in Bartholomew county, Indiana. In 1854 his parents came to this 
-county, locating in West Grove township, and here he grew to manhood, 
educated in common school and Troy Academy. He learned the printer's 
trade while a boy, and in 1866 he worked in the Begister olKce in Des 
Moines about nine months, then on the Gate City at Keokuk a while, then 
in St. Louis on the Evening Desjyitch, and in other offices. He came home 
in 1869 and worked on tlie Bioomfield licpuhlican., and in tiie fall oT that 
3'ear commenced the study of law with M. H. Jones; was admitted to the 
bar in May, 1870, by Judge Williams, and formed a partnership with M. 
H. Jones, which was continued till August, 1874, when he bought a half 
interest in a paper called the Granger's Advocate which he changed to the 
Commonirealth. In March, 1877, he rented his interest to his partner and 
about a year later sold it and entered into the practice of law. In January; 



628 HISTOKY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

1880, he was appointed deputy auditor. He was mayor of Blooinfield in- 
1878 and lias been town clerk three terms, and recorder and attorney for 
the city. He was married August 27, 1874, to Miss Mary A. Wallace, and 
has three children, Nora, Eva and Wm. W. 

MOORE. COL. SAMUEL A., postmaster, Bloomtield; was born in Law- 
renceburg. Dearborn county, Ind., December 16, 1821,. The oldest of three 
children; his father dj'inir i" August, 1827; at the age of eight years, he was 
apprenticed to David V. Cnlley, editor of the Indiinia Palhulhun, to learn 
the printer's trade; served four years, and then ran away because overtaxed 
and al)used by older appi-entices. Worked in a store, and at t^'pe-setting, till 
March, 183.5, when he moved with his mother, who had married again, to 
Bartholomew county. Worked one year in an ottice in Columbus, Ind., 
and then went on a farm till the spring of 1849, when he started a whig 
newspaper, called \\\e Spirit of the West, which he continued until ap 
pointed postmaster, at Columbus, by President Fillmore. Was a member 
of the Indiana legislature, session of 1850-.51. Resigned the ]ij)stmaster- 
ship and came to Davis county, Iowa, in March, 18.53. where he farmed 
until he was elected Countv Judge, in August, 185.5, which ottice he held 
two years, and then went back to the farm, whei-e he ran a small saw and 
grist mill in connection with it. Being afflicted with oiithalmia, and fear- 
ing total blindness, he sold the farm and moved to Bloomtield and purchased 
a stock of dry goods, groceries, etc., and was I'unning the store when the 
war bn^ke out. He enlisted April 20, 1861, in Com])any G, Second Iowa 
Infantry, and was mustered in- as second lieutenant of the company; was 
promoted captain November 25, ]8(il; was in command of the company at 
Fort Donelson, and in storming the rifle ])its, Fcbi'uary 1.5, 18H2. and at 
Shiloh, April (i, until late in the afternoon, when he was shot three times, 
two wounds being very severe, totally disaliling liini. He was carriefl otf the 
field to the hospital at Pittsburg Landing, and ai'rived lunne thirteen days 
after. Was ordered to the hospital at Columbus, Ohio, in July. 18ti2, and 
returned to his regitnent in August, 1862, at camj) near Corinth. Miss., on 
a crutch and a cane, vvh')lly iintit for duty. He resigued September 15, 1862, 
and returned home, his lamily having continued his mercan'ile business. 
In 1863 he was elected senator from this county, and served in the Tentlt 
Geuer^d Assembly. May l(t, 1864, he ;issisted in the organization of Com- 
pany I). Forty-lifth Iowa lufanti-y, one hundred days men, and was elected 
captain, and was mustered into the United States service. May 25, 1804, as 
lieutenant colonel, and served with the regiment until mustered out of ser- 
vice. When he accepted his commission in the Forty-tifth Infantry, his 
seat in the Senate became vacant, and a special election was held to lill it. 
He was elected tigain a member of the Eleventh General Assembly. Janu- 
ary 20, 1868, his store and dwelling were consumed by tire, and many things 
of great value to him, which money can never reolace, were destroyed. He 
rebuilt his store in October, 1868, and his dwelling in 1869. He carried 
on his store, selling goods, till 1873. Was appointed postmaster, at 
Bloomtield, in January, 1879, and took the ottice Februar3' 11, 1879, still 
holding the position. Mr. M.'s full name is Samuel Alphonso Moore. He 
is a Uiiiversalist in taitli, and a republican in politics, being one of the 
wheel-l'iorses in the party in southern lown. No man ever lived in Davis 
county who so completely h;is the confidence and love of the people, regard- 
less of sect or ])olitics, as Col. Moore. He was married in Shelby county, 
Ind., March 14, 1844, to Miss Ellen Clark, and they have raised a family of 



i 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 629' 

six children: Mary E., wife of J. B. Fiiidly, Fred. W.; Laura F., wife of J. 
H. Cooper; Thomas Dick, Henry C, and Euitna, at home. 

MYERS, T. B., merchant, Bloomtield; was born May 30, 1843, in Wash^ 
ington county, Ind. In 1S52 lie came to Iowa with his grandmother and 
uncle, his parents having died when he was quite young. They located in 
Henry count}', and in 1S5.5 came to Davis county, in Koscoe township, and 
in 1857 he went to Pulaski, whei-e he remained till 1864, when he returned 
to Iloscoe, and soon after went to school at Troy Academy, and after teach- 
ing a short tme, in April, 1866, came to Bloomtield, and clerked for Hill, 
Duffield & Co., till September, 1868. when he became a member of the firm 
of Flill, Myers & Co. until March 1, 1875, when he sold out to Mr. Hill, 
and then took nearly a year traveling over the country, visiting the centen- 
nial ani! other places of interest. In Januar}-, 1876, he opened a new store, 
under the name of Myers & McConn, which continued till February, 1880, 
when he bought out Mr. McConn, and has since run it himself He carries 
a large, well-selected stock of dry goods, boots, shoes, etc., and has a good 
trade. He was married October 3, 1872, to Miss Mattie T. Paxton, of Van 
Bnren county, a native of Virginia, wiio died September 15, 1873. He 
married again November 21, 1878, to Miss Belle Walker, a native of Des 
Moines county, and they have one child, T. B., Jr. 

NELSOJM, E. M., retired farmer, Bloomtield; was born October 22, 1809, 
in Henry county, Ky. At the age of thirteen liis parents moved to Barthol- 
omew county, Ind.; there he grew up and was educated in the old log school 
house. In 1841 he came to Iowa, in Van Buren county, and in 1843 to 
Davis county, locating on a farm in Bloomfild township just as soon as the 
Indians left, making a claim on section twelve about two miles north of 
town, and entering and living on the land until 1873, when he sold out his 
farm and retii'ed. He helped lay out the town of Bloomtield, and was at 
the raising of the old log court house and many of the first dwellings. Has 
been township trustee several times. 

NULTON, HENRY, of the firm of Nulton & Bresson, dealers in groc- 
eries, northwest corner of the square, in tlie Nulton block, Bloomtield; was 
born in Morgan county, Ohio, January 26, 1842; and at the age of eight 
years came to this county with his parents, James and Lucinda Nul- 
ton, who are now residents of Hardin county, Iowa. In this county 
Mr. N. grew to manhood on a farm, receiving his education at Oska- 
loosa College. In September, 1861, he enlisted in company I, Fourteenth 
Iowa Infantry and served three years, participating in the battles Fort Don- 
•elson, Shih)h, with Sherman to the sea, and was wounded at the battle of 
Pleasant Hill in the Red River expedition in A. J. Smith's command. He 
was struck with a shell on the left arm, which was amputated at the shoul- 
der. He was married ui this county in 1868, to Mrs. Isabel M. Kerr, a 
native of Massachusetts. Mr-. N. is a charter member of the Universalist 
church. He was elected county treasurer in 1867, and was reelected in 
1869, 1871, and 1873. While holding this office he gave complete satisfac- 
tion to everybody. 

OVERTON, F. C, attorney, Bloomtield; was born September 22, 1844, 
in Fulton county. 111. While an infant, his parents moved to Mahaska coun- 
ty, Iowa, where he grew to manhood, on a farm, educated in the common 
schools and Oskaloosa College. He is enlisted in company C. Fifteenth 
Iowa Infantry, and served to the close of the war. Was with Sherman, to 
the sea, and was never off duty a day during his service. He was a non- 



630 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

commissioned officer, and was taken- prisonei- at the assault on Atlanta, Jnly 
22, 1864, but in about an hour, succeeded in making his escape. In Feb- 
ruary 1866. he came to Davis count}' and located in Bloomfield, wiiere he 
began studying law with Trimble A: Carruthers, and was admitted in No- 
vember, 1868, by Judge Tanneiiill, but has never entered actively into tlie 
practice. In 1867, he was princial of the public schools in Bloomfield, and 
has once been mayor of the city. In 1868 he took up lire insurance, iti the 
capacity of general adjusting agent. In 1574, he formed a partnership with 
Mr. Steckel, in the loan and real estate business, and in a general banking 
business on January 1, 1881, whicii they still continue. lie was married 
in July 1866, to Miss Mattie J. Hardin, of Oskaloosa, a native of Indiana. 
They liave two children, Fi'ed H. and Harry C. Mr. O. was appointed A. 
D. C. in 1880, to Gov. Gear, with rank of Lieutenent Colonel. His mother 
died in 1853, and lies in the Quaker Cemetry at Oskaloosa. His father is 
still living in Arkansas. 

OWSLEY, M., wholesale and retail grocer, Bloomfield; was born Novem- 
ber 18, 1834. in Indiana, and at the age of eight years, his parents moved' 
to Pike county, Illinois, and there he grew to manhood on a farm, and was 
educated in the common sciiools. When about eighteen he went into a 
sawmill, where he worked seven or eight years, and in 1S56, he moved to 
Macon county, Missouri, where he remained till 1861, when he located near 
Ottumwa, Iowa, for two years, and then in Soap Creek township, this coun- 
ty, where he ran a saw and grist mill, until 1867, when he went back to 
Macon county, Missouri, and went into the grocery business till May 1879, 
when came to Bloomfield and opened out a wholesale and retail grocery 
bouse, which he is still running. He has just completed and moved into 
the finest store room in the cit}', being on the southeast corner of tlie pub- 
lic square, where he carries by far the largest stock of groceries in the city, 
which he always sells at the lowest cash prices. Here can be found every- 
thing in the grocery and provision line, and gentlemanly clerks to attend 
to your wants. Mr. O. was married July 4, 1859, to Miss Amanda White, 
who died in April 1864, leaving three children, all now deceased. He mar- 
ried again April 13, 1866, tc Miss Syntha Lester, and they have had three 
children, John K. living, and two daughters deceased. 

PAINTER, J. v., M. D., physician and druggist, Bloomfield; was born 
February 11, 1820, in Ohio; attended the common schools, and at the age 
of fourteen went to learn the tailoring business with Joseph Repler,in Urbana, 
Ohio, and followed it until 1842, studying in the meantime, while plying 
tlie needle. In 1889 he commenced learning the drug business also, staying 
in the drug store in the summer, in tailor shop in the winter. In 1842 he 
went into the drug business, as clerk for Heni'y Wheeler, of Kesauqua, Van 
Buren county, Iowa, and after working a few months with Dr. Loring, 
druggist in St. Louis, he located at West Point, Iowa, in the practice of 
medicine, tailoring some at the same titne. In February, 1847, he com- 
menced clerking in Hamlin and Ayers drug store, in Keokuk, and studied 
medicine about two years with Dr. Knowles. In 1852 he located in Farm- 
ington, in the practice, and in 1864 came to Bloomfield, and clerked for J. 
B. Glenn, for Glenn Brothers, and for Mitchell Brothers, until December 
25, 1877. when he put up his present building and commenced the drug 
business for himself, which he still continues. He was married September 
7, 1854, to Miss Pi>lly Stare, a native of Indiana, and they have three chil- 
dren: Emma V., Francis F.,and Joseph M. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 631 

PAINE, J. N., proprietor of Paine's book store, Bloomfield; was born in 
Middlesex county, Massachusetts, July 12, 1849, where he resided for six- 
teen vears, receivine^ his education at Charlestown, Mass., and in 1865, came 
to Linn county, Iowa. In December 1869, he went to California, and re- 
inaincd three years, eng-aged in mining, and in the fall of 1872, returned 
home, then went to St. Louis to attend telegraph school for three months, 
then came to Bloomfield and took charge of the telegraph office, a situation 
he still holds. In JS74, he bought the news business of A. Johnson, and 
now carries a large stock of books, stationary and notions. Feeling the 
need of more room, he is now building a iine brick store on the east side of 
tlie square, which he will occupy as soon as completed. He was married 
December 1?«, 1876, to Miss Ella Hagan of this cit^-, and they have two 
childi-en, Edith Jane and Delia Kate. Mr. P. is a worthy gentleman, de- 
serving of success. 

PALMER, WM., carperter and contractor, Bloomfield; was born in New 
York, September 11, 1828, where he grew to manhood, educated in the 
common schools, and at the age of eighteen, learned carpentering with D. D. 
Adams, in Sharon, where he remained three years, he then worked as mill- 
wright about three years. In 1853 he moved to Ypsilanti, Michigan, and 
lived there about twelve years, engaged in carpentering, then moved to Mis- 
souri, where he lived till the fall of 1869, when he came to Bloomfield, 
where he has since resided. He was married December 15, 1857, to Miss 
Imogene Hamlin, of Michigan. They have had ten children, Bessie, Hamlin, 
Luella, Henrietta, Arthur, Sylvanus, WiUard, Mary, David, and a babe. 
Mr. P. is a member of the Presbyterian Church. Since coming here, by 
doing good work and by fair dealing, he has secured a large trade, and is 
well worthy of it. 

PARKER, JOHN, Bloomfield; was born in Park county, Indiana, in 
1846, where he lived till he was seventeen, then went to California; arriving 
there without money, he worked on a farm at fifteen dollars a month for a 
while, then mined, and soon after purchased a team, and commenced team- 
ing, being quite successful. In 1857 he went to farming for himself, which 
he has since continued. He owns 310 acres of land in California, and 260 
acres in this county, all under fine cultivation, besides one of the finest 
houses in Bloomfield. He was married in 1869, to Miss H. E. Jones, a 
native of Ross county, Ohio, a daughter of John Jones, one of the early 
settlers of this county. Mr. Parker makes periodical trips to California to 
look after his large property there. 

PATTERSON, J. J., postoffice, Bloomfield, was born in January 1814, in 
North Carolina. When quite young his father, Josej)h E., moved to Overton 
county, Tennessee, and when he was sixteen, came to Sangamon county, 
Illinois. In the spring of 1837, coming to Van Buren county Iowa, then 
known as the I'lack Hawk Purchase. In the spring of 1851, he came to 
Wyacondah township, this county, and in 1879, coming to Bloomfield. Mr. 
P. owns two fine farms, consisting of 700 acres, with a nice residence, good 
barns and orchards. Mr. and Mrs. P. live in this city, in a nice cottage, 
where they enjoy every comfort. Mr. P. was married in December, 1840, 
to Miss Frances E. Taylor, of Lee county, daughter of J. Taylor. They 
had eleven children, Hffrriet V., Angeline F., John T., Kate, L. T., Jesse, 
Jehu, Frank, Albert, and two deceased, Alfred and Louisa. Mr. P. is a 
member of the Missionary Baptist Church, and has the confidence and re- 
spect of all who know him. 



632 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

PAYNE, D. H., attorney, of the firm of Payne & Eiclielberger, Bloom- 
field, was born August 7, 1847, in Wappello county, Iowa. In 1854- his 
parents moved to Henry county. Here lie grew up and finished his educa- 
tion in the Iowa Wesleyn University at Mt. Pleasant, where he took a full 
classical course, and graduated in 1869 receiving the master's degree in 
1872. He began reading law immediately after graduating, with General 
Weaver, and was admitted to the bar in 1870 by Judge Williams, and after 
spending one year in Little Pock, Arkansas, he returned and formed a part- 
nership with General Weaver, July 4, 1871, which continued till 1879. The 
firm then changed to Traverse, Payne & Eiclielberger, which continued 
till January, 1881, when Mr. Traverse went upon the bench, leaving the 
firm as it now is. While in Little Pock, Arkansas, he was appointed dep- 
uty State School Superintendent. Was the candidate of the anti-fusion 
ticket (greenback) in 1880, but failed of an election, on account of a lack 
of votes. He was married October 17, 1877, to Miss Susie, daughter of 
Abram Weaver, one of the oldest settlers of the county, and who was long 
identified with its interests. They have two children, Larue and Pauline. 
His father and grandfather came from Virginia, and located in Henry 
county, Iowa, and entered their land as soon as the Indians left them. His 
father died when he was one year and a half old, and his mother when he 
was seven. 

PLANK, JOHN H., general insurance agent, Bloomfield was born Sep- 
tember 14, 1833, in Wayne county, Ohio. There he grew to manhood, and 
was educated in the common schools. While yet a boy, he learned cabinet- 
making with his father, at which he worked about five years. He then ran 
a steam saw-mill for several years. In 1856 he came to Iowa and located 
near Pulaski, in this county, where he ran a saw-mill, and worked at car- 
pentering for several years. In 1874 he went into the insurance business 
in this conntj', and has done more or less of it ever since. In 1877 and 
1878 he was salesman in Higby and McCarty's hardware store, but for the 
last three years has devoted liis entire time to the insurance business. He 
was married April 4, 1858, to Miss Lydia L. Saner, a native of Stark county, 
Ohio, and they have had four children, Curtis E., Elva A.. Mary L. and one 

dGCGtlSGQ 

PPvESSON, CHAS. A., of the firm of Nulton & Presson, Bloomfield; 
was born in Massachusetts, August 9, 1847. His father, Wm. B., died 
when he was abont one year old, and at the age of three, he moved with 
liis mother, Sarah A. Presson, to this county. He has grown to manhood 
liere, his early youth being spent mostly on a farm. At tiie age of sixteen 
he enlisted in Company' E., Third Iowa Cavalry, and served till the close of 
the war. He was married in 1870, to Miss Mary E. Kobbins, a native of 
this State, and they have had four children, Grace, Otis, Burt and Winona, 
deceased at three of age. Mr. P. is a member of the I. O. O. F., Bloom- 
field Lodge No. 23. Mr. P. is a fine business man, and has been wonder- 
fully successful; having now entered the field for himself, with Mr. Nulton, 
they have before them a bright future. 

PRIEST, G. AND SON,' millers, Bloomfield. Mr. Priest, Sr., was born 
in 1820, in Norfolk, England; was raised there and educated in a select 
school. While a bo}' he learned the miller's trade and has followed it ever 
since. In 1844 he came to New York, and in 1857, came to Davenport, 
Iowa. He went to Cuba in 1858, in the employ of the government, and in 
1861, came back and located in the milling business, in Washington county, 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 633 

Iowa. In 1872 lie and his son cairie to this county and rented the Cook 
mill, and in July, 1875, built and equipped their present Bloomfield mills, 
■which the}' are still running. Mr. Priest was married in 1845, to Jane Rid- 
dulph, a native of Ireland. They have had five children, Samuel J., Mary, 
Elizabeth, Jennie, Sophia, and one deceased. 
PRIEST, S. J., miller,Bloomtield; was born January 8,1847,in Medina, New 
York. Hewas raised mostlyin the State of Iowa, and while youno^ he learned 
the miller's trade with his father, and has always followed it since. He was mar- 
ried in February, 1874-, to Miss Mary McAtee, a native of Davis county. 
They have had four children, George, Bessie, Samuel, Jr., and one deceased. 
The mill owned by Priest and Son was built July 3, 1875, and has three 
run of burrs. They do a custom trade and run a store in connection. 

PUGH, DAVID B., retired farmer, Bloomfield, was born July 4, 1820, 
in Shenandoah county, Virginia. In 1824, his parents moved to Hamp- 
shire county, where he grew to manhood on a farm, and never went to 
school until nearl}' grown, when he determined to educate himself, which 
he did to a liberal extent. In 1846, he came to Iowa and located in Van 
Buren county, and came to Davis county in the spring of 1847, and taught 
school that winter at West Grove, being the first school taught in the town- 
ship. In the spring of 1848, he enlisted as a recruit for the Santa Fe Bat- 
talion, and went to Santa Fe, where they were detailed as escort to Gen. 
Price, and after a service of eleven months, was discharged and came home. 
With the money earned in the army, he entered a half section of land, in 
sections 28 and 34, in West Grove township, where he has lived ever since, 
until January 1, 1881, when he moved to Bloomfield, to spend the remaind- 
er of his da3's. In 1861, he enlisted in the Second Iowa, but was rejected, 
and in 1862, he went into the Missouri State Militia, and furnished the 
same horse "Grackus,"' that he rode in the Mexican war, to a young man 
who went with him, but poor old "Grackus" never got back again. Mr. 
Pugh was married in June 1849, to Mrs Sarah W. Traverse, a native of 
Kentucky, and they have one child. Bush. His wife had four children by 
her first husband, Nancy J., wife of James Iluntiof Illinois; Jas. J.; H. 
Clay Traverse, now circuit judge, and Louisa, wife of Geo. W. McMurray, 
•of tliia county. 

RANDOLPH, F. M., city marshal, Bloomfield; was born January 14, 
1827, in Shelby county, Indiana, and there grew to manhood, educated in 
the common schools, and following the plow, until the war broke out, when 
he enlisted, March 6, 1862, in company G., Seventh Missouri Cavalry, and 
served till March 6, 1865, when hewas honorably discharged. Pie was in 
all the battles in which his regiment was engaged, and never missed a. days 
duty on account of sickness. Since returning liome to Bloomfield, from the 
army, he has been engaged in public duties, as constable and city marshal, 
the latter he is now holding, in his sixth term, which shows how he is esti- 
mated by his neighbors. He was married in October 1851, to MissRuhan- 
na Owens, of Indiana, who died October 9, 1856, leaving him three chil- 
dren, Nathaniel F., and two now deceased. He married again December 
24, 1865, to Miss Hettie E. George, a native of Pennsylvania, and they have 
one child, Francis M. On November 15, 1880, he met with the misfortune 
of losing his right eye, by being shot with a shot gun, while out turkey 
hunting with Mr. Daniels, who mistook him for a turkey. 

20 



634 • HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

SAUJTDERS, WM. M., livery and transfer, Bloonifield; was born Janu- 
ary 4, 1848, near Pulnski. Davis county. Iowa, and here he grew to manhoods 
After he grew up he fanned and clerked in a store; then l)ecaine a partner 
in the drug business witli his brother, and at the same time was dealing and 
trading iu stock. In 1877, he opened out a new livery stable in Bloomtield, 
and has continued iu the business ever since. Healso runs a transfer, doing 
most of the freight and dray business of the city. He is a man of great 
perseverance and untiring energy, and by close attention to business has ac- 
quired a good deal of property. He was married January 17. 1867, to Miss 
Julia Hill, a native of this county, and they have three children: Olive, 
William and Eddie. 

SELMAN. DR. J. J., was born January 17, 1818, in Franklin county,^ 
Alabama, and there grew to manhood on a farm, and was educated at Per- 
ryville Institute, near St. Genevieve, Mo. In 1834 he began to study med- 
icine with his brother, Dr. S. H. Selman of Columbus, Ind., and graduated 
at the Ohio Medical College in 1837. In July, 1838, he began the ])ractice 
of his profession at Rushville, Ind., where he remained three years, in 1841 
coming to Jackson townsiiip. Van Buren county, Iowa. In 1844 in the 
spring, he came to this county and located a claim about three miles west 
of Bloomtield, and went to practicing, which he has followed ever since. 
He is the oldest resident physician now living in the county, and has seeO' 
the ups and downs of pioneer life. He was a member of the constitutional 
convention of 1846, and in 1848 was elected to the State Senate from Davis 
and Appanoose counties. He drew the short term and was reelected in 
1848, and was elected president of the Senate. He was also elected one of 
the presidential electors and cast one of Iowa's four votes for General Cass, 
■for president. Although this was about the last of his political career, he 
has alwa^'s been closely allied with the public interests of the county. He 
was married in 1840 to Miss Mary A. Morris, a native of Indiana, who died 
a few months after their marriage. He married again April 17, 1844, to- 
Clarissa Cassady, a native of Indiana; they have had fourteen children, 
Sarah, wife of W. E. Forker, Mamie, wite of Stock Hubert, of Des Moines; 
Andrew J., Cora, wife of John Frazier, of Keokuk; Thomas, John J., Ben- 
jamin F., Samuel H., William, and live deceased. 

■ SHELTON, DR. E. J., Bloomtield; born October 20, 1831, in Decatur 
county, Ind., and there he was raised on a farm and educated in common 
schools. In 1849 he commenced studying medicine with Dr. Wood, of 
Milford, Ind., and in 1856 he graduated from the Ohio Medical College of 
Cincinnati, and in 1864 from the Keokuk Medical College, and in 1874 
from Bellevue Hospital Medical College of New York. In 1869 he estab- 
lished his inlirmary in Bloomtield, which he now runs. In 1877 he asso- 
ciated with him his son E. K.. who had spent four years iu the study of 
medicine, and graduated in March, 1876, at Cincinnati, O., in the College 
of Medicine and Surgery. Dr. E. J. S. was married March 4, 1853, to Miss 
A. J. Fenton, a native of Columbia, Mo.; they have six children, Dr. E. K., 
Lncy, wife of Dr. J. W. Caldwell, Eddie, Charley and Maud. For a des- 
cription of the doctor's intirmary, see Bloomtield, in the chapter on town- 
ship history. 

SHELTON", DR. EBERLE K., of the firm of Shelton & Son, Bloom- 
field; was born in Davis county, September 10, 1854. He has been reared 
in this county and attended the public schools of the county until 1869, 
when he entered Shurtlefi" College, Alton, 111., where he attended till June 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 635 

1872, tlien went to tlie College of Medicine and Surgery at Cincinnati, from 
wliich he graduated in 187*5, and then going to IJellevue Hospital, iST. Y., 
and the three following winters he spent there and at the St. Louis Hospi- 
tal, where he studied snrgery and diseases of the eye, which he now makes 
a specialty. He has been associated with his father since 1876. He was 
married in this county April 23, 1880, to Miss Kissie S., daughter of Anson 
Haves, of Allen county, O., and they liave one child, Helen E., born Octo- 
ber's, 1881. Dr. S. is a member of Bloomfield lodge Xo. 23, of Odd Fel- 
lows; K. of P. Calantha lodge, and Franklin lodge A. F. and A. M. For 
a particular description of Shelton and Sou's Infirmary, see Bloomfield city 
in the chapter on township histor}^. 

SLOAN, JOHN M., retired farmer, Bloomfield; was born March 2, 1833, 
in Columbiana count}', Ohio, and was there raised on a farm, and educated 
in common schools. While a young man he taught school a short time, 
but has made farming his business all his life. He came to Iowa vvith. his 
parents in 1853, and located in Salt Creek township, where he has lived ever 
since, till the fall of 1875, when he was elected county treasurer, on the dem- 
ocratic ticket, and reelected in 1877, holding the ofiice four years. He was 
elected a member of the board of supervisors in 1861, and held it till 1866, 
and again in 1870, during which time he was president of the board four 
years. He has lield the ofiice of justice about eight years, and town asses- 
sor one term; showing the high estimate that has been placed upon his abil- 
ity as a business man, and the confidence reposed in him by his friends and 
neighbors. He was married January 29,1857, to Miss Mary E. McClure, a 
native of Indiana, and they have seven children: Nancy J., wife of Rev. J. 
B. Edmondson; Henry A., Harvey S., Robert F., Charles S., Maiy A., and 
J. A. — all living. Mr. S. owns a tine farm in Salt Creek township, of 270 

SLGVGS, 

SPENCER, CAPT. H. A., Bloomfield; was born in New Hampshire, in 
May, 1813, where he lived sixteen years. At an early age he commenced 
to learn blacksmithing with his father, Benjamin, near where the ci'ty of 
Manchester now stands. He then worked in the shop of Dan. Moak for two 
and a half years, then moved to Springfield, Erie county, Pennsylvania, and 
in the fall of 1838. to Pittsfield, Illinois, and three years later to Mt. Ster- 
ling. In 18-1:9, he came to Bloomfield, and built two blacksmith shops, and 
the first frame building east of the square, and engaged in making plows. 
He enlisted August 17, 18G1, in Company E, Third Iowa Cavalry, went out 
as second lieutenant. Was at Tupelo, Mississippi, and Little Rock; was 
taken prisotier at White Water river in Missouri, held a month, then 
paroled; returned to Benton Barracks, was taken with inflammatory rheuma- 
tism, and came home on a furlough. Was promoted first lieutenant, April 
3d, 1862, and captain, September 5. Resigned August 31, 1864, and re- 
turned home on account of disability. As soon as he could, be took charge 
of the shop, and carried on an extensive business till 1880, when he retired 
from active business. He was married in Springfield, Pennsylvania, to Miss 
Eveline Rudd,of that place, and they have had eight children; O. B., born in 
Pennsylvania; Theresa, born in Illinois; Louis, born in Illinois; Emma; 
Clarence A.; Ella, and two diseased, Mary and Estevilla. Mr. Spencer has 
been a Mason since 1838, and has been master in the lodge. He is a mem- 
ber of the Christian Church, and is an active worker in the greenback part}'; 
being one of three who organized the first Greenback club in the county, 
organized in captain Spencer's shop in the summer of 1876. He comes of 



636 HISTORY OF DAVIS COIIKTY. 

good stock, liis wreat grandfather being Brigadier General Spencer, in the 
revolution, and his grandfather being an aide on his staff. Two of his 
uncles were killed in the war of 1812; his son (). B., was one of the 100 
day men in the late war. 

STARK, JOSIAH, retired fanner, Bloonifield; was born January '28, 
1819, in Henry county, Ky. When eight yeai-s old he moved with his 
parents to Decatur county, Indiana, where his father died. lie obtained a 
little education in the subscription schools, and in the fall of 1843 he came 
to Lick Creek township. Davis county, Iowa, and bought the claim of Dan- 
iel Woodin, in section 20, of IGO aci'es. Lived on it seven years, and then 
moved down Chequest creek, on the ne qr of section 29, where he farmed 
and ran a carding machine for six years, using a small steam engine, which 
was the wonder of the whole country. He then moved over into Perry 
township, in January, 1853, and bought the sw qr of section 2, from Benja- 
mir» Brooks, where he lived until August, 1881, when he came to Bloom- 
field, and bought a nice residence aiul a fine, large lot, where he intends to 
spend the remainder of his days. Mr. S. has been a farmer and stock raiser 
all his life, coming to this county when "Injniis" and deer and wolves were 
plenty. He has a tame red fox, which is quite a curiosity. Mr. S. passed 
through all the privations and hardships of the pioneer life, and knows how 
to appreciate the comforts and pleasures he is now enjoying. He was mar- 
ried August 17, 1840, to Miss Charlotte D. Rose, of Henry county. Ivy., 
born June 17, 1817, and they have had two children, daughters, one the wife 
of J. N. Rector, of Perry township, and the other the wife ofT. B. Turpiu, 
of Bloomfield township. 

STEEL, SAMUEL, Sen., retired merchant, Bloomfield, was born in 
Greene county, Indiana, January 1, 1814; at the age of seven, his parents, 
Samuel and Sarah Steel, moved to Park county, Indiana, where he was 
raised a farmer and miller, receiving a common school education. His 
mother died there, and he with his father moved to Warren count}', Illinois, 
in 1835 or 1836. From there to Van Buren county, Iowa, settling in Keo- 
sauqua, in mercantile business with his father. In June 1845, they came 
to this county wiiere he has lived ever since. About fourteen years of that 
time he was engaged in mercantile trade, the balance of the time farming. 
He was married in Illinois in 1840, to Miss Stratton, and they had six 
children, one living, William, of Bloomfield. His wife died in 1876, and 
he married again Oct. 12, 1877, to Isabella Brewster, whose maiden name 
was Frame; a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, born in 1831; she had six child- 
ren by her first husband; Ellen, wife of Wm. Rhinebarger; Amanda, wife 
of Thos. Robb; Alice, wife of Oscar McCrary; Julia, wife of Jesse Patter- 
son; Jennie June; and Lena Ada. Mr. and Mrs. Steel are members of 
the Congregational church. 

STEELE, S. II., attorney, of the firm of Jones & Steele, Bloomfield; was 
born September 23, 1852, in this county, about five miles northeast of Bloom- 
field, and was educated in the public schools. In December, 1875, he began 
the study of law with M. H. Jones; was admitted to the bar in February, 
1877, by Judge Knapp, and went to David City, Neb., and practiced there 
till September, 1880, when he sold out, returned home, bought out the busi- 
ness ot'M. li. Jones, and associated himself with Samuel Jones, his present 
partner. They are a young and rising law firm, who are destined in the 
near future to stand high, if not at the head of the profession in Davis coun- 



HISTOEY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 637 

ty. They merit the confidence of tiie general public. Mr. S. is unmar- 
ried. 

STECKEL, AMOS, banker and attorney, of Bloomfield; was born July 
20, 183.3, in Lehigh county. Pa., and there he grew to manhood and finished 
his education in a select high school. At the age of fourteen he went to 
leai'n the tailor's trade witli John Xeleigh, of Alientown, Pa., and worked 
at it about four years, and then taught scliool about three years. When 
about twenty-one he began the study of law with James S. Reese, of Allen - 
town, and in November, 1S56, was admitted by Judge McCartney, and soon 
after came west and located in Council Bhitt's in the printing business with 
A. P. Bentley. In the spring of ]85>S he located in Bloomfield, this county 
where, \i\ connection witii Mr. Bentley, he published the Democratic Clarion 
ho being the editor. In 18(51 he severed his connection with the paper and 
was appointed deputy clerk of the District Oourt,and in the fall of that year 
was elected clerk. Soon after the e.xpiration of his term he began the prac- 
tice of law, wiiicli lie has continued since. He iias beci mayor of Bloom- 
field one term, and n:ember of the city council. In 1874 he furmed a part- 
nership witli F. ('. Overton, under the firm name of Steckel t^' Ovei'ton for 
the purpose of conducting a loan business, and soon after added real estate. 
In January, ISSO, they established the present banking house of Steckel & 
Overton, and began a regular banking business. In 1878 he was appointed 
by Gov. dear as one of the cnmmissioners to the Paris exposition, which he 
attended. He was married August 13, 1861, to Miss Nannie II. Druet, a 
native of Ohio, by whom he had one chiid, W. J.; his wife died of con- 
sumption in 1867. in Indianapolis, and Mr. S. married again January 27, 
1870, to Miss Ellen V. White, a native of Vermont, by whom he has four 
children, Helen W., Stell M., Edith A., and Mildred. Mr. S. began a poor 
boy and has now by hard work and industry secured a competency for his 
declining years. 

STEVENS, WM. S., county auditor, IMoomfield; was born in Vigo coun- 
ty, Indiana, A|)i-il 12, 1824. While very young, his parents moved to 
Fountain county, Indiana, and there lie grew up on a farm and was educated 
in tlie common schools and Franklin College, Indiana. He followed farm- 
ing and teaching, until 1846, when he came to Davis connty, and located on 
a farm one mile east of Bloomfield, until 1850, when he moved into town and 
has lived tiiere since. In August 1847, he was elected county treasurer and 
recorder, which office he held eight years. In 1856, he commenced clerking 
in the store of Calvin Taylor, and in one year went into partnership, the 
firm being Taylor, Stevens & Co., in which he remained three years. In 
1861, he sold out. He then clerked for Mr. Woodward, atid then for Mr. 
Johnson. In 1863 and 1864, he was appointed deputy treasurer, which 
office he held two years, but only worked about two months during the 
winter seasons. In 1867, he again went to clerking for Mr. Taylor, where 
he .continued for several years. In 1870, he was elected Justice of the 
Peace, which he held four years. Was seci-etarv of the school board sever- 
al years, in the early days. In February 1876, he was in charge, for the 
assignee, of Mr. Taylor's business, until a settlement was made. In 1879, 
he was elected county auditor, and reelected in 1881. He is one of the old- 
est settlers in the county. He was married Api'il 21, 1850, to Miss Marga- 
ret Evans, a native of Indiana, and had five children, Harry C, and three 
deceased. His wife died August 5, 1848, and he married again May 6, 



638 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

1860, to Catliarine Evans, a sister of his deceased wife. They have liad four 
children, Mary Effie, and three deceased, in infancy. 

SWIFT, FREEMAN, school-teacher, Bloomfield; was horn in J.ick 
Creek township in this county, March 16, 1861, a son of "Washington S. 
Swift. His early youth was spent in acrricnltnral pursuits, receiving his 
education in the normal school at Elooiniield. He is now teaching his first 
school in district No. 1, Koscoe township. He will finish his course and 
graduate in 1882. He is a young man of great energy, and has laid the 
foundation in his character for a useful and happy life. His pleasant man- 
iter will make friends for him wherever he goes. 

TAYLOR, WM. H., clerk ot the courts, Bloomfield; was born in De- 
catur county, Ind., February 8, 1847. At the age of eleven his parents came 
to this connt3% and located in Pulaski in the spring of 185(1; there he grew 
to manhdod. At the age of thirteen, his father died and left him to care 
for and support an invalid mother and three sisters. Tiiis he did by farm- 
ing and teaching. He began teaching at the age of eighteen; soon after, his 
mother died, which left him the sole care of his sisters, whom he has lived 
to see educated and oeciipving lioniM'ed positions in society. He was a 
member of the State militia daring the war, and in 1870, he began mer- 
chandizing withZ. Cannon. In 187-', Cannon sold out to Mr. Milligan, 
who is still in business in Pulaski. They built a fine store building, a half 
interest in it still belongs to Mr. T. In 1876. he was elected clerk of the 
courts, a position which he still holds. He was married at Ottumwa, Iowa, 
June 21, 1871, to Miss Sarah L. Truitt, a native of Van Buren county, and 
they have two children, Abna Pearl, and William Bert. Mr. T. has twice 
been a city councilman, and city treasurer, in Bloomfield. and now holds 
those offices, and is also a member of the school board. He owns a fine 
residence where he resides, and a house and lot of seven acres, 
which he rents, and also a half interest in a fine brick block being built on 
the south side of the square. All of which he has made by hard work. He 
was one of the organizing members of the Masonic lodge at Pulaski, and 
was chosen W. M.; was also the first master on charter organization. He is 
also a member of the I. O. 0. F., at Pulaski. Mr. Taylor has the confidence 
and esteem i>f the entire eomninnity. 

TOOMBS, J. P., blacksmith; was born in Davis county, December 21, 
1845, and educated in the Bloomfield public school. When the war came 
on though only 18, he enlisted in Company D, Forty-fifth Iowa Infantry. 
After going tliriiiigli the war, he was honoraijly discharged, returned home, 
and attended school for a time, and then farmed fur two years, after which 
he went into the shop of O. B. Spencer to learn blacksmithing, and after 
working two years as apprentice, he lemained three years longer as a jour- 
neyman, then started in business for himself, and being industrious, and a 
good workman, he has gained a large patronage and the confidence of the 
commnnitv. His ]>lace of business is located near the southwest corner of 
the public squai-e, in a large two story brick shop, where he is assisted by 
the best of workmen. He is an active and zealous worker in the temper- 
ance cause, beitig for two years elected a member of the city council by the 
temperance ])arty. He was a candidate for sherifi", on the rejiublican ticket, 
in the fall of 18SI, and received more votes than any other candidate on that 
ticd^et, being defea'ed bv only three votes. 

TOWNSEND, ELISiiA B., retired farmerand mechanic, postofiice Bloom- 
field, was boi-n in Virginia, May 10, 1812; and at the age of five, moved 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 639 

'with his parents, Enoch and Hannali T., to Franklin county, and soon after 
to Johnson conntj', where he gvew to manhood, receivino^ a common school 
-edneation. In 18-17 he came to tliis conntv, where he still resides. In 1853 
he went to California, and returned in tiie fall ot 1856. He learned the 
■carpenters trade in 1845, and followed it offand on for twentj'-five years. 
He was mari-ied in Indiana in 1835, to Miss Sarah Fix, a native of Ohio. 
Tliey liave had nine children, Caroline, wife of Jesse Akin; Antlia, wife of 
Albert Smith; Aaron and William, twins; Alexander. Millard, and three 
■deceased, one in infancy, and two, Milton and Madison, of company A., 
Third Iowa Cavalry; Milton dyinof from ii^unshot wound at Pea Tiidi^e, and 
Madison, murdered by bnsliwluickers at same place. Mr. T. was teamster 
in the same company, and was allowed to come Iiome, by Gen. Curtis, after 
]ii8 sons were killed. Mr. T. is a memi)er of the Christian < Miurch, and has 
heen a Mason for sixteen vears. 

TRIMBLE, HENliY ilOFFMAN, is ot remote German descent, his 
parents, John Trimlile and Elizalietli Hoffman, having Teutonic blood in 
their veins. His i;randfatiier was a soldier of the revolution. During liis 
boyhood, his father, wlio was a carpenter and farmer, lived successively in 
Eush, Decatur and Shelby counties, Indiana, where Henry farmed until 
sixteen years old. He received his education in Franklin College, in the 
State Fniversity at Uloomiiigton, and in Asbury University at Geencastle, 
graduating from the last named institution, July 21. 1847. He defrayed 
all his own expenses, liy teaching and other work. From college he went 
•directly into the Mexican war, serving one year m the Fifth Indiana Vol- 
unteers, James H. Lane, Colonel. Un his return he read law, tirst with 
Eden H. Davis, of Shelbyville, then with Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks. His 
father came to Iowa in 184-8, and he followed, a year later, coming to 
Eloomtield, and was admitted to the bar Apiil 29, 1850, by Hoti. J. F. Kin- 
ney, at Keosanqua, and in a very few years taking a high ])Osition in tiie 
profession He was county attorney from 1S51 to 1855, and State Senator 
from 1865 to 1859, being at the last session held at Iowa (Jity, and theiirst 
lield at Des Moines. In July 1861, he entered the army as lieutenent 
■colonel of the Third Iowa Cavalry, and served till the 9th of September 
1862. when he was discharged on account of wound in the face, at battle of 
Pea liidge. In October 1862, Colonel Trimble was elected district judge 
•of the second district, and served four years. Judge Trimble was president 
■of the St. 'Louis and Cedar Rapids R. R. Com])any during the building of 
the road north to Ottumwa. and also assisted in building the Burlington and 
:Southwestern. Judjj;e Trimble has a National as well as State reputation, 
as a democratic politician. He was twice a candidate for the Supreme 
•Court, once before the legislature, and once before the people, in 1863. 
Was a candidate for congress, in the tirst district, against Gen. Curtis, re- 
ducing the usual rei^ublican majority more than 1,200 votes, and in 1872, 
ran for the same othee, against Wm. Loughridge, and ran 5,000 votes ahead 
of Horace Greeley, presidential candidate. Judge T. has been president of 
the State Bar Association, and -stands at tlie head of the profession in Iowa. 
He was the democratie candidate for governoi-, in 1879, against John H. 
■Gear, rejiublican The Judge is a member of the Masonic order, and is a 
beliver in Christianity, although not belonging to any church. He was 
married at Shelbyville, Indiana, April 5, 1840, to Miss Emma M. Cnrruth- 
ers, a native of Wheeling, West Virginia. They have live children, all liv- 
ing, Palmer, the eldest, is married, and a member of the tirm of Trimble, 



640 HISTORY OF DAVIS COrNTY. 

CaiTiithers & Trimble. Mr. Carrutliers being. a brother-in-law of the Jiidge^ 
and his partner since 1867. The second son, Frank K., is studying for the- 
profession. 

VAN BENTHUSEN, JUDGE WM.,Bioomfield; is a native of Orange- 
county, N. Y.; born August 30, 1S13. At tlie age of six, his parents, 
James and Susan Van Bentliusen, moved to Clermont county, Ohio, and in 
1828, to Shelby county, where he grew up and received his education. His 
father was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1851, and died 
with cholera, while serving as such, at the age of seventy-three. His mother 
died in 1862. In 1853, he settled on a farui near Drakeville, until 1865, 
when he w-as elected county judge and moved to Blooniiield. He enlisted,. 
September 22, 1861, in Company A, First Cavalry, and was elected captain^ 
of that couijiany. He resigned in 1862, on account of failing health, and in 
1864, enlisted again, in Company D, Forty-fifth Infautry, and was elected 
captain. Served four months; was in the battle of Pea Ridge. He now 
owns 500 acres of land, and lives inBloomfield, having one of the finest res- 
idences in the city. He was married in Indiana, May 6th, 1831, to Miss 
Francis Clark, a native of England, and by this union had iifieen children; 
four are living, Eliza, wife of J. W. Clayton; Barbary, wife of John Curl; 
Frank, wife of John Demuth; and Will, now editor of the Leavenwortli 
Times. Mrs. V. died July 24, 1871, and he again married. September 10, 
1872, Mrs. L. E. Watson, whose maiden name was Merritt; a native of 
Posey county, Indiana. Judge V. is a member of the M. E. Church, is also- 
a Mason and Odd Fellow, and a member of St. John's Commandery, K. T.,. 
at CenterviJle, Iowa. 

WALKER, T. O., editor and proprietor of the Bloointield Democrat; was^ 
born June 3, 1844, in Claremont, Sullivan county. New Hampshire. In the 
spring of 1859 his parents removed to Iowa, settling near Mitchelville, in 
Polk connty. Two years later young Walker was teaching school in Greene 
county, and the two following winters in Polk and Warren counties. In 
1863 he entered the preparatory department of the State University, com- 
pleted a two year's course in one, and until 1866 pursued an elective course 
in that institution. Foi'ced to abandon the completion of his collegiate 
education through lack of funds, he studied law in tiie ofKce of J. Y. Black- 
well doing clerical work meanwhile for his board, and was admitted to the 
bar in 1867. In December of the same year he began journalistic work 
upon the Iowa City State Press, coiitinuing here until January, 1869, when- 
he took the position of city editoi- of the Des Moines Daily Statesman., 
now Leader. In the following Jul^' he severed his connection with the 
Statesman to arrange for the publication of the Democrat in Blooniiield, 
which was begun September 15, 1869. In October, 1870, he married Miss 
Henrietta A. lloyt, of Koshkonong, Wis. The remarkable voice possessed 
by Mr. Walker led to his selection as secretary and reading clerk of the 
Democratic State Convention of Iowa in 1868, and for each succeeding year 
since. It also secured for him the position of reading clerk at the National 
Democratic Conventions of 1876 and 1880, where at the former he earned 
his national sobriquet, '"Alabama." In ISSO he was made the nominee of 
his party for the State senate from the district composed of A^an Burenand 
Davis counties, and in 1881 was nominated for the lower house of the leg- 
islature. In both these contests he was unsuccessful, the opposition polling 
more votes than his own party. In October, 1881, he was offered and ac- 
cepted the position of editor, of the Burlington Dallij Gazette, retainingv 



HISTORY OF DAVIS CdUNTT. 641 

however, editorial control of the Bloointield Democrat. In January, 1882,. 
he was tendered the nianaginir editorship of the (Jttiitnwa Daily Democrat 
which place he now holds. Mr. Walker is essentiallv a self-made man, one 
of the representatives of our western civilization. His education gotten in 
the intervals of hard work, has been largely supplemented by an exhaustive 
reading, for he is still a student, and iiis pleasing address, genial manners 
and musical voice cause iiiin to be in frequent demand for lectures and pub- 
lic addresses. For the hast twelve years no man has done more to make 
history for Davis county than T. O. Walker. 

WALLTS, J. D., of the firm of Wallis A: Laugeustin, wagon and carriage 
makers, BlooniHeld; was born in Indfiina, in Novemlier 1839. When three 
years of age he came witli his father to Van Bnren county. Iowa. His 
fathers' name was Logan L. Wallis. Mr. Wallis grew to manhood in Van 
Buren county, and after receiving his education, he went into mercan- 
tile business, which he continued for eleven years, at Milton. In January 
1880, he came to Bloomfield, and in company with his son-in-law, Laugeu- 
stin. started the shop where they are now doing business. They employ ten 
good workmen, and turn out wagotis, buggies and phaetons, that can't be 
beat. His sales last year amounted to $12 000. Tliey have a demand at 
home for all the work they can turn out. Mr. Wallis served in the army, 
in company K. Fifteenth Iowa Infantry, being in all of Sherman's cam- 
paigns. John Lauoknstin was born in Germany in September 1855, and 
came to America in 1867, settling in Fort Madison, Iowa; receiving his 
education in Germany and in Foit Madisan. He commenced to work at 
blacksinithing in 1870, with C. Baker, as apprentice, foi- four years, then as 
joui'neyman then went to Burlington for a season, then to Milton, where he 
worked till January 1880. Lie is an e.xpert workinan and oversees all the 
work of tiie shop. Mr. Wallis was married March 3, 1859, to Nancy 
Swiney, of Troy, Iowa. Tiiey iiave one daughrur. Flora F., now Mrs. 
Laugenstin. Mr. Langenstin was married September 12, 1878, to Miss- 
Flora F. Wallis, and they have two girls, Hattie E. and Augusta. 

WEINY, J., contractor and carpenter. Bloomtield; was born in Leba- 
non county, Pennsylvania. November 5, 1832. When two years old he 
came with his father, John, to Franklin county, Ohio, at the age of fourteen,, 
he commenced working at carpenteringvvitli his father, which he continued 
most of the time till 1852, when he came to Van Buren county, Iowa, and- 
in October 185-t, came to Bloomfield, which he has since called home. In 
the spring of 1864, he went to Montana, and for three years engaged in 
mining, then returned home, then went to Drakeville a few years, and then 
settled here. He was married in March 1856, to Mandy Lane of this 
count}', and they Jiad one child, Cordelia. Mrs. Wei n^' died in 1802, and 
he married again in October 1868, to Mary E. Klingler of this county. Mr. 
Weiny is one of the pioneer mechanics of this count}'. By doing good- 
work he has secured the custom of the best cit}' and country trade. 

WILKINSON, JOHN R., lumber dealer, east of northeast corner square, 
Bloomfield; was born in New Jersey, January 13, 1830; and at the age of 
twelve, came with his mother to Lee count}', Iowa. He came to this county 
about April 1, 1869; his early youth was spent on the farm, and acquiring 
a common school education at tlie age of sixteen, commencing life for him- 
self, with a mother and sister to support; he farmed till he came to this 
county; since when he |)as been engnged in the lumber business. His father 
died in Louisville, Kentucky, when John was only six years old. His- 



042 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTr. 

I 

mother is now living in this city at the age of 77. Her name was Rogers, 
descended from Wtn. Rogers, wlio came to America with Wm. Penn. Mr. 
Wilkinson was married in Lee county, in 1860, to Miss Louisa A. Ander- 
son, and they have two ciiildren. Fannie and Steliie. Mr. Wilkinson is an 
Oddfellow, member of Bloomtield Lodge, No. 23. 

WILSON, ASA, retired fanner and merchant, Bloomfield; is a native of 
Oneida county, N. Y., born in 1811. Here he grew to manhood, receiving 
a common scliool edncation. At the age of twenty he commenced house 
joining, which he followed about twenty years. He came west in 1863, 
landing in Bloomfield the last day oj' that year. He is now the owner of 
203 aci'es of improved land in this county, besides very valuable town prop- 
erty. He was married in Buffalo, N. Y., to Miss Catherine Morgan, a na- 
tive of (jrermany, who died in Bloomfield June 28, 1878. He married again 
June 12, 1879, to Eliza Baer, a native of this county; they have one child, 
Asa L., born April 9. 1880, being nearly seventy years j'ounger than his 
father. Mr. W. is a member of the ITniversalist church. 

YOUNG, rjR. J. W., Bloomfield, was born June 21, 1841, in Bartholo- 
mew county, Indiana. In the S])ring of 1843, his parents came to Davis 
county and located wliei'e they now live, in Prairie township. He was de- 
veloped on the prairies, and was educated in the common schools. In 1865 
he commenced teaching, and after teaching three years, he began the study 
of medicine with Dr. Greenleaf of Bloomfield, and attended the Medical 
College at Keokuk, from which he graduated in 1871, and the same year 
formed a partnershi]) with Dr. Greenleaf, which continued for five years, 
and he has occupied the same office ever since. In 18GS he was elected 
•county sujierintendent, and held it one term. Ho enlisted in the fall of 
1861, in company A, Third Iowa Cavalry, and served tiiree years; was pri- 
vate secretarv to Gencal Bussey for two years. He was slightly wounded 
in the head, at Sylamore, Arkansas, and had his iiorse shot from under him 
at Pea Ridge. Was assistant ajntant in the State Militia, at the close of 
the war. He was married, March 11, 1865, to Miss Eliza Fergusoti, a native 
of Van Buren county, and they have three children: Lillie, Clay and Wray. 
He owns the mineral spring known at Forest Home, which he intends to 
improve soon. 



BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP. 

BALDRIDGE, JOHN., retired, was born in Murray county, Tenn., Feb- 
ruary 20, 1800. He was there reared and educated in the subscription 
schools. At the age of thirteen, he was appointed drum major under the 
late Gen. Reynolds, then colonel in the recruiting service, for the war, in 
1813. His father was a native of Pennsylvania. Being driven out of Penn- 
sylvania by the British, he joined the Continental army under Gen. Green, 
and served till the war was over. Quite a romance is connected with the 
marriage of his parents, his mother having also fought in the war of the 
revolution, was driven from home by the British, and took refuge in the 
American forts, where she remained during the war, and in action would 
load while the men fired. At the age of nineteen, the subject of this sketch 
became apprenticed to the blacksmith trade, and served three years. In 



HISTOKY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 643 

1840. be catiie to Van Buren count)', Iowa, and became a resident of this 
county in 1S43, and has lived here ever since. He worked at blacksmith- 
injr four years, and the rest uf tiie time has been a farmer. During the \<far, 
though an old man, lie went to Keokuk and Davenport, and lielped recruit 
for tiie artny, i)eating the drum in camp for tlie hoys. He was married in 
1825, to Miss Rebecca Pnckert, a native of Virginia. They liave raised a 
family ot eiglit ciiiidren; Martiia J., Edw^ird L., Wm. T., Michael K., Eben- 
ezer K. (died in the service, in Couipanv D., 30th Iowa Infantry), John A., 
Belle, Eliza. Mrs. B. died, July 2.'), "^1874. Mr. B. lives at present with 
his son-in-law, John Bronghard. lie has in his possession a casket brought 
from Scotland by his great-grandfather, which has been in the family 200 
years. 

BARKER, J. S., fanner and stock-raiser, postoffice Bloomtield, was born 
November 7. 1845, in Van Buren county, Iowa. His father was one of the 
pioneers of that county, where he still lives at the age of eighty -one. Here 
Mr. B. grew up and acquired his education. He visited the Black Hills, 
Dakota, in 1877, but not being satisfied, returned to Iowa, and bought the 
farm he now owns in this county, consisting of 120 acres, with good build- 
iings and bearing orchard. He keeps enough cattle to feed all his crops. 
He was married November 21, 1807, to Aliss Artie Johnson, who died 
May 17, 1875, leaving two cliildren, Harvey M., and Archie J. He was 
married again January 21, 187!», to Miss Sarah E. Franklin, of Bentonsport, 
Van Buren cor.nty, and they have one child; Katie F. Mrs. B. is a mem- 
ber of the Biesbyterian Church. 

BELL, D. H., farmer and stock-raiser, postoffice Belknap, was born, Nov- 
ember, 1825, in Trumbull county, Ken., where he grew up on the farm, and 
was educated in the subscription school. While quite young he moved 
-with his parents to Hendricks county, Ind.. wliere he lived till the ftill of 
1840, when he came to this county and entered the farm he now lives on 
•containing 240 acres, with good buildings and a nice orchard. He was 
married December (», 1842. to Miss E. Ellis, a native of Ohio, and they have 
nine children, Cashiir, Celantine, Alniinta, Parker, John, Walter, Orine, 
Cora and Victor. Mr. B. and family are members of the M. E. church, 
and in ])oliticsis a Democrat. 

CAMMACK. JOHN, farmer and stock-raiser, section 21, postoffice Bloom- 
field; was born in Park county, Ind., October 24. 1825, where he grew to man- 
hood and acquire<l his education, and helped his father on the farm. In 
1849, he came to this county and intended to settle here, but returning home, 
ihe caught the gold fever, and started for California, by the overland route, 
being five months on the way; he mined one year, and then returned home 
by way of Panama and New Orleans. He became a resident of Davis 
•county, April 7, 1852, and located where he now lives. His farm consists 
of 282 acres, well improved, with a good orchard, well watered by a living 
spring. His farm is fenced in lots for stock management. He feeds, and 
puts on the market annually, three car-loads of stock. He also owns thirty- 
two acres of good blue grass woodland ])asture. He was married April 1, 
1844, to Miss Catharine Hawkins, a native of Indiana. She lived but three 
years after their marriage, dying, January 1, 1847, leaving one child, now 
■deceased. He was married again, Marcli 20, 1848, to Miss Nancy High, 
also a native of Indiana. She lived one year after their marriage, dying, 
March 9, 1849, leaving one child, Tilman A., now a resident of Kansas. He 
married again- March 1, 1853, to Miss Albina French, a native of Indiana. 



644 HISTOKY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

This marriage proved unhappy, and they separated four months after, ancF 
obtained a divorce. One child was the result of this union, born after the 
separation, of whom Mr. 0. granted her the custody. He was married the 
fourth time, April 29, 1854, to his present wife Miss Nancy Hale, a native- 
of Illinois. They have two children; Anna, wife of Miles Shown; and 
Francis M., of this county. Mr. C. has been a Mason for sixteen years, and 
an Odd Fellow for twenty. He is one of the most iiighly respected citizens 
of the ct>Mnty. 

COY, DANIEL, fanner, stock-raiser and brick-nuiker,section 26,postoffice 
Bloomfield; was born in Greene count}', Ohio, in February 1823. He was 
there leared to manhood and received a limited education. He came to 
Bloomfield in 1851, and bought the farm he now occupies, in ISSS, con- 
sisting of 200 acres, 120 in cultivation, balance in blue grass pasture. In 
1878, ho engaged in brick-making. He vvas married in lS41,to Miss Sarah 
Morgan, of Ohio; tliey have five children, Mary C, wife ot Henry Smith; 
Susan, wife of John Neal; Martha J., wife of Wm. Haines; Samuel L. and 
Milton C, all mari'ied excejit Samuel. Mr. Coy has been an Odd Fellow for 
twenty-live years, and is a man highly respected h^' the community. 

DAVIES, WM. (t.. farmer and stock-i-aiser, section iive, postoffice 
Bloomtield; was bdin August 30. 1830. in Dearborn county, Indiana, of 
Welsh parents. Here he grew to manhood, and received a common school 
education, while assisting his father. William Davies. a pioneer of that 
county, and also assisted in erecting the first brick building in Cincinnati,^ 
Ohio. In 1850 he visited Missouri and Iowa, and bought his present farm, 
through his brother, the same year. Ho settled on it in 1862, and the ne.xt 
year letui'tied to his native ]jlace. an'd married, Febi'uary 28, 1863, Miss 
Hannah F. Emerson, and brouglit her to the home he had prepared. He 
was in the stock trade about twelve years, had stock in the Union stock 
yards in Chicago at their opening, also at St. Louis and Cincinnati. At 
present he is farming and feeding; he has a tine farm of 227 acres, well im- 
proved, vvith eighty acres of permanent grass pasture; good buildings and 
orchard, the farm fenced all around with c)Siige hedge. Mr. D. has a 
family of s X children, Jennie S., Emma C, Lizzie L., Thomas, Willie G. 
and Charles J. 

DEV^AIILT, .JACOB, farmer and stock raisei', section 12, postoffice 
Bloomfield; was born June 12, 1820, in Harrison count}', Ohio. Here he 
grew u]) and was educated, learning blacksmithing, wiiich he followed many 
years. In 1850, he went to California, where he remained two years, mining 
and traveling, then returned to Ohio, and farmed two years, then worked 
at blacksmithing till 1872, when he came to this count}' where he now 
owns a nice farm of 260 acres, 200 in good cultivation, and is well fitted for 
stock-raising. He was married April 3d, 1844, to Miss Margaret Gotschall, 
a native of Ohio, and they have iiad seven children, Louisa, deceased, 
Hiram, A. J., J. E.. G. W., Mary E., wife of Frank Jiankin, and Isabelle- 
D., wife of Henry Wishard. Mr. Devault is a self-made man, having com- 
menced with nothing except a trade and a strong constitution. He haaJ 
given his children a good education and also a substantial start in life. They| 
are gifted with all the elements of success. 

DEVAULT, HIRAM, farmer and stock-raiser, section 42, postoffice^ 
Bloomfield; was born August 5, 1847, in Vinton county, Ohio. Here h« 
grew to manhood, and attended the common schools. He enlisted in the 
194th Ohio Infantry when he was 17. He served in the Shenandoah valleyJ 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 645 

and wds discharged in November 1865, when he returned home and worked at 
blacksinitliins; in his father's siiop. Removed to Harrison county in 1869, 
bought a small farm, built a small shop, and combined the two trades. He 
has a tine farm of 240 acres, well iinproved. His entire farm is pasture and 
meadow, and he keeps on an average SO head of stock. He shipped two 
car loads this 3'ear, graded as export cattle A No. 1, and fed 4,000 bushels of 
grain. He was married Sept. 14, 1869, to Miss Mary J. Miller, a native of 
Ohio, and they have two children, Florence D. and Rollie H. M. Mr. De- 
vault makes a specialty of stock-raising. 

DODGE, JOHN W., farmer and stock raiser, postoffice, Bloomfield; was 
bom August 8, 1843, in Posey county, Indiana. He came with his par- 
ents to McLean county, Illinois, wlien ten years old, where he was reared 
and educated. During the war he served in company C, Forty-fourth Indi- 
ana Veteran Infantry, being in thearmy of thCumberland; was discharged 
in September 1865, and returned to Illinois, helping on the farm. He mar- 
ried February 20, 1868, Miss Sarah J. Owens, a native of Indiana, and came 
to this county, buying a farm in Wyacondah township, which he sold in 
1874, and bought the one he now owns, consisting of 160 acres. He has a 
family of six children, Clara May, Elsie B., Etiie L., Ida May, John W., and 
Sarah J. Mr. D. has been township trustee, in Wyacondah township. 

DOKE, T. D., farmer and stock raiser, section thirty-one, post-otHce, 
Bloomfield; was born May 6, 1837, in Logan county, Ohio, and while an 
infant, his parents moved to Kosciusko county, [ndiana, where he grew to 
manhood, and obtained a limited education at the common schools. Dur- 
ing the war he served in company B, Forty-fourth Indiana Infantry, enlist- 
ing in August 1861, and serving in all the great battles of the western army, 
from Fort Donelson to Chattenooga, being promoted to first lieutenent, and 
then doing provost duty till discharged in September 1865; when he re- 
turned to Indiana, engaged in the livery business, in Pierceton and Warsaw. 
He came to this county in 1869, and opened the livery stable where Wil- 
liam M. Saunders now keeps, in Bloomfield. In 1879 he purchased a farm 
of 362 acres, and is making for himself a beautiful home; being nicely sit- 
uated one and a half miles from Bloomfield. He was married March 12, 
1867, to Miss Tillie E. Keeffel, a native of Ohio, and they have four chil- 
dren, Odel C, Edith M., David E. and Albert T. 

ELROD, ELI, farmer, carpenter and builder, section 11, postoflice Pu- 
laski; was born December 7, 1824, in Jackson county, Indiana, where he 
grew up and received his education. He came to Iowa in 1845, and located 
in Lee county, and came to this county in 1850, located land, built a small 
house, and in 1851, went back to Lee county and married Miss Sarah Scott, 
and with his young wife, returned to his claim. He for many years worked 
at carpenter work, in the meantime improving his farm.- His wife died in 
1873; she was the mother of six children, three now living, Ophelia, Ra- 
chel, and Orant. He married again in 1872, Mary Jennings, who lived 
but nine months. He was married in 1878, to his present wife, Miss Nancy 
E. Braughead, a native of Indiana, and they have two children, Alma E. 
and Adelbert J. His farm consists of eighty acres of improved land and 
fifty acres of timber. Mr. E. has no doubt put up more buildings than any 
other man in the county. 

FRANKLING, MRS. MARTHA (colored), farmer, section 12, postoffice 
Bloomfield ; was born in slavery on the plantation of William Grimes, in Jef- 
ferson county, Kentucky, about the year 1826, and at the death of her old 



646 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

master, she became the property' of Blackburn McElroy, of Missouri, hy 
foreclosure of mortgage, and lived in Missouri till the emancipation. She 
was married there to Jacob Johnson, also a slave, owned by one Merritt, 
and they lived together three years, when he witi; twenty-five others es- 
caped to Canada by the underground railroad, and was never heard of after- 
ward. They liad one child, since deceased. She was again married, after 
emancipation, to John Frankling, having previously given birth to live 
children, by John Coleman, also a slave, deceased, Scott, Annie, Joseph, 
Harry and Charlie, wlio adopted their mother's maiden name, Lewis. She 
has been a resident of this county since 1879, and in Iowa, thirteen years. 
She owns a nice little farm of seventy acres, in good cultivation, and is in- 
dustrious and prosperous. She was burned out in 1880, losing everything 
in the bouse, but has since rebuilt and is now well fixed. 

GARVEK, JACOB S., farmer and stock-raiser, section two, postoffice, 
Belknap; was born January 30, 1830, in Montiromery county, Ohio; and at 
the age of seven, moved with his parents to Wabash county, Ind., wliere he 
grew to manhood, and received a limited common school education, work- 
ing on the farm, and driving stage. He came to Wapello county, Iowa, 
in 1857, and came to this county in 186.5; lived four years in Soap Creek 
township, then moved to his present farm, consisting of eighty-tliree and a 
half acres, all under cultivation, nicely situated, with natural timber on 
three sides. He was married January 22, 1857, to Miss Elizabeth Smailes, 
a native of Virginia, and they have two children, Hattie J. and Sarah M. 
Mr. and Mrs. G. are members of the United Brethern Church, and he has 
been one of the trustees. 

GOOD, JOHN, deceased, was a native of Ireland, born in County Cork, 
February, 1817. In his youth he assisted on his father's farm, and received 
a limited education at the parochial schools of his native land. He was 
married, February 8, 1849, to Miss Frances, youngest daughter of John and 
Mary Battimer, of County Cork, and six weeks later took shipping at 
Queenstown for America. Landing at JSTew York, they went to Dayton, 
Ohio, where they made their first home. From there they went to Wiscon- 
sin, and bought a farm, on which they lived three and a half years, then 
went back to Dayton, and seven years later, in 1859, came to this county, 
buying a farm and being quite successful. October 12, 1878, Mr. Good 
passed away, in the sixty-first year of his age, highly respected by every 
one. He was a man of great energy, was a member of the Episcopal 
Church, and died in the hope of a better world. He left a family of seven 
children: Mary, wife of William Stack; James A., John li., Benjamin F., 
Miriam A., wife of F. Bussell; G. W. and W. FT., twins. The farm now 
consists of 204 acres, of splendid land, besides twenty-five acres timber. 
Mrs. G. manages the farm with the assistance of four of her sons. They, 
live on section 3-4. 

GORE, JAMES W., stock-breeder, Bloomfield postoflice, is a native of 
Decatur county, Indiana, born April 18, 1837. He was raised a farmer,, 
and went to the common school. In 1852 he came to this county, where he 
attended Troy Academy, remaining in this county till 1863, when he went 
to Central California, and three and a half years later, returning to this 
county, he went to breeding fine stock, and has followed that ever since. 
He owns a farm of 130 acres. He has some of the best brood mares in this 
county, and a horse that took the premium at the county fair, in 1881; also* 
a Jack and Jennet that took first premium and diploma at the same time. 



1 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. • 647" 

He was mariied in Aiitrust, 1S5S, to Miss Margaret A. Vano'lm, a native of 
Lincoln county, Iventncky. They have had ten children, six now living; 
Elijah F., Willie A., Addie, Lulie, John M. and Mary A. 

GRANT, GEORGE L., farmer and stock raiser, section 7, postoffice 
Bloonifield; was born June 13, 1835, in New Brunswick. He caine to Iowa, 
with his parents, at the age of thirteen, locating in Perry township, having 
previously lived in Ohio eleven years. He attended school in Ohio, finish- 
ing here, wliere he has since lived, fanning, and teaching school several 
winters. He located whei'e he now lives, in 1879, and has a nice farm of 
175 acres; eiglity, in a high state of cultivation, with good buildings, or- 
chard and snrroundings. lie was married, Oct iber -iS, 1862, to Miss Eva- 
line Childers, a native of Illinois, daughter of Abraham Childers. They 
have six cliildren; Andrew W., Olive, Homer, Grace G., Annie B. and 
Edith E. 

GRAFTON, THOMAS, farmer, section twelve, postoffice Pulaski; was 
born October 9, 1S26, in Champaign county, Ohio. Here he spent his 
youth, assisting on the farm and attending school. He came to Iowa in 
1851, locating in Union township, this county, near Gospel Ridge, where 
he lived thirteen years, and came to his present farm in 186(3. He was 
married November 19, 1846 to Miss Eliza A. Long, a native of Virginia, 
born November 20, 1824; her parents coming to Ohio, when she was quite 
young, where she was educated. Mr. G. has reared and educated a family 
of eight children, six now living; D. S., Wm. S., Mary E., wife of James 
Anderson, Kate, Julia F. and Joe Austin; two deceased, Margaret E., died 
June 18, 1876, aged twenty-two, and Hester J., died February 26, 1870. D. 
S. served in company A, Third Iowa Cavalry during the war, and Miss 
Kate is a school teacher, having been educated at Bloomfield Normal 
School. 

HAM, MATHIAS D., farmer and stock-raiser, section 11, postoffice 
Bloomlield; was born May 13, 1817, in Harrison county, Ind., and there 
grew to manhood, obtaining a liberal education in the subscription schools. 
He came to Fulton county, 111., in 1835, and six years later came to this 
count}' and bought the claim on which he now lives, of Stephen Saunders, 
befiire the land came in market or was surveyed, and built a cabin which 
still stands on the place. He now owns 269 acres, 200 acres well improved, 
witli good buildings, orchard, and two miles ot osage hedge. He was mar- 
ried in November, 1835, to Miss Margaret Ann Reeves, a native of Virgin- 
ia; they have had nine children, Elisha, deceased, member of company A, 
Tliird Iowa Cavalry, and killed at Pea Ridge; Nancy A., wife of J. M. 
Bell; Mary M., wife of V. H. McLean; Wm. J., Elijah B., the only one at 
home, and John L.. Fidelia Rhoda, and David Ray, deceased, leaving only 
four living. Mr. H. aiid wife have lived together happily for forty-iive 
3'ears, and have been members of the United Brethren church most of the 
time. He has neither sued nor been sued by any one in his life. 

HAMBLETON, A. H., farmer, section 19, postoffice Bloomfield; was 
born November 9, 1814', in Fleming county, Ky. His early life was spent 
assisting on the farm and acquiring a limited education. His parents were 
Daniel and Martha. At the age of eighteen he moved to Hendricks county, 
Ind., where he lived nntil 1848, engaged in farming. In October of that 
year he arrived in this county and has remained ever since. He is located 
on a good farm of 180 acres, with a comfortable home, good barn and orch- 
ard and is engaged in stock-raising to quite an extent. He was married 



648 ■ HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

T'ebrnary 1, 1838, to Miss Doriiida Buiiten, of Hendricks county, Ind., and 
tliej have been blessed with nine children: Melvina, Wallace, Geo. S., El- 
len A., Nancy E. and four deceased. By economy and industry Mr. H. has 
become quite prosperous. In polities he is a Greenbacker. Mrs. H. is 
somewhat noted for her tine butter. 

PULL, JAMES A., fanner and stock-raiser, and house carpenter, post- 
office, Blooiritield; was born January 29, 1S34, in Barron county, Kentucky. 
When one 3'ear old he came with his parents to Tazewell county, Illinois, 
-and three years later to Knox county, and four years later, in 1841, they 
came to Wyacondah township, in this countj% where he was reared and ed- 
ucated. His father died March 29, 1870, and his mother died ten days af- 
ter, both at an advanced age. They were well known and highly thought 
of in this county. Mr. H. was married May 5, 1854, to Mary A., daughter 
of Joseph and Anna Carter, who were among tiie first settlers of this coun- 
ty. They have had seven children, William D., Henry T., Martha A, wife 
of Moses McClure; Isabella, Emeline, Leonard F. and Eva D. Mr. H. has 
seen the rise and progress, and improvement of this county as boy and man. 
He is a good citizen and reliable mechanic. 

HOCKEKSMITH, LEWIS F., carpenter, builder, and brick manufac- 
turer, Eloomfield; was born April 23, 1851, in this county, his father, John, 
being one of the first settlers of the county. Mr. H. was reared on the old 
homestead in P'ox township, assisting on the farm and attending the com- 
mon schools., At the age of nineteen he bought twenty-five acres of land 
in that townsiiip and has since added steadily to his wealth, having bought 
and improved several farms, and picked up the car])enter's trade in building 
on them. In 1871 he bought a farm in Lucas county and engaged in stock- 
raising three years. In 1876 built and kept a iiotel in Eloomfield a few 
months, then sold out and went to farming. In 1881 he engaged in the 
making of brick; has all the facilities for making the best sand brick, He 
was married October 1, 1869, to Miss Emma E. Clemens, daughter of Wm. 
Clemens of this county; they have two children, Alice and Eva B. Mr. H. 
has been county collector, and was reelected, showing the esteem in which 
he is held by tlie people. His iiome is in the suburbs of Bloomfield, where 
he enjoys all the comforts of life. 

JENNINGS, DAVID, farmer and stock-raiser, section 2, postoffice 
Belknap; was born July 2, 1851, in Morgan county, Ohio, where he was 
reared and received a common school education. At the age of eighteen 
lie came to Iowa with his mother and five sisters and brothers, his father 
having died when our subject was an infant. They located in this county, 
where he has since resided. He located where he now lives, in 1881, his 
farm consisting of eighty acres of well-im]>rovcd land. He also farms 
eighty acres of rented land. He was married September 20, 1879, to Miss 
Ida Wilbur, a native of Indiana and daugliter of Garret Wilbur, of this 
•county; they iiave one child, Horatio O. Mr. J. is well known as an indus- 
trious young man and will trade for anything he sees a dollar in. He is a 
member of the Masonic order. 

JENKINS, ISRAEL F., teacher and ex-county superintendent, postof- 
fice Bloomfield; was born June 19, 1841, in Boone county. Mo., and in De- 
cember, 1845, he came with his parents to Davis county, Iowa, and located 
in Wyacondah township, where they still reside. Here he grew to man- 
hood, and received his education in the common schools, Burlington Uni- 
versity, and Normal Department of the State University. When he was 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 64:9 

•elevea 3'eai's old his riglit arm was taken off in a tliresbino' machine, which 
incapacitated liim for farming, and at the age of twenty he had fitted liim- 
self for teaching, and has followed that profession ever since. In 1871 he 
was elected connty superintendent of public instruction, which office lie 
held for eight years, and had been deputj^ two years before his election. 
Since retiring from office he has been in the dairy business. He was mar- 
ried December 22, 1S6S, to Mi«s Sarah E. Kelsey, a native of Indiana, and 
they have one child, Ora C. 

LUCE, W. O., farmer and stock- raiser, section 28, postoflice Bloomfield; 
was born December 29, 1852, in Warren county, Ohio. His father, Daniel, 
■was a native of Ohio, and his mother, Minerva, of New York, her maiden 
name being Lewis. When four years old he came with his parents to 
Wyacondah township, this county, where he grew to manhood, and obtained 
a common school education. His father died October 21, 1865, aged 36. 
He was an energetic and good citizen; his mother followed her husband, 
five years later; she was an upright christian lady, a member of the M. E. 
Church. They left six sons and one daughter. Mr. L. was married Octo- 
ber 22, 1876, to Miss Anna E. Wray, daughter of Jas. M. Wray, of this coun- 
ty. His farm consists of 40 acres of well improved land, and lie also owns 
40 acres of improved land in section 33, Bloomfield township, and 10 acres 
of timber in AVest Grove township. 

McAVOY, JAMES, deceased; was born January 9, 1809, in County 
Down, Ireland. His father was ar sea-fiiring man, and gave his son a thor- 
ough education. At the age of IS he came to America, and went to Wash- 
ington, D. C, and soon after secured a contract on the national pike; but lost 
his earnings by the failure of the chief contractors. He then went to Green- 
castle, Indiana, and then to Stilesville, Indiana, still working on public 
■works, canals and railroads. During the Mexican war he enlisted in Capt. 
Crawford's company. Second Indiana Volunteers, and served till the regi- 
ment was disbanded. He came to this county in 1850, and located where 
the family homestead now is; consisting of 327 acres of improved land. He 
was married December 2, 1833, to Miss Jane Cunningham, a native of 
North Carolina, born May 19, ISll; the marriage taking place at Stiles- 
ville, Indiana. Mr. McAvoy after living an active and useful life, 
passed away September 27, 1872, much regretted by all. A man of bril- 
liant education, ready wit, and thorough knowledge of the world. He was 
a war democrat and visited the army several times during the I'ebellion. 
He left a family of four children, Charles J., Larissa A., and Lewis C, living 
at home, and Christopher C, married, and John F., deceased in 1858, aged 
19. Charles J. served during the war, enlisting in August 1862, in Com- 
pany G, Second Iowa Infantry, and was in the battles of Bear Creek, Buz- 
zard's Roost, Kenesaw Mountain, and was with Sherman through Atlanta 
and Savannah; and then to Washington, being in the grand review, and 
mustered out June l-t, 1865. Since which time he has been engaged in 
i'arining. 

MERIDETH, ANDREW F., farmer and stock-raiser, section 1, post- 
office Pulaski; was born December 16, 18-41, in Van Buren county, Iowa. 
His father, Andrew M., being one of the pioneers of that county, where he 
still lives, hale and heart}'. There Mr. M. grew to manhood, and received 
a common school education. He became a resident of this county in 1867, 
•when he bought a farm of 100 acres, partly improved. It is now in good 

21 



650 HISTOET OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

cultivation. He was married October 5, 1865, to Miss Mary Wolfe, a na- 
tive of Ohio. They have six children, Osceola S., Charley A., George L., 
Carrie Belle, Walter, and Bertha. 

MERRY, NICHOLAS E., fanner and stock-raiser, section 16, postoffice 
Bloonifield; was born in Erie county, N. Y., July 1, 1838, and there grew 
to manhood, receiving his education in the common schools. At the age of 
twenty he learned the milling business, and followed it four years when, 
that not agreeing with his health, he went to farming. In January, I860,, 
he went to Texas, working at the cooper trade till the war commenced, when 
he was conscripted into the rebel service, and attached to the Second Texas 
Infantry, and sent to Yicksburg, and from there to the Yazoo, to fight 
General Quinby, where he deserted and and came into the Union lines,^ 
never liaving tired a gun at the old flag or its defenders. He then came 
north, and enlisted in company F, One hundred and forty-fifth Ohio Infan- 
try, and did duty in the defenses near Washington, till the close of the war. 
In September 1869, he came to tliis county, where he now owns a farm of 
120 acres, well improved. Mr. M. makes a specialty of fine stock, and 
breeding and improving it. He was married June 10, 1867, to Miss Maria 
Howell, a native of New York, and a graduate of Gainesville Female Semi- 
nary. Mr. M. is a jovial, good natnred citizen, and self-made, having earned 
all he possesses by hard work. 

MOORE, EDWARD W., taruier, stock-raiser and fruit-grower, section 
1, postoffice Belknap, was born September 5, 1844, in Vermillion county, 
Ind., and at the age of ten came with his parents to this county, and here 
grew up and was eductited. He served in the army in company A, Third 
Iowa Cavalry. Went to Memphis; was at Tupelo, Oldtown, the Wilson 
raid, Mafcon, Selma, and at Columbus, Ga., was severely wounded in the hip. 
He was mustered out in August, 1865, and returned to this county and en- 
gaged in business at Drakeville four years; then, in 1869, sold out and com- 
menced farming on the old family homestead, consisting of 189 acres, with 
a bearing orchai'd of 13 acres. He was married Ma^^ 12, 1869, to Miss 
Tamer A. Elliott, a native of Pennsylvania, daughter of George Elliott, of 
Bloomtield. They have three interesting children: Florence, Frank and 
Horace. Mr. and Mrs. M. are members of the Congregational Church, and 
they take an active interest in education. He is at present president of the 
board of education. He is engaged in wool growing and finds it profitable. 

MORRIS, HARVEY M., farmer, postofiice Bloomfield; was born June 
18, 1842, in Van Biiren county, Iowa, and at the age of five returned with 
his parents to Indiana, their native State, and four years later came to this 
county. He enlisted August 17, 1861, in company E, Third Iowa Cavalrj% 
and the first year fought bushwhackers in Missouri and Arkansas, and then 
Price, Marmadukeand Kerby. He veteranized in 1864, and while home on 
furlough, March 6, 1864, he married Miss Sarali Shadle, and six days later 
rejoined his regiment, and was ordered to the front; being in seventeen bat- 
tles; wounded once; struck twice with bullets, and mustered out August 9, 
1865. Mr. and Mrs. M. have liad four children, Ida E., Mary M., Wil- 
liam F. and James N., an infant, deceased. Mr. M. is a carpenter by trade, 
and higlily respected. 

MURPHY, JOSIAH, farmer and stock-raiser, sections one and two, post- 
office Pulaski; was born March 14, 1814, in Louden county, Virginia, 
where he grew up and received a common school education. He came to 
Ohio in 1839, and lived in Muskingum county twenty-eight years. He was 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 651 

married October 11, 1S3S, to Miss Perinelia Huff, of his native place. 
They have reared a family of ten children: Nancy E., John W., Jennie, 
Sidney A., Thornton, Susan, Charles H., Mason, Nelson A. and Julia, de- 
ceased March 25, 1873, wife of Allen Johnson, leaving two children, Eliza 
A. and Franklin, who live with their grand]iarents. Mr. M. came to Iowa 
in 1867, locating where he now lives, and owns a fine farm of 176 acres, 
well improved. His son, C. H., is a graduate of the Kirkville Normal 
School, Missouri. Mr. M. has traveled a good deal, but tliinks this county 
suits liini better than any otlier. 

NESMITH, ELIJAH, farmer and stock-raiser, section .31, postoffice 
Bloomtield; was born in Perry connty, Ohio, February 1, 1827; and came 
with his parents to Van Buren county, Iowa, in 1843. Here he grew up, 
assisting his father on the farm and attending the Winchester select school. 
He became a resident of this county in 1875, and now owns a fine farm of 
120 acres, in a liigh state of cultivation, with good buildings, orchard, a 
grove of maples and walnut, and a beantiful yard adorned with evergreens. 
He was married June 6, 1858. to Miss Mary J. McSurley, a native of Ohio, 
daughter of Miles McSurley, of Van Buren county, and they have seven 
children, Margaret C, Dora, Mar3' A., Cora A., Eliza J., Ella and Bertha. 
Mr. N. takes an active interest in educational matters. He is a good neigh- 
bor and worthy citizen. 

NORRIS G. W., farmer and stock man, sections 20 and 29, postoffice, 
Bloomfield; was born April 19, 1835, in Clark connty, Ohio. There he 
grew up, and was educated at the Stnrgis Academy, at Charlestown, Indiana. 
He spent his youth assisting his father on the farm. He came with his 
parents to this township in 1857, and lived with them till thirty years old, 
then engaged in the live stock trade for ten years, bought the farm he lives 
on, in 1874, consisting of 240 acres of well improved land, with a good or- 
chard, and buildings. He is now making a specialty of fine stock, and has 
a herd of finely graded short-horns. He was married February 4, 1876, to 
Miss Salena Colliver, a native of Indiana, daughter of Andrew Colliver, of 
West Grove. They have had three children: Direta, born December 18, 
1880, and two deceased in infancj'. Charles Norris, his father, was a na- 
tive of Indiana, born September 16, 1805, and died in this county Septem- 
ber 21, 1876, his mother is still living at an advanced age, hale and hearty. 
Mr. N's. two grandfathers, and maternal great grandfather. Gen. Bartholo- 
mew, were at the battle of Tippecanoe. He is one of this county's solid 
citizens, and has a nice home, finely furnished. 

NORRIS, JAMES T., farmer and stock-raiser, section 20, postoffice 
Bloomfield; was born July 4, 1837, in Clark connty, Indiana, where he 
grew to manhood and received his education. He came with his parents to 
Iowa in 1857, and located four miles west of Bloomfield. He enlisted in 
August 1862, in company B. Thirthieth Iowa Infantry. Was in the battles 
of \ azoo Pass, Arkansas Post, capture of Vicksburgh, Lookout Mountain, 
Missionaiy Ridge, Resaca, and with Sherman to the sea; was at the grand 
review in Wasliington, and was discharged June 15, 1865, came home and 
commenced farming. He bought the place where he now lives, in 1881, 
consisting o* 130 acres. He was married October 30, 1873, to Miss Orietta 
Turner, a native of Indiana, and they have four children, Charles C, Har- 
^■y E., James R. and Guy. Mr. N. was under fire in the army twenty-two 
times, but came out without a scratch; although hurt slightly in a railroad 
accident coming home. 



652 BISTOEY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

PALMER, HON. DAVID P., attorney and counselor at law (retired); 
was born Novemijer 29, 1812, in the Empire State, where he was reared 
and educated. He moved to Brown county, Ohio, in 1836, and commenced 
studj'ing law in the office of Andrew Eiison, and was admitted to the bar 
in 1848, and ])racticed in Georgetown, Ohio. Then came to Iowa territory, 
locating in Linn county, and in 1847 came to tliis county, locating in 
Bloomfield; then a town of very few houses, court being held in the old log 
court-house. He was once a candidate for State senator against S. G. Mc- 
Achran, and was defeated by twenty-eight votes. Afterwards ran against 
the same man for member of the constitutional convention, which formed 
the present constitution, and was elected by 280 majority. He has also 
been prosecuting attorney, both in this and Linn counties. He was mar- 
ried January 3, 1858, to Miss Allie L. Lakiii, a native ofOliio. They have 
seven children, Arthur G., Nellie, wife of C. O. Edwards; Oscar,'Fred, Ma- 
bel, Herbert and Philip. Mr. P. was a war democrat during the war; was 
at one time a law partner with H. H. Trimble, and can lay claim to being 
the veteran attorney of this count}'. 

PETTET, J. W., farmer and stock-raiser; was born January 28, 1823, in 
Clark county, Indiana, where he grew to manhood, and was educated in the 
subscription schools. He caine to Iowa in 1844, and after remaining about 
ten montlis, went to Kentucky, where he was engaged in the wood business 
for sixyears; then coming back to Iowa, stopping in Van Buren county till 
1864; then going to Jefferson county, where he farmed till 1877, when he 
came back to Van Buren, for nearly three years; then came to Bloomfield, 
this county; remained during the winter, then moved on the farm where he 
now lives. He was married November 3, 1853, to Miss Naomi Ferrel, a 
native of Harrison county, Ohio. They have live children: Victorine C., 
Elmer E., James R., Brice H., and Charles F., and one deceased. Mr. and 
Mrs. P. are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. 

PLANK, "\VM. J., farmer and stock-raiser, section 8, postoifice Bloom- 
field; was born in Lee county, Iowa, October 1. 1848: at the age of four his 
parents came to Davis county and he has lived here ever since. His father, 
J. J. Plank, is the pioneer of Pulaski, where he located, and built and run a 
saw mill. Mr. P., Jr., bought the farm he now occupies in 1874, consist- 
ing of 160 acres, now well improved, with good buildings and orchard. He 
is a sytematic farmer, never having missed a crop. He keeps enough stock 
to feed it all. He was married in Lee county, January 4, 1874, to Miss 
Anna Klopfenstein, a native of Ohio. The}' have three children: Aaron 
D., Minnie M., and Harry. 

KAWLINGS, EICHARD, farmer and stock-raiser, sections 33 and 28, 
postoffice Bloomfield; was born April 23, 1823, in Prince George county, 
western shore, Maryland. His father, being a school teacher, early in- 
stilled in his mind tlie advantages of an education. His father dj'ing when 
he was eight years old, in 1834, the family sold their interest in the State of 
Maryland and came to Indiana, where he worked on the farm and attended 
school till 1844, when he came to this county and entered the land on which he 
now lives. By hard work and diligent effort, he has attained quite a large 
property. He now owns 280 acres of well improved land. He was married 
December 11, 1851, to Miss Henrietta L. Roland, a native of Kentucky, 
born August 29, 1830. They have had three children, John F., Etta M., 
and the eldest, Andrew C, deceased August 8, 1867, aged fourteen. Mr. 
K. taught school in his young days, both in Indiana and Iowa. He is a 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 653 

Mason, and himself and wife have lons^ been members of the M. E. Church. 
He has been a local preacher in that chni'ch for many years. 

EOMINGER, HENRr, farmer and stock-raiser, .sections 21 and 22, 
Bloonifield postoffice; was born in Stokes county, N. C, March 14, 1813. 
There he grew to manhood, being educated in the subscription schooL la 
1834, he came to Indiana, and settled in Bartholomew county, wiiere he 
lived till 1863, when he moved to Indianapolis for three years, then, in 18GG, 
came to this county and located on 138 acres of land he bougiit in an early 
day. He was married May 22, 1837, to Miss Anna Iv. Miller, a native of 
North Carolina, born in Davidson county, January 3, 1819, who came with 
her parents to Indiana in 1836. Mr. and Mrs. R. have four children, Wil- 
liamson A., who served in the Union army during the war, in the Thirty- 
third Indiana Infantry; Charlotte C, wife of J. W. Conden, of Bloomtield; 
Abbie J., wife of A. Breeding, of Fremont county; and Miss Emma F., the 
only one at home witli the old folks. The family are members of the M. 
E. Church, and Mr. R. has always been a strong temperance man, and has 
taken an active interest in the cause. 

ROYER, DAVISON, farmer and stock-raiser, section 29, postotiice 
Bloomfield; was bi)rn in Lancaster county, Penn., September 18, 1821. In 
1832, his parents came to Indiana, and in 1858, became totliis county, and 
located where he now resides, on 40 acres" of well improved land, with 
orchard and good osage orange fence. He was marriedNovember 27, 1851, 
to Miss Sarah E. Norris, a native of Indiana, ami they have three children, 
Charles B., Eiriily M., wife of Albert Hamilton, and Laura A., wife of John 
Bloom. The parents of Mr. R. were natives of Pennsylvania. His imither 
is buried in' Clark county, Indiana, and his father at Fairfield, Iowa. Mr. 
R. has given his family a good education, and they are members in good 
standing of the (Jiiristian Chui'ch. 

SAUNDERS, C. D., farmer, stock and horse dealer; postoffice Bloom- 
tield; WHS born April 25, 1846, in this township, and here he has grown to 
manhood, receiving a limited education, his youth being spent assisting his 
father on the farm. He located on his present farm in 1865; he has a tine 
farm of 560 acres, all in a high state of cultivation, with three good houses, 
two barns, three bearinij orchards, three !niles of Osage hedire, and his fields 
are divided into eighty acre lots. He feeds on an average about 100 head of 
stock. He served in the Border Brigade, during the war, and is now a half 
owner with Dr. J. W. Young in the Forest Home Mineral Spring, and 70 
acres of land. He was married February 9, 1855, to Miss Rachel E. Young, 
and after living happily together for ten years, she died March 7, 1865, re- 
gretted by all her friends and acquaintances, at the age of twenty-seven ; she 
was a daughter of Ephriam Young, of Bloomfield. Mr. Saunders married 
again November 18, 1879, to Miss I3elle Brown, his present wife. 
" SAUNDERS, STEPHEN L., farmer and stock-raiser, section 12, post- 
office Pulaski. A pioneer of Bloomfield township; was born February 14, 
1813, in Bradford county, Pennsylvania, and became a wanderer from home 
at the age of nine, since which time he has traveled extensively. He made 
his first stop at Columbus, Ohio, where he remained twelve \'ears, there be- 
ing but one house there when he arrived. He then went to Michigan, and 
two \ears later to Indiana, where he was married in 1836, to Miss Sophia 
Lattimer, who died thirteen months after, leaving one child, Matilda. In 
1837 he came west, and after crossing the Mississippi, a " York sixpence" 
was the extent of his wealth. He stopped in Van Buren county one year, 



654 HTSTOEY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

then with a party of seven, including Father Clifford, a Christian preacher, 
went to Council Bluffs, and worked for the government, in building and 
running a mill for tlie use of the Indians; then returned to Van JBuren 
county, where his parents had located; sold out their claim, and came with 
them to Davis county, and staked out his claim, where he now lives, in the 
fall of 1840. He surveyed it by pacing off a square mile, and only missed 
his present lines a few rods. The same year he engaged in making rails on 
otlier claims, which he had staked out ^ov friends in Ohio, and was arrested 
by the United States marshal for trespassing on Indian lands, and lined 
$500, and ordered under guard till the fine was paid. He describes his con- 
linement as being rather pleasant, the United States officers being genial 
hearty fellows, and were talented drinkers. They offered to let him go for 
his rifle, but he refused that, and many opportunities to esca])e till they fi- 
nally ran away from A/m, ami he returned to his cabin. In IS-l-J- lie married 
Miss Emily Waterman, daughter of William Waterman, now of Washing- 
ton territory. They have eight children, Columbus D., William M., Lyman 
S., Millard F., Cleveland E., Laura E., Flora B., and Lincoln. Mr. Saun- 
ders has amassed quite a fortune, the home farm consisting of 430 acres, 
well improved, with good buildings and orchard; and other lands, making 
in all about 1,200 acres. 

ST. CLAIR, WM. A., fai'iner and stock-raiser, section 3, was born in 
Muskingum county, Ohio, October 30, 1830. There he grew to manhood, 
and was educated in the common schools. At the age of 21, he antici])ated 
Horace Greely's advice, and came to Linn county, Iowa, and. remained there 
till the spring of 1853, when he went to Calilbrnia and mined two years; 
then worked two years for a flume and mining company; tlieri returned to 
Linn county, Iowa. In 1857, he bought a farm, and has since followed 
farming. In 1879, be became a resident of this county, and owns a nice 
farm of 8() acres. He was married in March 1850, to Miss Celcstia Dille, a 
native of Indiana; she lived but one year. lie married again in January, 
1863, Miss Mary Bassett, a native of Indiana. They have three children, 
Fannie M., wife of C. S. Painter; Jesse V,. and Mary. Mr. St. Clair and 
family are members of the Ba]itist Cliurcli, and he has been sujierintendent 
of the Sabbath school for fifteen years, and takes great interest in education- 
al matters. 

SWANK FARMAN, farmer and stock-raiser, Bloomfield postoffice; 
was born in Morgan county, Ohio, February, 14, 1834. There he grew to 
manhood, receiving his education in the common schools. In 1802 became 
to this county. He owns a nice farm, consisting of 37 acres, well improved. 
He was married at the age of twenty-one, to Miss Susanna McBride, a native 
of Ohio, who died November 17, 1871, leaving four children, Augusta, wife 
of Thomas Harbin, of Missouri; John W.; Emma, wifeof Holla Blackford; 
and Mariette. Mr. S. married again February 10, 1873, Miss Minnie Ham- 
ilton, also a native of Ohio, reared and educated in Noble county, where 
the marriage took place. They have three children, Lorren, Harvey and 
iloy. Mr. S. lias been for IS years an Odd Fellow, and was deputy sheriff 
under Sheriff McKibboii. He has a pair of trained ferrets, recently im- 
ported from Ohio, probably the only pair in the county. 

SWIFT, ANDREW M., farmer and stock-raiser, section 34, postoffice 
Bloomfield; was born in Putnam county, Ind., March 12, 1843, a sou of 
Curren E. and Anna Swift, natives of Kentucky and Tennessee. He is one 
of a family of nineteen, fifteen living; all grown and living in Iowa but 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTV. 655 

one. He came to Iowa, with liis parents, in ISil, and settled in Perry 
township, this county where he grew to manhood, receiving his education 
at tlie Bloomtield schools. In 1875 he bought the farm he now lives on, 
■consisting of 92 acres, well improved, well watered, and in good cultivation, 
situated three miles southwest of Bloomtield. He was married February 
13, 1867, to Miss Elmyra, daughter of William and Elizabeth Gibson, of 
this county. They have six children, Hattie A., Retta E., Leonard D., 
William M., David E., and Mary. 

THOMPSON^, JOHN M., farmer and stock-raiser, postoffice, Bloomtield; 
was born in Clark county, Missouri, May 6, 1858, where he lived till the 
•breaking out of the war, when he and his mother came to this county, liis 
father being in the army, in the Seventh Missuuri Cavalry. After the war 
they returned to Clark county where he lived till maturity, assisting his 
father, running a ferry across the Des Moines river, and carrying the mail from 
Croatens to Athens. He was married December 2i, 18SU, to Miss Hattie 
N. Wood, a native of Ohio. He iuis been living for the last tive years, on a 
farm belonging to John Hiller. He is an Odd Fellow, member of Drake- 
ville lodge No. SS, and a member of the Christian Church; and his wife, of 
the United Brethren. Mr'. Tliompson acquired his education in the coni- 
mon schools, and is an enterjjrising ^-oung farmer. 

TUIIPIN, THOMAS BENTON, farmer and stock-nliser, postoffice, 
Bloomheld; was born November;}, 1843, in Missouri. His father, Thomas 
M. Turpiu, was a native of the "old North State." While a youth he came 
to Indiana and then to Missouri, and became a resident of thi3 county in 
1850, and died October 23, 1880. The subject of this sketch, came to this 
-county when seven years old, and acquired an education in the common 
schools. When seventeen, he engaged in the stock business, being quite 
successful. In 1866, came home to the death-bed of his mother, and in 
1S67, bought the "old homestead" from his father, who continued to live 
with him. tie owns a fine farm of 228 acres, with a fine house, barn and 
orchard. He was married Mai'ch 19, 1868, to Miss T. J Stark, a native of 
this county. They have had four children, Delia A., Ada S., Elsie M. and 
Stella, deceased, February 18, 1880, aged six years and fifteen days. Mr. 
Turpin is a representative citizen, an energetic business man and a success- 
ful farmer. 

VAUGHT, AMOS, farmer and stock-raiser, section 28, postoffice Bloom- 
field ; was bor.n in Johnson county, Ind., April 16, 18i6. He was there reared 
to manhood and educated in thd common schools. In Augnst, 1861, he en- 
listed in company I., 18th Indiana Infantry; was in the campaign against 
Price, in Missouri, being in Pea Ridge, and all the other fights and skir- 
mishes; he was also at Vicksburg under Gen. Grant, where lie was wounded 
on the back by having his knapsack torn off by a piece of shell, leaving sev- 
eral ugly scars. He was then sent to Texas under Gen. Lawler, where he 
veteranized with the regiment in June, 1864:, and was attached to the 6th 
,Anny Corps, in the army of Virginia; was at Winchester and Cedar Run, 
then went to Georgia, where they served till August, 1865, wdien they were 
m\istered out, and he I'eturned to Indiana, and was married February 14, 
1867, to Miss Amanda Kelley, a native of Indiana. They have five child- 
ren; Lena, Nellie, Minnie, Effie and Fred. Mr. V. became a resident of 
this county in 1872. His farm consists of 120 acres of well improved laud. 

YOUNG, JAS. M., farmer, section 10, postoffice Bloomfield; was born, Jan- 
uary 2, 1843, in Bartholomew county, Ind. Hisparentscame to this county 



656 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

when he was a year old, and here he lias spent his life, in his yonth helping 
on the farm and attendiiio- school. He now owns a nice farm of 180 acres, 
in a high state of cultivation, and well fitted for stock-raising. He waa 
married in December, 186i, to Miss Emily Vaughn, a native of Kentucky. 
They had one child, Molly E. Mrs. Yonng died in October, 1869, and Mr. 
Y. married again in March, 1870, Miss Jennie Murphy, a native of Ohio. 
They have two children, Charles and Etta May. Mr. Y. has seen the rise 
and progress of this county almost from its birth. 



DRAKEVILLE TOWNSHIP. 

COOPER, R. P., farmer and stock-raiser; postoffice Drakeville; was born.. 
March 4, 1840, in Washington county, Penn.; was reared a farmer and re- 
ceived a common school education. At the age of five, his mother having 
died, he went to live with his uncle, Richard Pogue, where he grew to man- 
hood. At the age of twenty-one, he entered the sheep business, which he 
continued successfully for twenty years. In May, 1880, he came to this 
county, where lie now lives on a nice farm of 103 acres, well improved. He 
was married October 3, 1865, to Miss Lydia Melvin, a native of Pennsyl- 
vania. They have had three children; Mary E., Lawrence M. and Wm. H. 
Mr. C. is a member of the Protestant Methodist Church. 

DYSART, JAMES L., blacksmith, Drakeville, is a native of Marshall 
county, Tennessee, born Februarys, 1829, educated in subscription schools, 
and raised a farmer; at tlte age of twenty-two, went to learn blacksmithing 
with George Cotl'ee, his brother-in-law, where lie worked two years; then, 
going to Madison county to work three years, then farmed three years in 
Marshall county. When the war broke out, being a union man, he had to 
keep out of the way of the rebs, the hardest work he ever did in his life. 
On the 9th of June, 1863, he came to Troy, Iowa, and tiie ne.xt February to 
Uuionville, working at his trade. May 2, 1864 he enlisted in company B, 
Forty-seventh Iowa Infantry, and did guard duty till the close of the war. 
He tlien went back to Unionville a short time; then to Marion township, 
this count}', about a year ago; then coming to Drakeville, where he has 
since lived. In February, 1850 he married Miss Maxey; they havehad six 
children, four now living, Milton B.. Mary J., George B. and James K. 
Mr. D. and wife are members of the M. E. Church. 

EDWARDS, DR. E. S., physician and surgeon, Drakeville; was born in 
Tennessee, April 16, 1839. At the age of twelve, his father removed to 
Illinois, and one year later to Davis county, Iowa, where he has lived ever 
since, except a few j^ears spent in Wappello and Van Buren counties. In 
1859 he commenced the study of medicine, and commenced practicing in 
"Wapello county in 1802, and a few years in Van Bnren county; then came 
to Drakeville in 1871, and has remained there ever since. The doctor is 
pre-eminently a self-made man, and self educated. He was married in this 
county, in 1874, to Miss Mattie Brown, a native of Indiana, daughter of 
Vol. Brown, of Hendricks county, and born March 20. 1853. They have 
had three children. Charley, four years old: Prince, two years old, and 
Clyde, deceased. Dr. E. is a member of the M. £. Church, and his wife, of 
the Christian Church. 



HISTOEY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 



65r 



ELLIOTT, JOHN, lumber and grain dealer, Drakeville, is a native of 
Washington county, Pennsylvania, born September 30, 1837; where he 
lived until fifteen years of ajje. His parents tlien moved to this county, 
where lie grew to manliood, a farmer's son, receiving a common school edu- 
cation. He enlisted, in 1861, in company A, Third Iowa Cavah-y and served 
four years, being mustered out at the close of the war. He was in the bat- 
tles of Pea Kidge, the White River campaign, Vicksburg. Wilson's Caval- 
ry raid through Alabama and Georgia, and In all the battles with his regi- 
ment in that campaign. He was married in this county, in 1866, to Miss 
Dannie Morgan; they have had four children, Allie, George C Stella, and 
the oldest, Jennie, deceased, in September 1873, aged six years. Mr. E. is a 
member of the M. E. Church. 

FOOTE. T. J., of the firm of Foot & Guile, dealers in general merclian- 
dise, Drakeville; was born in Montgomery county, Ind., Jauuar}' 9, 1833, 
where lie lived until nineteen years old, receiving a common school educa- 
tion. Flis parents, Wm. and Elizabeth Foote, then moved to Iroquois 
county. 111., where lie lived till 186-t, when he came to Davis county, Iowa, 
where he has since resided. His early life was spent in agricultural pur- 
suits, and for the last twelve years he has been dealing in stock and farm- 
ing, until about two years ago, since vvhen he has been in mercantile busi- 
ness in connection with stock. He was married in Illinois in 1859, to Miss 
Sarah McClure, a native of Indiana. They are the parents of two daugh- 
ters, Floy v., aged seventeen, and Ruby I., aged fourteen. Mr. F. is a 
Mason, being a raeinber of Jefferson lodge No. 86, at Drakpville. 

HIGBEErREV. JESSE, Drakeville, Iowa; was born near Pittsburg, Pa., 
where he lived till the age of twenty-four, tlis early youth was spent on a 
farm. He was the first'chdd of Obediah Higbee. who was of English de- 
scent and his mother of Welch. In 1832 he' came to Tnscar.awas county, 
Ohio, and two years later to Richland coujity, where, in 1834, he made a 
settlement in the woods and cleared seventy-seven acres of heavy timl)er in 
eight years, having only a few dollars when he settled there. In 1819 he 
came to Jeflerson county, Iowa, and bought 800 acres near Iowa City, im- 
proved 480 acres, and built five houses. He sold out there about seven- 
teen years ago and came to this count_y, where he lias since lived. While 
in Johnson county he sacrificed $1.'),(.00 wcu'th of property to pay a security 
debt. He has been a Christian minister sitice 1832. In Richland county, 
O., he organized a church at Wilson-school house and preached thei-e for 
thirteen years. He had a number of debates 'vith Thomas Moflitt, a Bap- 
tist minister, Moffit being converted to the Christian faith through the 
preacliing of Mr. H. and brinuing eight members with him. helped Mr. H. 
organize his church, with thirteen members in all. Mr. H. organized the 
chui'cli in Iowa City and preached there fourteen years. He has had five 
debates with Adventists, one with an Atheist.'at Manstield, O., two witli^ In- 
fidels and one with a Dunkard. He was married in 1832 to Susan Kew- 
myre, of Ohio; they have eight children, Sarah, wife of Jos. Luse, David, 
Joseph, Jane, wife of John Elackmore, Edmund, Eliza, wife of Sam- 
uel A. Dysart, Newton, and Arthur C. Mrs. Higbee has been an invahd 
for eight >'ears. 

HOTC'HKISS, E. L., principal of public schools, Drakeville, and lumber 
dealer. He is a native of this county, born October 80,1856. His early 
youth was spent on a farm, and he received a normal education. He is now 
teaching his 30th month. He was admitted to the bar in this county in the 



"658 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

spring of 1881. lie was iimrried in Davies county, Missouri, July 25,1880, 
to Miss Ella Hill, a native of Missouri, born March 10, 1856, and they have 
one child, Aurora, born August 5, 1881. Mr. Hotchlviss is a member of the 
Christian Ciiurcli,is a JV[ason, and an Odd Fellow. Mr. Hotchkiss is a mem- 
ber of the Presbyterian Church, and was educated in the College at Cameron, 
Missouri. 

JENNINGS, C. M., dealer in hardware, Drakeville; was born in Glou- 
cester count}'. New Jersey', March 35, 1808, being a son of Jos. Jennings. 
The subject of this sketch reuiained there until he was sixteen years of age, 
when he went to Philadelphia, 'and in 1834, to liushville, Illinois, and four 
jears later to Fort Madison, Iowa. From there to Burlington, then to 
Tipton, and in 1843, came to this county, and has lived here ever since. For 
seven 3'ears he kept hotel in Drakeville, and the balance of the time has been 
in mercantile business. He was married in Philadelphia, in 1829, to Miss 
Hannah Glover, a native of New Jersey. They have had eleven children, 
Mary, wife of A. W. Rankin, of this county; Joseph, Thomas, ]\[. D., Au- 
gustus C, Adda, wife of Charles Wilson, and six deceased, mostly in infancy. 
Mr. and Mrs. Jennings have been members of the Christian Church for 37 
years. 

.JENNINGS, M. D.,T. B., physician and surgeon, Drakeville, Iowa, was 
born in Cedar county, Iowa, February 20, 1843, and when six months old 
liis parents came to this county where lie has grown to manhood, being edu- 
cated at Oskaloosa College. He commenced studying medicine in 1871, 
"with Prof J. C. Hughes for his instructor; for two years before his gradua- 
tion he had charge of the liospital of the Keokuk Medical College. He 
graduated from this college February 18, 1873. Eeturning at once to 
Drakeville, he commenced practicing. He was married in this county, in 
1804, to Miss Julia Nightingale, a native of Iowa, they have tliree children, 
William, Augustus and Katie. 

LOCKMAN, J. B., farmer, section nine, postoifice Drakeville, is the 
owner of 1,020 acres of land, all in cultivation. He was born in Montgom- 
ery county, Indiana, March 8, 1820. At the age of four years, his parents, 
Thomas and Mary Lockman, settled in Hendricks county, Indiana, and 
here he grew to manhood, a farmer; receiving a common school education. 
In 1847, the family settled on the present homestead in this county. His 
father died here. May 20, 1863, and his mother, September 21, 1877. He 
was married in Drakeville, September 24, 1852, to Nancy M., daughter of 
Hon. John A. Drake, founder of Drakeville. They have had twelve chil- 
dren, William, Etta. Thomas, Mary, John, Nancy, Francis M., Eva, Kate, 
Caroline, and two daughters deceased. Mr. L. is a Mason, and a member 
of St. John's Commandery, No. 21, K. T. Mr. L. sold goods for twenty 
years. 

MOORE, JOHN, druggist, Drakeville, is a native of Brown countj% Ohio, 
born April 23, 1813, where he lived untill nineteen years old, when his par- 
ents, Jonathan and Nancy Moore, moved to Vermillion county, Indiana, 
where he lived until April, 1854, when he came to this county, where he 
has since lived. He was married in Indiana, in 1835, to Elizabeth Wil- 
liams, a native of Pennsylvania. They have had eight children, William 
H., Edward W., Eliza A., Sarah C, John W., and three deceased, Oliver 
W., James S. and Mary. Mr. M. is a member of the M. E. Church. He 
owns 189 acres of land two ami a half miles north of Bloomfield. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 659 

PURNELL, MAJ. W. J., attorney at law, Drakeville; was born in Mary- 
land January 2, 1S42, and grew to manhood on a farm, which continued to 
be his home until he came to this county. During the war he raised com- 
pany C, "Purnell Legion," Maryland Cavahy, and he became second lieu- 
tenant. In 1863, promoted first lieutenant, and in 1SU4 became captain of 
company H, Eighth Maryland Infantry. Three months later he was pro- 
moted to mustering officer. Second Division, Fifth Army Corps, lie was 
brevetted Major for gallant services at Five Forks, Va. He was married in 
Baltimore. Md., in 1867, to Miss Lora V. Jiles, a nativeoftiiat State. They 
Jiave six children, Washington I.. Helen A., Chas. A., Laura M., Grace and 
Wm. F. 

STEWART, A. W., blacksmith, Drakeville; was born in Brown county, 
Ohio, May 7, 1828. At an enrly age his parents moved to Clermont county 
where he lived until he was eighteen, goin.g to school until he was fifteen, then 
went to learn blacksmithing with his brother James, where he worked three 
years as apprentice and two years as jonrneyman; then went to Hamilton 
county, and one year later to Lidianapolis, In'd., where he worked in a ma- 
chine shop six years; then came to Ottumwa, Iowa, in June, 1855, and two 
years later came to Drakeville, and one year later went to Blakesburg for 
two years; then returning to Drakeville. where he has since lived. Lie was 
man'-ied March 26, 1853, to Miss D. Hopkins, a native of Belmont county, 
Ohio; they have had three children, John M. and two deceased, Mary E. 
and Jas. "W. Mr. and Mrs. S. are members of the M. E. Church. He is a 
member of thfe Odd Fellows and Masons. 

TIllIAX, WM., station agent. Drakeville; was born in Pennsylvania, 
September 22, 1832. Flis early life was spent on a farm, receiving liis edu- 
cation in the common schools. He came to Monroe county, Ohio, in 1851, 
and five years later to Appanoose county, Iowa. In September 1871, he 
came to Drakeville, and took charge of the station lor the Chicago and 
Southwestern railway, and the express office, positions he still retains. He 
was married May 3, 1855, in Ohio, to Miss Mary C. Cline, a native of that 
State. Tliev have had three children. Carry II., Franklin E. and Alonzo 
K.. killed May 2i. 1876, wliile breaking oti the C. R. I. & P. P. P., near 
Piatt City, Mo. Mr. T. is a member of the Odd Fellows lodge No. 88, 
Drakeville. 



FABIUS TOWNSHIP. 

ALDRIDGE, J. H., farmer, postoffice Moultou; was born January 23, 
1835, in Orange count}', Indiana. At the age of eleven, he came with his 
parents to this county, settling in Perry township, where he resided till his 
father's decease. He was raised on a farm and received his education in the 
common schools. In 1868 he engaged in mercantile business about eigh- 
teen months in Monterey, then returned to Perry township, for four 
years, then came to this township, where he has since resided, except- 
ing one year in West Grove township. He was married September 3, 
1857, to Miss Sarah E. Mayer; they have been blessed with seven children, 
four now living, Emma, John T., George D. and Mary P. Mr. and Mrs. A. 



660 nrsTORT of davis county. 

are members of the Missionary Baptist Church, and in politics he is a 
democrat. 

BARNES, MOSES, farmer, section 34, postoffiee Monterey: was born 
in June 1817, in Fayette comity, Kentucliv. Here lie e^vew to manliood on 
the farm, acquiring a limited eiucation. In April 1850, he came to tiiia 
connty, and settled in Fabius township on land he obtained from the gov- 
ernment, where he has since resided. He was married Marcli 17, 1836, to 
Miss Isabelle Wiseman, of Kentncky. Mr. B. had previously moved to 
Estelle county, Kentucky, where he was married. They have been blessed 
with ten children, nine now living, Joseph J., Henry B., A. W., Daniel W., 
Saraii E., A. F., Eliza J., Mandy, Martha I., and Joiin W., who died in the 
army, in company F. Thirtieth Iowa Infantry. Mr. B. is located on a fine 
farm of eighty acres, liigiily improved. Mr. and Mrs. B. are members of 
the M. E. Church. 

BLOSSER, D. B., county surveyor, postoffiee, Monterey; was borrb 
April 29, 1843, in Hawkins connty, Ohio. In 1855, hi-s parents, moved 
to Allen county, Ohio. He was reared on a farm and received his educa- 
tion in the common schools. October 1, 1869, he came to this county and 
settled where he now resides. In 1865, he commenced to work at black- 
smithing witli J. W. Heislcr, of Allen county, Ohio, and a year later worked- 
with R. Herring, near Allentown, for a year. In October, 1877, he was 
elected county surveyor, on the democratic ticket, and was reelected in 
1879, filling the office to the satisfaction of everybody. Mr. B. is located 
in Monterey, engaged in tiie hardware and machine trade, and also owns a. 
line farm of improved land in West Grove townsliip. He was married April 
8, 1869, to Miss D. Lnoney. They have had six children, William L., Em- 
ma C, Nanny A., Effie B., and two deceased. Mr. and Mrs. B. are mem- 
bers of the M. E. Church, and he is a member of the West Grove lodge, I. 
O. O. F.. jS'o. 339. He has served four years as justice of the peace. 

COLTON, G. W.. farmer, secrion 25, postoffiee, Bloomfield; was born 
April 13. 1857, in Dane connty, Wisconsin. He lived in Dane C(umty 
about ten years, then went to Stevenson county; in 1869 he moved 
to Dallas county, and in the fall of 1876, came to this county, and settled on 
his present farm, consisting now, of 220 acres, well improved, with good 
buildings, and an orchard of 150 trees. He was married March 31, 1879, 
to Miss Susan Kinnian; they liave been blessed with two children, Ida Zoe, 
and Ada Zella. In politics Mr. C'.ilton is a republican, and is one of the 
most successful farmers in the county. 

ELLIOTT. JOHN, farmer, section 13, postoffiee, Coatsville, Missouri;. 
was burn in November 1840, in Antriin county, Ireland. When quite young 
his father, James, died and his mother, Jane, came to America with her three- 
children, first settling in Jefferson county. In 1862, he went to Morgan 
connty, Illinois, and May 10, 1863, he enlisted in Company C, 145th Illi- 
nois Infantry for one hundred days; returned home, and February 10, 1864r, 
lie enlisted in Company A, Tenth Infantry, Colonel Gillaspy. He came 
to this county, July 4, 1865, and settled in Perry township, where he re- 
sided for five years, then sold out and bought his present farm, consistiviig 
of 80 acres of land. He was married Aprir29, 1866, to Mrs. Cynthia Ann 
Freeman, of Van Buren county. He is a member of the Congregational 
Church, and of Sincerity Lodge, No. 317, A. F. and A. M. at Moultou. 
In politics he is a democrat, and has held the office of township trustee two 
terms, and has also been township clerk. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 661 

HALE, A. J., M. D., Monterey; was bom October 8, 1S3J-, in Ripley 
count}', Indiana, and wlien about three years old came with his parents to 
Greencastle, Indiana, where he grew to manhood and received Iiis education. 
He enlisted December 25, 1S61, in company I, Fifty-ninth Indiana Infantry, 
and was discharged September 4, 1864, at Vicksburg, and came direct to 
Davis county, Iowa, settling in West Grove, where he lived two j'ears; then 
lived two years in the old town of Chequest, near Belknap: then removed to 
Monterey two years, then to Belknap two years; and in August, 18V6,returned 
to Monterey, where he has since resided; engaged in the practice of medicine 
ever since he catne to this county. He was married May 5,1859, to Miss Emma 
Southern, of Indiana. They have been blessed with tivechildren, Carrie, Ed- 
die E., Minnie, Jessie B.,and (George AV. The doctor has a good practice and is 
eminently wortiiy of it. He is a member of JeiJersou lodge A. F. and A. 
M., No. 86, at Drakesville, and in politics is a greenbacker. 

HENDERSON, J. J., farmer, section 27, postoffice Monterey; was born 
April 6, 1839, in Putnam county, Illinois, and at the age of two years his 
parents, William and Elizabeth, formerly of Tennessee, moved to Cass 
county, Missouri, and in the fall of 1849, he came to this county, settling on 
the same section where he now resides. He now owns a good farm of 223 
acres, with a fine residence, good barn, and an orchard of 100 trees. He was 
married January 23, 1859, to Miss Emily Huddleson, of Appanoose county. 
They liave Jiad five children, Robert A. and Joel, and three deceased. Mrs. 
Henderson died September 11, 1870, and Mr. Henderson married again, 
February 14, 1871, Miss Mary E. Lawson, of this county, and the}^ have been 
blessed with four children, James S., Calvin L., Emily E., and Ollie Belle. 
Mr. Henderson is a member of the Christian Church, and in politics is a 
democrat. He is now quite extensively engaged in stock-raising. 

HENSON, JOHN H., farmer, postotfice Monterey; a son of William 
Henson, deceased, was born in this county February 28, 1846. He acquired 
his education and graduated at the Kirksville Normal School, and in 1870, 
commenced tea:cliing, part of the time at his Alma mater. He is now lo- 
cated on a good farm of 150 acres of finely improved land. He was mar- 
ried July 19, 1868, to Miss Letitia H. AVotan. They have four children, 
Samuel S., Mary E., Julia h. and Laura A. Mr. H. has been township clerk 
for seven years, he is a Mason, a member of the Christian Church, and in poli- 
tics is a democrat. 

HENSON, WILLIAM (deceased); born, September 23, 1817, and 
was the first settler in Fabius township. He was a native of Kentucky, 
and tiie eldest son of the family. Wheti quite young his parents moved 
to Howard county. Mo., where he grew to manhood. He then went to 
Boone county, Mo., and July 4, 1840, arrived in what is now Davis county, 
Iowa, and settled in Fabius township while the Sac Indians were yet living 
in the neighborhood, and often had dealings with Keokuk and two of Black- 
Hawk's sons. He was married October 12, 1843, to Miss Emily Johnson, 
and they were blessed with ten children, Francis M., born September 16, 
1844; John H., Wm. W., Mary E., Sylvester, Samuel E. and Sarah E., 
(twins), Robert L. and a brother twin (deceased), and a babe (deceased), 
not named. Mr. H. located on the home farm in 1842, having obtained the 
land from the government. At the time of his decease he was a worthy 
member of the Christian Church. 

HOLSTEIN, J. A., farmer, section twenty-four, postoffice West 
Grove; was born December 18, 1822, in West Virginia. At the age of 



662 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

nine years he moved with his parents to "Washington county, where h& 
lived till October, 1849, when he came to this county, first settling in Wya- 
condah township, and in 1S70 came on his present farm where he has since 
resided. His farm consists of 165 acres of well improved land, in good 
cultivation. He was married in September, 1870, to Miss Nancy Toombs, 
and they have been blessed with two children, Gracie and a babe. Mr. 
Holstein in politics is a republican, and deserves the confidence and re- 
spect in which he is held by the communitj'. 

HORN, JOPIN, farmer, section 29, postofBce Monterey; was born April 
23, 1832, in Estelle county, Ky., and there grew to manhood. He was the 
seventh child in the family, and lived at home on the farm till he was nine- 
teen. In the fall of 181:9, he arrived on his present farm, which was then 
owned by an uncle. In the fall of 1860, he returned on a visit, and in the 
spring of" 1862, started overland to California with a cattle team and was on 
the road about five months. After spending: some four years in that State 
and Nevada, engaged in fishing and teaming, returned home in 1866, arriv- 
ing in this county, July 26, where he has since resided. He owns a fine 
farm of 315 acres, in a good state of cultivation. He was married October 
17, 1869, to Miss Margaret E. Orr, of this county. They have seven child- 
ren, Jas. P., Minnie, Sam. J., Laura, Henry H., John B. and Wm. F. Mr. 
H. is a greenbacker in politics. 

JOHNSON, JEREMIAH (deceased), was born in Kentucky, in January, 
1836. When six years old, he came with his parents to this county\ He 
was reared a farmer, and acquired his education in the schools of the early 
day. He engaged in farming until about 1877, when he went into the milling 
business. He passed away, to that bourne from whence no traveler returns, 
on the 22nd day of August, 1881. Susannah H., widow of the above 
named, was born in Harrison county, Ohio, and at the age of 
fifteen, came with her parents to this county, where she has since 
resided. She was married December 11, 1856, to Jeremiah John- 
son, and they were blessed with eight children: George, James W., John H., 
U. Grant, Emma B., Sherman, Mary E. J. and Samuel. Mrs. Johnson is 
located on a good farm of 1,000 acres, mostly in cultivation, and the children 
all reside at home except the eldest. Mrs. J. is a worthy member of the 
Christian Church, and is surrounded with all the comforts of life. 

McFADDEN, D. M., farmer, postoffice West Grove; was born July 19, 
1847, in Clinton county, Ohio. When eight years old, his ]iarents, Fairfax 
and Sarah Ann, came west and settled in Grove township, this county, near 
Stiles. When about seventeen, he commenced teaching, and after teaching 
three years, he engaged as salesman with T. F. Collins, in Stiles, for three 
years. He then located on a good farm of eighty acres, in this township. 
He was married in December, 1868, to Miss Nancy Meklin, of West Grove 
township, who died September 10, 1869. He married again, July 13, 1871, 
Miss M. J. Shook. They have had four children, Jennie A., Rosa A., Samuel 
H. and James H. Mr. M. is a member of Franklin lodge, A. F. and A. M., 
No. 14, and in politics is a democrat. 

McKENZIE, RICHARD, farmer, postofhce Bloomfield; was born No- 
vember 26, 1840, in Fulton county, Illinois. Here he grew to manhood, on 
the farm and acquired a common school education. In 1860 he came to 
this county, settling in Bloomfield township, and in September, 1862, en- 
listed in company K., Seventh Illinois Cavalry. He was in the battles of 
Corinth, Batten Rouge, Nashville, Grierson's raid, etc., and was dis- 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTT. 663 

charged, and returned home in 1865. He has a good farm, with comforta- 
ble surroundings. He was married in February, 1867, to Miss Mary Paul), 
of Fulton county, Illinois. They have three children, Frank, Kobert and 
Dellno. Mr. McKeuzie is a republican in politics. 

PEDEN, ORUIN, farmer, postoffice West Grove; was born November 
30, 185i, in Lick Creek township, this county; is a son of James Peden, 
who came to this county, when a boy, with his father, who was in the 
Third Iowa Cavalry for about five years. Mr. Peden was mari'ied 
February 29, 1S80, to Miss Annie E. Bell, daughter of Joshua and Mary 
E. Bell. They have one child, Effie Bell. Mrs. M. E. Bell was born in No- 
ble county, Ohio, daughter of Greenup Hopkins, who came to this county 
in 184-7, and was one of the earliest settlers of this township. They are all 
members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church; and Mrs. Bell is the 
owner of a splendid form of 187 acres, with good house and orchard. Josh- 
ua Bell, deceased ; was born in February, 1811, in Greene county. He 
went to this county when a boy; and during the war, was in company A., 
Fourth Iowa Infantry, about nine months, then returned home and died 
from tlie effect of exposure. He died October 5, 1865, a member of the 
Presbyterian Church. He was a man respected and beloved by all who 
knew him. 

RUSSELL, SAMUEL, farmer, sheep-raiser, and dealer in Spanish Meri- 
nos, Fabius township, postotiice West Grove; was born August 7, 1836, in 
Greene county, Pennsylvania. At three years of age he moved with his 
parents, William and Charlotte, to Athens county, Ohio, where he lived 
about fifteen years; then in the spring of 1851 he came to this county, and 
settled on the farm he stills lives on. At that time it had only forty acres 
broken, with a log cabin on it. He now owns 1,000 acres of the best land 
in the county with a fine residence on the home farm, with good barns and 
orchards. He is very extensively engaged in the sheep business, and his 
sales of wool and sheep during the last year amount to about $1,000. He 
wasmarried March 5, 1857, to Miss Virginia Tucker, daughter of Ira and 
Elizabeth Tucker, of Appanoose count}^ Iowa. They have been blessed 
witli five children: W. W., aged 23; Elizabeth, Cassie C, attending scliool 
at Lincoln, Illinois; Ira T., aged fifteen; and James L., aged twelve. Mr. 
Russell is a zealous and worthy member of the Cumberland Presbyterian 
Church, and one of its most liberal supporters. He has been countj' com- 
missioner, and filled the office with credit. In polities he is a democrat and 
is one of the most enlightened and progressive men in Davis county. Mr. 
Kussell's grandfather, James Russell, was of Scotch-Irish parentage, and 
was married in 1796, to Rachael Frazier, and died of yellow fever in New 
Orleans, leaving two sons, James and William, the latter being the father of 
the subject of this sketch. 

STOFFLE, ISAAC, deceased; was born in October, 1800, in Maryland; 
and while quite young his parents moved to Tennessee, where he resided 
till 25 years of age; he then moved to Washington county, Indiana, where 
he lived till 1819, when he came to this county, settling on the present 
homestead, then only slightly improved, where he resided till his decease, 
October 4, 1877. Maktha I^., widow of the above named, was born July 22, 
1817, in Washington county, Indiana. She was married January 29, 1846, 
to Isaac Stotfie and came to this county in 1849, where she still resides. 
She is the mother of eight children, William F., L. R., Ezra A., John J., 
Anna E., Eliza J., Mary C, Rachel, and one deceased, George I. L. R. 



6G4 HI&TOEY OF DAVIS COUWTY. 

Stofflk is a young tnaii of 26, resides at home, liaviiig charge of tiie home 
farm. He is a genial joung baclielor, and is eminently quailtied for busi- 
ness by his good habits and strong mental capacity. 

8T0BER, JACOB, farmer, section 30, postoffice Monlton; was born 
November 20, 1823, in Lebanon county, Pennsylvania. Here he lived till 
he was fourteen, when his parents moved to Richland county, Ohio, being 
among the earliest settlers in that county; in 1849 he moved to Hardin 
county, Ohio, and five years later, October 25, 1854, he arrived in this 
county, first settling within a mile of where he now i-esides. In the spring 
of 1863. he bought the farm he now owns, consisting of 473 acres; on this 
farm is the "Stober Spring," the best spring in the county, throwing a con- 
stant stream of water. He is engaged in stock-raising and has some fine 
short-horn stock. His sales of cattle, ht)gs and farm produce in the last 
year amounted to $2,800. He was married May 18, 1847, to Miss Sarah 
Grimes, of Wayne county, and they liave been blessed with ten children, 
Philip. Jacob, Markard, May E., Sarah A., George, W. T., Adeline, Marga- 
ret, and Minerva. In politics Mr. Stober is a greenbacker, and is a whole- 
souled gentleman. 

THARP, W. D., farmer, postoffice Monterey; was born December 23, 
1832, in Lewis county, W. Va., where lie resided till he grew to manhood. 
His early life was spent on the farm and in acquiring an education. He 
taught school several terms in his native State. In the fall of 1853, he came 
to Iowa, settling first in Van Buren county, for one year, then came to this 
county in October, 1854, and settled on his presetit farm, which then had 
only ten acres broke. He now has a fine farm of 480 acres, all in a body, 
except a timber lot of thirty-one acres. Mr. T. is also engaged in stock- 
raising. He was married September 15, 1856, to Miss Sarah Standley, 
daughter of Wm. and Unity Standley, of this county, formerly of Indiana. 
They have seven children, Emma V., Wni. T., Unity L., Jas. G., Henry W., 
Essie May, and Jenny June. Mr. T. is one of the most substantial farmers 
of this township, and is highly esteemed by those who know him. 

WAGGONER, W. T., farmer, Monlton; was born July 3, 1850, in Vir- 
ginia, and at five years of age moved with his parents to this county and 
settled in Fabius township. He was reared on a farm and received a com- 
mon school education, and at nineteen commenced teaching, and taught 
about ten terms. He is now the owner of 120 acres of highly improved 
land. He is a member of the M. E Church, and in politics is a green- 
backer. He is a hearty, genial bachelor, very intelligent and enterprising. 

WISAMAN, JACOB, farmer, section 26. postoffice Monterey; was born 
in January, 1811, in Estelle county, Kj'. When five years old, he moved 
with his parents, Abner and Isabel, to the west. He was reared a farmer 
and received a common school education, and was engaged in mercantile 
business about five 3'ears. He arrived in this county October 7, 1853, and 
in tlie fall of 1854, he moved on his present farm where he has since resided. 
He is located on a good farm of 219 acres, well imjiroved. He was married 
June 4, 1840, to Miss Sarah Ann Hamilton, of Kentucky. They have had 
seven children, Jas. D., Ann E., Louisa, Sarah E., Thomas J., Emma J. and 
Henry B. Mr. W. is a Mason, and a member of the M. E. Churcii; in poli- 
tics a democrat. He is a man very highly respected by everybody. 

WISDOM, T. W, (deceased), was born June 6, 1822, in Clark county, 
Ky. When he was two years of age, his parents moved to Howard count}'. 
Mo., where they resided till he was nineteen. Here he passed his early life 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 665 

■on the fartti and attending the common schools. After living in Sclinyler 
county for some time, in 184:2, he came to this county, and settled in Fabius 
township, about two miles east of Monterey, and came to the present home- 
stead in 1850, where he lived until his death. He was a minister of the 
gospel for inanv vears, and was licensed to preach by the Baptist Cliiirch in 
1860. He died May 15, 1873. 

WISDOM, MARGARET R. HULLETT, was born March 6, 1823, in 
Clark county, Ky., and at eleven years of age came with lier parents to 
Bonne county, Mo., where she resided till July 16. 1841, when she married 
T. W. Wisdom, by whom she lias had seventeen children, eleven now living, 
viz: Wm. W., Emily E., Sarah F., Levina J., George W., Thomas G., Ros- 
anna, Mary A., Frances B., Oliver W. and Andrew J. Mrs. Wisdom re- 
sides with her two youngest sons in a comfortable home, situated on a fine 
farm of 245 acres. 



FOX RIVER TOWNSHIP. 

CLYMAN, ALBERT G., farmer, section one, postoffioe Drakeville; is the 
owner of 120 acres of land, all under fence and iii cultivation. He was 
born in Illinois, Septembers, 1842, where he lived until 1847, when he came 
to this county, where he has since lived. He enlisted in Company D, Third 
Iowa Cavalry, and served four years, being mustered out at the close of the 
war. He was in the battle of Pea Ridge, and was wounded at Helena, Ark., 
by a gun-shot wound through the rigiit lung. He was married March 7, 
1866, to Miss Martha A. Humble. 

COONS, RICHARD P., farmer, section 14, postoffice West Grove, or 
Drakeville; was born in Shelby county, Indiana, February 25, 1843. In 
1851, his parents came to this county, where he grew to maturity on a farm, 
receiving a common school education. He now owns 121 acres of land, all 
under fence and in cultivation, on which he moved in the spring of 186G. 
He was married in Missouri, in 1863, to Miss Sarah Elizabeth Pile, a native 
of Indiana. They have had eigiit children: Martha A., Adeline G., Har- 
riet A., Clara M., Emma F., Walter N., John M., and one deceased — Nancy 
E., at the age of live. 

COONS, W. J., postoffice Drakeville; was born December 30, 1833, in 
Shelby count}', Ind. ; his iather being from Virginia, and his mother from 
Kentucky. His early life was spent on a farm and in acquiring a common 
school education. In the tall of 1851, he came to tliis county, settling in 
Fo.\ Ri :er township, adjoining the place where he now resides. Here he 
-engaged in farming till October 5, 1864, when he enlisted in Company A, 
Fourth Iowa Infantry, and took part in the battles of Columbia and Bentons- 
ville; was in Sherman's army from Atlanta to the sea; was in the grand re- 
view in Washington; was discharged at Davenport, and returned home to 
this county, and for two years engaged in railroad bridge building. In 1871 
lie returned home, where he has since resided, mostly engaged in carpenter- 
ing. He was married October 23, 1856, to Miss Julia Wallace, of Indiana. 
They have had seven children: Mary Jane, Martha O., Thomas, William 
W., Nettie E., Charles H., and one deceased. Mrs. C. died February 23, 
1871. Mr. C. is an Odd Fellow, and in politics a democrat. 
29 



666 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

DOWNING, HON. SAMUEL B., fanner, section 11, postoffice Bloom'- 
field; is the owner of 600 acres of land, nearly all under fence. He is a na- 
tive of Venango cannty, Penn., born February 4, 1825. At the age of 
twelve, his parents, Alexander and Elizabeth Downing, moved to Van Buren 
county, Iowa. In 1840, they came to this county, and settled in Roscoe 
township, where Mr. D. grew to manhood, receiving a common school edu- 
cation, and spending his youth on a farm. He enlisted in the Mexican 
war, in 1846, in Company E, Third Missouri Cavalry, and served two years, 
being mustered out at the close of the war. lie was in the last battle of the 
war, March 16, 1848, fourteen days after peace was declared. He returned 
to Davis county, and was married in 1849, to TelithaStark, a native of Ken- 
tucky, and relativeof Daniel Boone, the Indian fighter. They have had twelve 
children: John W., Abner A., Temperance E., Indiana, L. V., Wm. L., Sher- 
man G., Ida I., May L., Lillie J., and two deceased, Roanna and Eosetta. 
In 1860, Mr. D. was ordained a minister in the Christian Church, and for a 
number of years devoted himself exclusively to the church; has not depended 
on the church for a living, but has always made his farm support himself 
and his family. He was one of the early advocates of the abolition of 
slavery, and voted for John C. Fremont, in 1856, when only five votes in 
his township were cast for him. Until six years ago, Mr. D. was a republi- 
can. He was elected a member of the Eighteenth General Assembly from 
this county, and re-elected to the Nineteenth, in 1881, on the greenback 
ticket. 

DOWNING, THOS. B., farmer, section 17, postoffice Unionville; was 
born in Pennsylvania in 1822, and there grew up, receiving a common school 
education. From there he went to Indiana, and two years later, in 1841, 
came to the southeast jjart of this county, where he remained till May 1, 
1843, the day the Indians gave possession, when he came to this township, 
where he has lived ever since. He was married in this county in 1845, to 
Elizabeth Stutfiebeem, a native of Ohio. They have two children: Elizabeth 
Iv., and James H. When Mr. D. came to this county and commenced the 
life of a pioneer, he started with nothing, and now, by economy and hard 
work, he has accumulated an. abundance. During his residence here he has 
made over one hundred and fifty thousand rails for the people of Fox River 
township. He has a nice farm of 180 acres. 

GASTON, JAMES, farmer, section 23, postoffice West Grove; was born 
in Indiana, in 1833, and at the age of twelve, he, with his parents, Charles 
and Hannah G., settled in Van Buren county, Iowa, where he remained un- 
til coming to this county, in' 1858. Hi's early youth was spent at hard 
work on a farm, earning by day labor the money to buy his land. He now 
owns 208 acres. He was married in this county in 1857, to Ellen Ohay, a 
native of Virginia. They have nine children: Elsburry, Almyra, William^ 
Francis V., Lucinda, Rosa, Alexander, Alpheus, and Sylvia. 

HENRY, JOSEPHUS W., farmer, section 13, postofiice Drakeville; was 
born in Hancock county, Indiana, in 1842; and raised principally in John- 
son county. In the fall of 1855, he came to this county, where he has since 
lived. He has a nice little farm of 110 acres, under a high state of cultiva- 
tion. He was married in this county, January 18, 1866, to Miss Margaret 
C. Atwood, daughter of Mason and Catharine A., born in 1844. They liave 
had seven children, Samuel M., James W., Minnie B., Joe Frank, Katie J., 
and two deceased, Ulysses C. and Thomas B. Mr. H. is an Odd Fellow, a 
member of Drakeville lodge, No. 88. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 667 

HOCKERSMITH, SYDNEY B., farmer, section 13, postoffice Drake- 
ville; was bora in Randolph county, Va., June 18, ISM. When a child, 
his parents, John and Luciuda H., moved to Davis county, and here he has 
grown to manhood on a farm, being educated in the common schools. He 
now owns a nice farm of 160 acres, all under cultivation, which he l)ought 
on time, as he had no capital, and has it now all paid for. He was n:arried 
in this county in 1872, to Miss Rebecca J . Alex-ander, a native of Indiana, 
and they have three children, Mary L., James T., and John A. Mr. H. is a 
member of the Regular Baptist Cluu'ch. 

HUilRnHEYS, A. R., farmer, section 2, postoffice Drakeville the 
owner of 183 acres of land; was bora in Madison county, Kentucky, 
July 12, 1817. At the age of seven, his parents, Patrick H. and Sarah, 
moved to Jefferson county, where he was raised on a farm. At the age of 
twenty-eight he commenced working at the carpenter's trade, ship building, 
which he followed about twenty years. In 1864, he came to this county, 
settling on his present farm. He was married in Indiana, March 26, 18-46, 
to Miss Hannah Hicks, daughter of Lewis and Mary Hicks, a native of Eng- 
land, born iLarch 1-1, 1826. They have had seven children, Lewis H., Al- 
ford H., Augustin R., Charles, Sarah A., and two deceased, Maiy J., and 
Edgar A. Mr. and Mrs. H. are members of the Regular Baptist Church. 
Mr. H. is a self-made and self educated gentleman. 

JONES, WILLIAM A., farmer, section 13, jMstoffice Drakeville; was 
born in Missouri, in 1822, and raised in that State, receiving an ordinary 
education. He came to this county in 1843, where he has since lived; mak- 
ing all his property by farming. He was man-ied in this county, in 1846, 
to Miss Mary J. Tigart, a native of Missouri. They have had nine children: 
Robert C, William" A., Julia C, Mary M., Martin M., Nancy J., Henry C, 
Ulyses S., and one deceased, James Wesley. Mr. J. is a Mason, a member 
of Jefferson lodge, No. 86. 

McCONNELL, DAVID J., farmer, section 1, postoffice Drakeville; is 
the owner of about 1,200 aci'es of land. He is a native of Dearborn county, 
Indiana. When a child, his parents moved to Johnson county, Indiana, 
where he grew to manhood on a farm, receiving a comuion school education. 
He was born April 8, 1822; at the age of twenty-seven, settling on his pres- 
ent farm. He was elected a member of the board of supervisors in 1875, 
the court house being built and completed during his administration. He 
was married in Indiana, in 1845, to Miss Sariida Beard; they have had sev- 
en children, Sarah M., now Mrs. Reynolds; Jesse W., William W., James 
H., John D., Mai'v A. and Seymour B., deceased. Mr. M. is a member of 
the Masous, Jefferson lodge, Is'o. 86, at Drakeville. 

McCR.VCKEN, AYM., tanner, section 12, postoffice Drakeville ; was born 
in Hendricks county, Indiana, December 26,1843; and at the age of five, 
came with his parents, Isaac and Susan M., to this county. Here Mr. Mc- 
Cracken grew to manhood on a farm, receiving a good common school edu- 
cation. He owns a good farm of 320 acres, in section twelve. He was 
married in this county, September 16, 1866, to Miss Lizzie Riley, a native 
of Warren county, Indiana. They have had six children, John W., James 
H., Mattie, Oscar, Eddie, and Ralph, deceased at the age of two years. Mr. 
McCraeken is a splendid specimen of the western farmer and is highly res- 
pected by those who know him. 

MINEAR, MOSES, farmer, section 14, postoffice West Grove; was born 
in West Virginia, April 10, 1814, where he grew to manhood on a farm, 



668 irisTOEY OF davis county. 

and received a common school ediication. In 1834, he moved to Indiana, 
and one year later to Van Buren county, Iowa, and in IS-itl, to his present 
home in tliis county, where he now owns 180 acres of land, all under fence 
and in cultivation. He was married in Van Buren county, in 1843, to Mar- 
garet Gaston, a native of Pennsylvania. They have had nine children, Wil- 
liam, Volney, Jasper, Melgai-, Oliver, Mary, Melvina, and two deceased, Ly- 
curgus and Cyrus. Mr. M. is a memher of the United Bretliern Church. 
When he came to this county he was without means, and has accumulated 
his property by hard work and economj-. 

RUNIvLE, PETEIi, farmer, section 23, postofRce West Grove; was born 
in Vii'ginia in 1823. When a child, his parents, Lewis and Mary R., moved 
to Bartholomew county, Indiana, where he grew to manhood, receiving a 
farmers' education. In 1853, he came to this county where he has since 
lived. He owns 250 acres of land, and has a nice home. He was married 
in Indiana in 1849, to Savila A. File, a native of Kentucky, born in 1823, 
and died August 24, 1881, leaving a family of six children, Nancy E., wife 
of G. W. Terrance; James L., Martha J., wife of Albert McFarland; Mar- 
garet C, wife of Alford Humphrey; Wra. S., Sarah F., arid two deceased, 
Mary C. and Becca A. Mr. liunkle is a Universalist. He was elected a 
member of the board of supervisors, in 1873. Is a Mason, a member of 
Jeflerson Lodge, No. 86, Drakeville. 



GEOVE TOWNSHIP. 



BEAUCHAMP, LEVI, section 36, has a fine farm of 480 acres, most of 
it under cultivation. He was born in Kent county, Delaware, January 6, 
1825, and when eleven years of age, his father moved to Madison county, 
Indiana. He received a good common school education; came to Iowa in 
1846, stopping two yeai's in Van Buren county; then came to this county. 
He taught the second school in Union District in this township. Mr. B. 
was married June 26, 1851, to Miss Mary Jane Price. Thev have nine 
children, J. W., W. T., J. H., C. D., Robert S., Emma J., Sarah E., F. L., 
and C. E. Mr. B. is a Mason, and his postotiice is Stiles. He has in his 
possession an English Gourd, brought from England by his ancestors, which 
was used to carry shot in by his grandfather, and has been in the family for 
over one hundred and twenty-five years. 

BRUNK, AMON, farmer and stock-raiser; dealer and shipper of poultry, 
butter and eggs; postoffice Stiles; was born August 22, 1832, in Grayson 
county, Kentucky; at the age of fourteen he eame with his parents to this 
county. Here he grew to manhood, acquiring a limited education on the 
farm. In 1856, he engaged in business at Springville where he remained 
till 1858, then engaged in farming till 1863, when he engaged in the cattle 
business in Missouri. The next year he farmed, and the next engaged in 
business at Savannah. In 1866 he sold to Mr. Hardy, and farmed again; 
in 1867, he and brother brought out Mr. Hardy in Stilesville, and a year 
later he bought out liis brother. In July 1869, he removed his stock to 
Glenwood, Missouri, until November 15, then returned to Stiles, and con- 
tinued business till July 1873; then moved to Schuyler county, Missouri; 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 669 

built a liotel at Lancaster, and tliis, with other reasons caused his failure in 
1876. Settled with his creditors and continued till 1878, when lie sold out 
to Lis father and brother, and I'eturned to his farm, where he has since re- 
mained. He owns 314 acres, near Stiles. He was married May 20, 1S55, 
to Miss Maria J. Lunsfoi'd, and they have eight children: Wm. M., Alfred, 
Benj. F., Peter, Hugh, Charles, Injz May, and Gracie, and two deceased, 
Anion and Henry. 

BRITNK, SALP^M, a farmer and stock-raiser, owns a nice farm of 448 
acres, in section 30; was born in Grayson county, Kentucky, November 12, 
1834; and, when twelve years old, his parents moved to this county, settling 
in JPerry township, and four years later to Wyacondah, and in 1862, came to 
this township Mr. B. was married to Miss Turner, a daughter of James 
Turner; they had five children, J. W., Martha Jane, J. H., Ella, and Philip, 
deceased, who was the oldest, dying at two years of age. Mrs. B. died Feb- 
ruary 17, 1874, and he married again, man-ying a sister of his deceased wife. 
They have two childreu, Bertha and Ira. Mr. and Mrs. B. are worthy 
memljers of the Christian Church. 

BRUMLEY, JASPER, fanner and stock raiser, postoSScc Stiles; was 
born April 24, 1840. in Ohio, living there till 1853, when his parents came 
to Iowa and settled in Roscoe township, this county. Here he grew up to 
manhood and received a limited education. He learned to labor on the 
farm, where he remained till the war broke out, wlieii he enlisted in cora- 
]iany A, Third Iowa Cavalry, and went with that regiment tlirongh most of 
its hardest lights. At the battle of Lagrange, Arkansas, he was dangerously 
wounded, the ball passing through his i-ight arm and enteringhis right side, 
passing through the point ot the right lung, and lodging in the front part of 
the abdominal cavity, near the point ot the breast bone, where it still re- 
mains. He then went to the hospital at Keokuk, but rejoined the regiment 
in the fall; was sick in hospital at Memphis, Tennessee, when Forrest made 
his raid into the city. He was discharged October 19, 1864, and returned 
home, bringing with him a gentle reminder that he had fought and bled for 
his country, lie was married in 1866, to Miss M. A. Foshee; they have 
two children, Zora K. and Lncinda. After his marriage he purchased his 
]iresent farm containing 132 acres, in tine cultivation. He and his wife are 
members of the M. E. Church at Stiles. 

COLLINS, T. F., is one of the early settlers of this township, born in 
Caroline county, Maryland, October 3, 1818. When seven j'ears of age his 
father moved to Kent county, Delaware, where he resided until 1836, when 
he came to Madison county, Indiana, and in 1842, to Ross county, Ohio, 
and three years later came to Iowa, Van Buren C(iunty. In 1851 came to 
this township, entering 100 acres of his present farm. For a while he sold 
goods in Stiles, and built up a good trade; he sold out that business in Octo- 
ber, 1880. . Hemari-ied Louisa Beauchamp, of Hancock county, Indiana, 
June 10, 1841. They have had six children, four living, Mahala Ann, Mary 
E., Imogene, and Louisa, and two deceased, Sarah Jane and Thomas. Mrs. 
Collins died August 13, 1881. Mr. C. is nicely located in the village, with 
a good house and barn, his farm contains 485 acres of good land in section 
three. He has served several terms as justice of the peace, and as post-mas- 
ter at Stiles since 1851, except eighteen months. He is a member of the 
M. E. Church and the Masonic order. Lodge No. 217. 

COSSEL, MKJHAEL, farmer and stock-raiser, owns a fine farm of 340 
acres. He was born March 4, 1829, in Washington count}', W. Va. When 






670 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

seven years of age his father moved to Illinois where he lived thirteen _years, 
then coming to Des Moines county for one jea.r, then to Jefferson county 
until 1853, when he came to his present home. He was married January 
1, 1844, to Miss Martha McCoi'd, a native of Indiana. They iiave seven 
children, Thomas, Isaac, Rachel, William, Asa, Sarah, and Rebecca, deceased. 
Mr. and Mrs. C. are members of the United Brethren Church. Mr. C. went 
to school in liis life just nineteen days. He stands high in the neighborhood. 
His post otHce is Stiles. 

DOYLE, WM. H., tanner and stock-raiser, postofhce Stiles; was born 
January 30, 1845, in Manchester, Ind. His parents soon moved to Deca- 
tur county, Ind., and lived till he was eleven years old. then moved to War- 
ren county. 111., for one year, then came to this county. He enlisted in 
company M, Ninth Iowa (^avalry, September 9, 1861, and served with the 
regiinent three years and four months and twenty-seven days; was tirst en- 
gaged in a battle at Helena, then at Little Rock, Pea Ridge, Hot Springs, 
and in fights with bushwhackers too numerous to mention. At the close 
of the war he returned home and has engaged in farming ever since. He 
was married Se]>tember 10. 186s, to Miss Fanny Couaway; they have had 
eight children, Harry D., Margai'et M., Artie E., Frederick L. and four de- 
ceased. 

DUNLAVY, JAMES. M. D., ot Stiles; was born February 4. 1844, in 
Decatur county. Ind. When four years old his father moved to this county. 
He attended tlie common schools and graduated at the Keokuk Medical 
College. Enlisted in the fall of 1863 i"ii company D, Third Iowa Cavalry, 
and served two years. He lias a gold medal presented to him by Congress, 
for capturing the rebel general Marmadnke at Osage, Kansas, also a gold 
mounted revolver presented by the ladies of Kansas City. He was wounded 
in the wrist bv a piece of shell at the battle of Osage, October 25, 1864. 
Was married March 24, 1870, to Miss Letitia C. Von Achen, and has a 
family of four children, C. A., S. W., II. D. and M. E. He commenced the 
practice of medicine in 1S70, at Stiles, and lias a good practice. Mr. and 
Mrs. D. are members of the M. E. Churcli. He is a Mason and a member 
of the Des Moines Valley Medical Society. 

FOSHEE. H. S., owns a good farm of 300 acres, in section 6. He located 
on this land in 1845; h^ entered tlie land from the government, built a good 
house, and barn, has a fine orchard and surroundings. He was born, De- 
cember 26, 1819, in Chatham county. North Carolina, near Pittsborough. 
His father died when he was three years old, and two years later his mother 
married again. In 1835, they moved to Macon county, Missouri, and in 
the fall of 1845, lie came to Davis county, settling on his present farm. He 
was married September 5, ls40, to Miss Minerva Montgomery, of Ken- 
tucky. They have had seven children: Elizabeth, Mary Jane, Mahala Ann, 
Nancy, Catharine, Heni-y, and Zachary Taylor, deceased. Mrs. F. died De- 
cember 6, 1809, and he married again, January 5, 1871, Mrs. Amy Wright, 
widow of Clemens Wright; they have four boys: T. C, VI. W., J. A. and 
Shelton. Mr. and Mrs. F. are members of the M. E. Church. In the early 
days, when churches and school houses were scarce, Mr. F's. house was the 
usual place for worship in the neighborhood. He is an exhorter. He has 
been pistice of the peace since 1875, and being nominated for State Senator, 
in 1881, on the greenliack ticket, he modestly declined. 

GIBSON, DAVID, was born in Guernsey county, Ohio, January 2, 
182S, where he was raised, receiving a common school education. He came 



aiSTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 671 

to Des Moines, Iowa, in March, 1851, and two years later to Davis county. 
In 1864, lie boiio;lit the farm that Aqiiilla Conaway staked as a claim in 
1841, consisting of 489 acres. He now has a good house, barn, and orchard 
nicely sheltered by native timber. He was married October 28, 1852,' to 
Miss Martha W. Frame. They have had six children: Ellen, Hannah, John 
F., Robert, Beulah May, and Clara, deceased. Mr. and Mrs. G., and the 
three oldest children, are members of the M. E. Church. 

HAUL, JOHN P., farmer, section fifteeen; owns 155 acres of land in this 
township, and 20 acres in Missouri. He was born, Sept. 16' 1816, in Har- 
din county, Kentucky, where he grew to manhood, getting his education, 
and farming for a living. Moved to this county in 1849, when it was almost 
a wilderness. He was married February 13, 1840, to Miss Susan Mclntire, 
of Kentucky. They have had seven children, Lucy C, Mary J., John P., 
Mary E., and three deceased, Riciiard B., William B., and Tiiomas L. Mr. 
and Mrs. Harl are members of the Ciiristian Cliurch. J. P. Hael, son of 
the former, was born in Davis county, October 19, 1855, and married April 
18, 1878, to Miss Maggie Conaway. They liave one child living, Minnie, 
Maud, and one deceased, Hillary. Mrs. Harl is a member of the M. E. 
Cliurch. 

HA RTZLER, SOLOMON, was born in Wayne county, Ohio, where lie 
grew to manliood, receiving a common school education, and running a saw 
mill in connection with the farm, and part of the time manufacturing 
pumps. He moved to this county in 1872, living in Roscoe townsliip five 
3'ears, and in tiiis township since 1880. He was married January 22, 1860, 
to Miss Judith Leather.nan, a native of Switzerland. Mrs. Hartzler was 
born in 1842. They have nine children, Fanny E., Anna L., Ephraim J., 
Jeptlia A.. Lydia E., Mamie E., Enos G., Ben. A., and the baby Mrs. and 
Mr. Hartzler are members of the Mennonite Church; his postoffice is Stiles. 
He is engaged iti making syrup from sorghum; he makes a good article, and 
sells it for only titteen cents a gallon. It promises to be a lucrative business. 

HOTCIIKISS, JOHN W., farmer and stock-raiser, postoffice Bloorafield; 
was born July 2, 1825, in New Haven county, Connecticut. He was reared 
a farmer, and educated in the common schools. In 1832, he moved with 
his parents to Portage county, (Jliio, where he lived seven years; then moved 
to Hawkins county, where he lived till he reached the age of twent3'-two, 
when he returned to New Haven, where he lived till he emigrated to this 
■county, in 1852, where he has since resided. He was married October 25, 
1852, to Miss Louisa E. Hotchkiss, a native of Connecticut. They have 
six children, Charley C, Edward L., Einerett, Leonard E., William H., 
and Thomas E. Since Mr. H. came to Iowa, he has engaged very extensive- 
ly in shipiiing stock, and is now feeding a number of cattle and hogs. He 
and his wife are members of tlie Christian Church. 

INSKEEP, PEARSON, farmer and stock-raiser; section 6, postoffice 
Stiles; was born September 17, 1812, in Logan county, Ohio, where he 
grew to manhood, and received a conimon school education. At the age of 
21 he engaged in farming for himself, which he continued till 1854, when 
lie came to this county, and purchased his present farm, from the man who 
•entered it. He now owns about 100 acres, finely improved, with good 
hnildings and an orchard of about 100 bearing trees. He was married 
March 12, 1833, to Miss Sarah Loufellow. They have had nine children: Joel 
M., Philander IL, Oliver W., Richard W., Joseph A., Charles R., Margaret 
A., Mary Jane, and Hopie M., Philander and Oliver were in Company F. 



672 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

Tliii'tietli Iowa Infuiitry, and both died of disease contracted in tlie army; 
Oliver, at Memphis, and Philander, about three weeks after reaching home. 
Joel M. is a graduate from the I. W. IT. with the degree of A. B. Joseph 
is attending the formal in Bloomfield. Mr. I. is a Master Mason. Mab- 
&AEET A. James, a widow lady, four miles south of Stiles, was born in 
Logan county, Ohio, where she grew up and received a common school 
education. At the age of sixteen, she came to this county, where she 
resided at the time of her marriage, to James L. James, December 12, 1855. 
During the war her husband enlisted in Company F, Thirtieth Iowa Infant- 
ry, and was in tlie battles of Arkansas Post, Vicksbnrg, Jackson, and many 
others. He lost his health in the army, and coming home, died in about 
four years. Since then she has lived on tlie home farm till the fall of 1881. 
She has two children, Peter P. and Mary V. 

LISTER, E., farmer and stock-raiser, postoffice Stiles, section 11; was 
born July 11, 1816, in Ohio. At the age of twelve he moved with his par- 
ents to Park county, Ind., where he grew to manhood, receiving his educa- 
tion in the primitive log school-house. In 1852 he came to Iowa, settling in 
this township, where he now owns 960 acres of land with a fine house, bam 
and orchard, the fruit of his own hard labor. He was married August 20, 
1837, to J'liss Nancy Crabbe, a native of Ohio. They have had eight chil- 
dren, Emmet, Minerva, Robt. R. B., Margaret. Caroline and three deceased: 
Mary Ann, Henry and John. Mrs. L. died November 6, 1853, and Mr L. 
mai'ried again. Miss Nancy A. Nixon; they have had eight children, Jasper, 
"W. S., Eliza, Carolina, E. E.. Sarah, Melissa, and Josephine, deceased. Em- 
met Lister, farmer; was l)orn July 24, 1841, in Park county, Ind. At ten 
years of age he came with his parents to Iowa and settled in this county. 
He enlisted in the Tiiird Iowa Cavalry, served about six months,was then dis- 
charged and returned home on account of severe sickness. He was married 
in 1864 to Miss Mary Bennett, of this township. They have one child, John 
A., sixteen years old. Mr. L. is a Master Mason, and h.e and wife are mem- 
bers of the Chi-istian church. 

McCORD, WM., has 227 acres of fine land, in section 11, with good 
house, barn, oi'chard and surroundings. He was born January 6, 1825, in 
Knox county, Indiana. When fourteen years old his father died, leaving iiim 
to support the family, eight sisters and one brother. In 1840 his mother 
moved to Illinois, and in the fall of 1853 he came to Davis county. Was- 
married September 1, 1848, to Miss Eliza Ann Nixon, a native of Warren 
county, Indiana. They have no children, but have adopted Rosie Alice 
Abernethy. Mr. and Mrs. M. are members are of the Christian Church. 
He is a man honored and respected for his integi'ity, bv all who know him. 

McFADDEN, JOHN, M. D., postoffice Stiles; was 'born April 1, 1852, 
in Clinton county, Ohio. At the age of foui- years he came with his parents 
to Iowa and they located in tliis township. He was i-eared on the farm and 
received a common school education, then entered the University at Mt. 
Pleasant, which he att(UKled about two years; then taught school, at the 
same time reading medicine. He entered the Medical College at Keokuk 
in the winter of 1873— i, and graduated in the class of 1874-5, before he was 
twenty-two years of age. He then came to this place and began practicing, 
which he has continued ever since, and has enjoyed a very lucrative practice. 
He was married in April 1877, to Miss S. K. Breneman. They have two- 
children: William W. and an infant not yet named. The doctor is a mem- 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COPNTT. . 673 

ber of the Masonic order, and K. P. He and liis wife are members of tlie 
M. E. Church. 

MILLSAP, J. L., farmer and stock-raiser, postoffice Stiles; was born 
March 22, 1841, in McDonough county, Illinois, where he lived till he was 
fifteen years old, with his parents on the fai'm, and was educated in the pub- 
lic schools. He then came to Iowa with his parents and settled in this 
count}', growing to manhood on the farm. August 2, 1862, he enlisted in 
company' B, Tiiirtieth Iowa Infantry, and mustered in at Keokuk. He 
was first ensraeed at the Yazoo River in December of the same year. Was 
at Vicksburgh, Grand Gulf, and Jackson; was there transferred to the I'lrst 
Iowa Battery, and engaged in the fight at Jackson, thence to Vicksburg, 
and in many others; at Mission Ridge, and Lookout Mountain. The next 
spring was returned to his i-egiment, and was with Sherman, until he was 
taken sick; on furlough: went to Louisville; did guard duty; rejoined the 
regiment at Atlanta in time to join in pursuit of " Hood;" went with Sher- 
man to the sea, and then through the Carolina's; was present at surrender 
of "Joe Johnston," also at the " Grand Review " at Washington, and M-as 
discharged at Davenport. Then returuned to this county and farmed till 
1873; tiien went to Nebraska, took up his soldier's homestead, remained long 
enough to secure it; then, in 1876 returned to this county, and has been 
farming ever since. He owns eighty acres of finelj' imjiroved land, and a 
nice home. He was married March 21, 1807, to Miss M. A. C'oUins, a na- 
tive of Ross county. Ohio. They have three children, Mary F., Thomas F. 
and Claudia M. Mr. M. and wife are members of the M. E. Church. 

NEMITZ, HENRY E., blacksmith. Stiles; was born October 14,1848, in 
Prussia, Germany. At the age of seventeen he came to America. When 
sixteen he began to learn blacksmithing in tlie old country, and when he 
came over, he came directly to this county and engaged as a farm hand with 
J. J. Stulzman, and ren^ained several years; then worked in Pulaski about 
two yeai's; then, about the year 1876 came to Stiles and engaged at his 
trade, on his own account; has just built a new shop. He has a fine busi- 
ness, and the only shop in the place. He was married March 1, 1876, to 
Miss Elizabeth Lautz. They have one child, Bessie. Mr. N. is finely edu- 
cated and is a very intelligent, practical, business man. 

PHILLIPS, C, lives on a nice farm of 160 acres, in section 10, and will 
soon have one of the most substantial homes in the county. He was born 
in Pickaway county, Ohio, June 27, 1830, and when six years old his father 
moved to Park county, Indiana; at the age often his father died, leaving iiini 
and his mother to support the family. He received a limited edr.cation in 
the Cdinmon schools, farming for a living, until 18.58, when he came to 
Iowa, and tui'ued his attention to stuck raising, at which he lias been very 
•successful. He was married Se[iteinber 22, 1848, to Miss Gabi'iella Lister, 
of Indiana. They liave had eleven children, Mary Ann, Martha Ann, Miner- 
va Jane, Margaret Jane, Amy, Melinda, Arietta, W. S. and W. S., twins, 
Ellsworth aTid Nancy Ann. Mr. and Mrs. P. are members of the United 
Brethren Church. 

STOlvESBERRY, JAMES, farmer and stock-raiser, postofiice Stiles; 
was horn January 11, 1850, in Clinton county, Ohio, where he resided but 
a short time, then came with his parents to Iowa, settling in this township, 
and here he has grown to manhood and i-eceived a c(nTimon school educa- 
tion. At eighteen he began farming for himself, and has continued it ever 
since. He was married in x\pril, ISfi'S, to Miss Mary E. Lyons, who died 



674 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTiT. 

about four years later. He married again November 19, 187i, Louise E. 
Ganet. He liacl two children by his first wife, both deceased, and four by 
his second wife, James W., John L.,'Rosie A., and an infant. Mr. S. is a 
prominent member of the Masonic order, and has held most all the ofHces in 
the lodge. 

STUTZMAX, J. J., owns 160 acres of fine farming land, and 23 acres of 
■timber, in this township, and is one of the best fine stock men in the county. 
He brought here the thoroughbred "Searcher," by dam Clay Trustee; fine 
blooded hogs, Devon and Jersey cattle, and the first Cotswold, Southdown, 
Liecester and Oxford Down sheep. He was born in Junietta county. Pa., 
January 14, 1824, and when eleven years old, his father moved to Fairfield 
county, Ohio, where he grew to maniiood and received his education. He 
taught seventeen terms of school, in Ohio, and four in Iowa. He bought 
the old^horaestead in Ohio, in 1858, and in 1862 came to Iowa and settled 
on his present farm. He was married March 3, 1859, to Miss M. S. Swartz- 
endruver, a native of Maryland. They have two children, Mary A., and 
Laura O. Mr. and Mrs S. ai-e members of tlie Mennonite Church. His 
postotfice is Puhiski. Mr. S. is the owner of the celebrated stallion. Grey 
Eagle, Jr., twenty-four years old ; he was owned by Col. Boggs, the last two 
years of the rebellion. Even now, the old veteran seems as supple as a 
colt. 

SVVARTZENDRUVER, D. B.. one of tlie self-made men of this county, 
was born October 20, 1835, in Alleghany county, Maryland, and lived on 
the farm until he was nineteen, when he learned the carpenter trade, and 
worked at it eight years. In 1859, he came to this county, and now owns 
a fine farm of 115 acres, in section 36, and devotes himself to raising and 
breeding fine cattle and Berkshire hogs. He was married December 23, 
1858, to Miss Eliza Spitler, a native of Fairfield county, Ohio. They have 
two children, Lewis W. and Mary M. Mr. and Mrs. S. are members of 
the Reformed Mennonite Church, and, if any one wishes to enjoy hospitali- 
ty in its truest form, call on them. 

SWARTZENDRUVER, C. B., one of the leading farmers of Grove 
townsliip: owns a fine farm of 640 acres of land, with a good house, a large 
barn, and raises blooded stock; he has some thorough-bred short horns, and 
a good many full bloods, besides some fine Norman mares. He was born 
in Wayne county, Ohio, April 9, 1841, and grew up there, receiving a good 
■education, and at seventeen began to teach school, and taught four years. 
He came to Iowa in 1862, and was married October 4, 1864, to Miss Anna 
Augspurger, an estimable lady, a native of Butler county, Ohio. They have 
two children, Melinda and John. Mr. and Mrs. S. are members of the 
Mennonite Church. 

TOMPKINS, BENJ. H., farmer and stock-raiser, section 13, postottice 
■Stiles; was born May 12, 1832, in Laurel county Ky., where he grew to 
manhood and acquired his education. At the age of 22 years he came to 
Missouri, and worked from place to place about four years; then 
came to this county and engaged in farming until the war broke out, when, 
in 1861, he enlisted in Company A, Third Iowa Cavalry. His first battle 
was at Pea Ridge. Was in Memphis during Forest's raid, and in the chase 
after him. He was mustered out at Atlanta, Ga., August 9, 1865, after 
"roughing it" with the Third Cavalry through the war. He then returned 
to this county, and has engaged in farming ever since. He owns 100 acres 
of fineh' improved land here, besides 50 acres in Missouri. He was married 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 



675 



in 1875, to Nancy E. Ilorr. They have four eliildreiK Elizabeth, Charles, 
Jane and Phojbe. Mr. T. and wife are members of tlie United Brethren 
Church, and are liiojhlv I'espected in tlie neighborliood. 

WRIGHT, ELDER HENRY, postoffice Stiles; was born October 12, 
1820, in Washington county, Indiana, and there grew to manliood, and re- 
■ceived a limited education in the pioneer scliools. In tlie spring of 18-19, 
he, with his parents, came to Iowa, and settled in this county. He early 
became a Cliristian, and joined the Disciple Churcii, of which he has been a 
minister for twenty years. He was married September 10, 1840, to Miss 
Sarah Leatherman, a native of Floyd county, Indiana, who still lives, hav- 
ing shared with him all his joys and sorrows, and has brought to him four- 
teen children, seven of wliom are living. 

WRIUIIT, ALBERT G., son of the above, is now a machinist at Stiles, 
and postmaster. He was born in Putnam county, Indiana, and was si.x: 
ysars old when his parents came to Iowa. He was reared on a tarm and ed- 
ucated in the old log school house. When the war broke out he enlisted in 
<;om])any B, Thirtieth Iowa Infantry, and went to Keokuk, St. Louis, then 
to Helena, Vicksburg, Jackson, Arkansas Post, and in the fall of lo63, 
when Sherman went to relieve Thomas at Chattanooga, he traveled with his 
regiment to Corinth; was taken sick and sent home on furlough. After 
sixt}' days he returned; was with his regiment through Geoi'gia and the 
Carolinas, being at Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, Atlanta, Columbia, 
surrender of Johnson, and the grand review at Washington. He was slight- 
ly wounded in the hand at Atlanta. When discharged, he returned home, 
wliei-e he remained till 1873, when he removed to Nebraska, and in the fall 
of 1875 returned to this county. Since 18(58, he has engaged in mercantile 
pursuits. lie was married April 1(1, 1868, to Miss Mary E. Collins, they 
liave had two children. Luln and Alma, both deceased. Mr. W. and wife 
are members of the Christian Church. Mr. W. is an Odd Fellow. 

WRIGHT, JONATHAN, son of Henry and Sarah Wright, was born 
August 25, 1846, in Putnam county, Indiana, being but a child when his 
parents came to this county. Here he grew to manhood, and acquired his 
education. He enlisted February 24, 1864, in comjiany B, Thirtieth Infan- 
try, and joined the regiment at Woodville, Alabama, and was engaged at 
Dallas, Georgia, soon after which he was taken with the measles, from the 
effect of which he lias never fully recovered. He went on with the regi- 
ment, however. Wiien at Jonesborough he was again taken sick, and sent 
home, and only rejoined the regiment in the Carolina campaign. He was 
married February 12, 1871, to Miss Elizabeth Wilson, they have three chil- 
dren, Sarah A., Ada A. and Fannie M, 



LICK CREEK TOWNSHIP. 

BAKER, A. L., farmer, postotlice Floris; was born October 7, 1823, in 
Jennings county, Indiana. At the age often, he, with his parents, William 
and Elenor, moved to Decatur county, where he grew to manhood, reared a 
farmer, and educated in the subscription school. In the fall of 1848, he 
came to this county, and settled on part of sections 28 and 33, in this town- 
ship, where he has since lived. He was married in the fall of 1849, to Miss 



476 HISTOKY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

M. S. Woodward, a native of Indiana, and had one cliild.J. R., now a farmer 
in Appanoose county. Mrs. B. died in 1S52. and he married again Febru- 
ary 1(1, 1854, Miss Amanda Everett; they have been blessed with eit^ht 
children, live now living, Manda E., A. W., Mary S., A. V^, Sarah E. Mr. 
B. and wife are members of the Baptist Ciiurclu he being a deacon. 

BEGGS, SAMUEL, farmer and stock raiser, postotiice, Belknap; was 
born in Dearborn county, Indiana, in IS:^?), where he lived until he was six- 
teen years old, when his parents died. He then began the life of a farmer. 
In 1856 he came to tiiis county, where he has since resided. He owns a 
good farm of 114 acres, mostly under cultivation, with a line house, and 
orchard. He was married in 1854, to Miss Etta Hall, a native of Indiana; 
they have been blessed with seven children, six now living, Mary, Sarah, 
Joseph, Lafaj'ette, Annie, Willie. Mr. and Mrs. B. are members of the P. 
M. Church. They are highly esteemed by their neighbors, and have a very 
intelligent family. 

DUNLAYEY, J. D., farmer, section 33, postoiiice Floris; was born Sep- 
tember 6, 1818, in Montgomery county, Kentucky. At the age of ten, he 
moved with his mother, a widow, to Henry county, and a year later to 
Wayne count}', where he spent his youth, on the farm and attending the 
subscription school, after which he taught school a portion of the time. In 
1848 he came to this county, where he has since resided. He has a good 
farm of sixty acres under cultivation. He was married January 25, 1838, 
to Miss E. Woolsey, a native of Indiana, tliey have been blessed with nine 
children, eight now living, Lovina J., Thomas J., Joseph, John C I)aniel 
F., James I)., W. C. I), and Harriett. Mr. D. has held many offices o? 
trust, and has won the confidence and respect of all who know him. He is 
an Odd Fellow, and a very intelligent man. Mrs. Dunlavey died in July 
18(19. 

DUNLAVEY, J. AY., farmer and stock-raiser, postoffice Belknap; 
was born November 7. 1845, in Decatur county, Indiana, and is a son of 
Hon. Harvey Dunlavey, one of the most prominent among the old settlers 
of this county. VVlien about a year old, he, with his parents came to this 
county. He spent his youth at school in Bloomlield. At the age of eigh- 
teen he began learning the carding business, which he followed two years, 
and lias since engaged in farming. He has a fine farm of 120 acres, under 
good cultivation. "He was married March 7, ISCAK to Miss Sarah E. Dunn, 
a native of this county, who was born in tlie house in which they now live. 
They have six children, Ora, Ada II, Cora Y., W. A., Lulu M.,'and Marg- 
aret J. 

DUNN, G. W., farmer and stock-raiser, postoffice Belknap; was born in 
Decatur county, Indiana, in 1840. At the age of eight years, he, with his 
parents, emigrated to this county, where he grew to manhood, assisting on 
the farm and going to school. In 1880, his father died, and lie purchased 
the old homestead, containing 185 acres. Pie was married in I860, to Miss 
C. McGee, a native of Indiana; they have four children, G. E., S. C, J. A. 
and C. B. Mr. D. and wife are members of the Baptist Clinrch, and he is 
an Odd Fellow. His father was the first postmaster in the neighborhood, 
and a justice of the peace for about twenty-five years. 

GARRETSON, WILLIAM, farmer 'and stock-raiser, postoffice Belk- 
nap; was born December 1, 1819, in Clark county, Ohio, where he lived 
about eight years, then moved to Montgomery county, where he lived till 
he was nineteen. His youth was spent on the farm, attending school till he 



HISTOET OF DAVIS COUNTY. / 677 

was tifteeii, when he spent three years learning tlie carpenter trade. In 1839 
he came to Lee county, Iowa, and there entered into partnership with James 
Newcomb, as contractors and builders, which lasted two years; he then went 
into the business for himself till ISiS, when, iu March, he came to this 
county, and staked out the claim where he has since resided, engaged in im- 
proving his farm and working at his trade, and since 1861, exclusively farm- 
ing and stock-raising. His farm contains 160 acres, under a high state of 
cultivation, with a good two-story house, which he built himself. He was 
married March 11, 1841, to Miss C. Newcomb, born in Marion county, 
Ohio, September 27, 1820, and they have been blessed with ten children: 
Alexander, Nancy^-J., Mary E., Francis E., Amanda C, Thomas J., Clarisa 
A., John, Catherine. 
~-^— *HINIxsG, J. H., Jk., farmer and stock-raiser, postoffice Floris; was born 
March ll>, 181:7, in this county. Here he has been reared, and received a 
limited education in the common schools, living at home till he was'twenty- 
three. He was married in September, 1873, to Mrs. Amy Thompson, of 
Hardin county, Ohio, and soon after purchased 120 acres of land in Perry 
township, where he lived five years; then bought one hundred acres in 
this township where he has since resided, having since added 60 acres to it all 
under a liigh state of cultivation. They have been blessed with four chil- 
dren, Charles W., Dora A, and two deceased. Mrs. H., by a former mar- 
riage, has one child, Robert E. Anderson. 

HULL, A. D., farmer and stock-raiser, postoffice Floris; was born Janu- 
ary 30, 1850, in St. Lawrence county, N. Y., where he grew to manhood. 
He graduated at the Lowell high school, of that county, and in the fall of 
1873, came to this county, where he has since resided. He owns a nice farm 
of 4i acres. He was married June 12, 1872, to Miss L. J. Pearson, a native 
of New York. They have five children, Clarence A., Leroy J., Lena D., 
Spencer, and one deceased. Mr. H. and wife are members of the Baptist 
Church, and he is a member of Floris Lodge, I. O. O. F. 

KNEDLEE., MADISON, tarmer and stock-raiser, postoffice Floris; was 
born April 24, 1814, in Fayette county, Ohio, where he grew to manhood, 
and was educated in the subscription schools. He was reared a farmer, and 
in the tall of 1855, came to this county, settling on the farm he now occu- 
pies, which had then only 12 acres cleared. By patience and hard work he 
now has 95 acres cleared and in a high state of cultivation. The farm con- 
tains 178 acres. He was married in 1840, to Miss Nancy Howe, and hav- 
ing no children of their own, they adopted two whom they reared as their 
own, a girl and a boy; the girl now the wife of J. Heady, of this county, 
and the boy, J. M. Conner, who grew up and married, and died in August, 
1870, being followed three years later by his wife, leaving their three chil- 
dren, Thomas N., Churchill R., and Leah E., to the care of Mr. K. and 
wife. They have been members of the M. E. Church for over 45 years, and 
he is a member of the Odd Fellows lodge at Floris, No. 272. He is a fine 
old gentleman and highly respected. 

PATTERSON, C. G., farmer and stock-raiser, postoffice Belknap; was 
born October 17, 1823, in Augusta county Virginia, and there grew to man- 
hood, reared a farmer, and educated in the subscription schools. Being op- 
posed to slavery, in 1855 he and his father, John, emigrated to Iowa, and 
settled in Henry county a year, then came to this county, where he and his 
father settled on the old homestead, where he now resides. His father died 
August 9, 1881, at the age of 83 years. His farm consists of 200 acres. His 



678 HISTOEY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

two sisters, S. E. and C. A., keep house for him. They are ladies of intelli- 
gence and refinement. Mr. Patterson has been a republican since the or- 
ganization of the party. 

PETEFISH, ALBERT, farmer and stock-raiser, postoffice Bloomfield; 
was born in Cass county, Illinois. At the age of thirteen he came with his 
parents to Davis county, where he has since resided. He was reared a far- 
mer, and received a common school education. In the spring of 186-1-, he 
enlisted in Company D, ■i.5th Iowa Infantry, and served till the close of the- 
war. In the fall of 1875, lie moved on his present farm, consisting of 110 
acres. Re was married August 3, 1865, to Miss Mary J. Foshee, a native 
of Missouri, whose fs^ther is an old settler of this county. They are the 
parents of three children, Frank, and Hugh and Emma, twins. Mr. P. 
and wife are members of the M. E. Church. They are very estimable peo- 
ple, and have the confidence of the entire community. 

POTTER. D. W., farmer and stock-raiser, postoffice Belknap; was born 
December 14, 181:1, in Lewis county, IST. Y., where he grew to manhood and 
was educated in the common schools and reared a farmer. In 1870 became 
to Pike county. 111. In the winter of 1880 he came to this county and pur- 
chased the farm where he has since lived. He was married in June, 1865, 
to Miss Julia C. Hull, a native of New York; they have had two children, 
Nora L. and Mark R. Mr. P. owns a fine farm of 120 acres under a high 
state of cultivation, with a large stone house, and a fine young orchard. He 
and his wife are members of the Baptist church and he is a member of the 
Odd Fellows lodge at Floris. Mr. P. is a man highly esteemed by those 
who know him. 

RAYBURN, A. D., former and stock-raiser, postoffice Bloomfield; was 
born in this county June 20, 1854. He was reared a farmer and received a 
common school education, living at home till he grew to manhood; he now 
owns a nice farm of 163 acres, located five miles north of Bloomfield; mostly 
under cultivation, fenced with osage hedge and rails. In 1875 he began 
feeding stock which he has since made a specialty. He was married Septem- 
ber 18, 1875, to Miss Sarah F. Beggs, a native of this county; they have 
two children, Stella A. and Willie. He and his wife are members of the 
Baptist church. 

STARK, W. B., farmer and stock-raiser, postoftice Floris; was born 
June 6, 1833, in Decatur county, Ind. At the age of ten his father died, 
and he remained there, living with his mother till 1847, when they came to 
this county. He was reared a farmer and was educated in the subscription 
schools. On reaching this county lie worked for seven dollars a month, 
driving six yoke of oxen for four months. He soon after entered a farm of 
160 acres, where by hard work he has made one of the best farms in tiie 
county. He served during the war in compaTiy D, Forty-fifth Iowa Infan- 
try. He was married in December 1852, to M[ss M. McCorinick, a native 
of Indiana; they have been blessed with five children,?. A., Jas. S., Henry 
L., Ruby E., and Mary deceased. Mr. S. has won the respect and confidence 
of all who know him. He and his wife have been members of the Baptist 
church for twenty-three years and he is an Odd Fellow. 

SWINNEY, H., farmer and stock-raiser, postoffice Belkna]i; was 
born in November, 1842, in Decatur county, Indiana. He was reared a 
farmer and educated in the common schools, emigrated to this county with 
his mother in 1848, and settled on a farm previously entered by his father. 
In July 1862, he enlisted in Company B, Thirtieth Iowa Infantry; was in 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 679 

the battles of Chickasiiw, Arkansas Post, Raj'niond, Jackson, Champion's 
Hill, Vicksbiirg, Lookout Mountain, and most all the battles with Sher- 
man's command. He was discharged at Washington, in June 1S6.5. He 
was wounded November 25, 1863, at Mission llidge, in the leg, which laid 
liim in hospital over a jear. He was married in June, 1866, to Miss Mary 
Eckard, a native of Virginia; they have four children: Orvilla T., Francis 
M., Emma and Roy. Mr. Swinney owns a fine farm of 140 acres. 

SWINNEY, D., farmer and stock-raiser; postofiice, Floris; was born Oc^ 
tober9, 1820, in Monroe county. West Virgitiia. When he was eight years 
old his parents moved to Decatur county, Indiana, where he grew to man- 
hood, on a farm and was educated in the subscription school and at an early 
age commenced teaching. He was married April 27, 18-J:3, to Miss Lavina 
8tark. a native of Henry county, Kentucky, they have had six children: Wil- 
liam G., Irvin, James A., Boon, Josiah, and Harvey. In the fall of 1843, 
he came to this count}', settling in Lick Creek township, where he lived 21 
years, then sold out and moved to Illinois, for three years, then returning 
purchased his present home containing 160 acres. He has held many offices 
of trust, being elected in 1844, a justice of the peace for four townships. 
In 1846, was appointed postmaster of the first postoffice in LickCreek town- 
ship, and held the office most of the time till 1865. Was again elected 
justice in 1873, which office he now holds. In 1881, he was elected county 
supervisor on the greenback ticket. His son, William G., served in the 
army when only sixteen years old. Mr. and Mrs. Swinne}' are members of 
the I>a[)tist Church, of which he has been deacon for man}' years. 

SWINNEY, ISAAC, farmer and stock-dealer, section 28, postoffice 
Floris; was born May 21, 1824, in Summers county. West Virginia. AVhen 
he was five years old, his parents moved to Decatur county, Indiana, and 
in the spi-ing of 1844, he came to Davis county Iowa. He was rai-sed a 
farmer, and received a common school education. In the fall of 1844 he re- 
turned to Indiana, and in 1845 he came back and staid awhile, and again 
returned to Indiana, and May 27, 1847, was married to Miss Oleva Johnson, 
of Decatur county, Indiana, and soon after brought his wife to this county, 
to shtire the hardships and joys of pioneer lite. With strong arms but limi- 
ted means, he went to work to improve his claim, and was very successful, 
for seven or eight 3'ears, then commenced shipping stock, which he has been 
engaged in since, in connection with his farm. Mr. S. is the oldest stock 
shipper in the county, being a careful buyer, and doing a safe business. He 
lias a line farm of 400 acres, 300 in cultivation, the balance in woodland 
pasture. There is a living spring on the farm, which has supplied his stock 
with water for over thirty years. He has just completed anew house, large 
and commodius, which adds greatly to the beauty of his tarm. Mr. and 
]\lrs. S. have had three children, Mary E., wife of O. F. Briggs, of Chicago; 
James R. and one-deceased. James R. is a partner with his father in the 
stock business, and was married September 20, 1881, to Miss Mattie La 
FcM'd, a native of this county. The subject of this sketch and his wife are 
members of the Baptist Church, and are highly esteemed by everyone. Mr.. 
S. is a republican in politics. 



680 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTT. 



MARION TOWNSHIP. 

ADAMS, SAMUEL T., pioneer-fanner and stock-raiser, section 27; was 
born in Prince George county, Md., wiiere he lived until he arrrived at the 
age of manhood, receiving a limited education in the common schools and 
growing up on the farm. In 1837, he came to Bartholomew county, Ind., 
and in the spring of 1845, came to this county. In the spring of 1864, he 
moved to Madison county, and two years latter came back, and in 1870, 
went back to Madison county but soon after returned to this county, where 
he has since resided. His farm contains 450 acres, of which 335 are under 
cultivation, the balance is woodland and pasture, which he devotes to stock. 
He was married December 26, 1836, to Miss Sarah Aim Eivin,a native of 
Maryland. They have had six children : Geo. H., Lewis F., SamL T., Mary E., 
John Q. and Wm. N. (deceased). Geo. F. and Saml. T. are farmers living in 
the neighborhood. Mary E. is the wife of Jos. Williamson, living in Dal- 
las county, and Lewis F. is living with his parents to comfort them in their 
old age. 

AHEE, HENRY T., dealer in general merchandise, postofEce Ash Grove; 
was born in Franklin county, Ind., December 3, 1859, and came to Davis 
county with his parents, in 1861, and has lived liere ever since. He was 
reared on a farm and educated in the common schools. During the last 
few years he has been disabled from working on the farm, and he purchased 
a stock of goods of G. W. Newton, and is doing a splendid business; being 
an honest, energetic young man, his prospects for the future are brilliant. 
What he ought to get now, is some good little woman to share his prosper- 

ANDERSON, J AS. W., farmer and stock-raiser, section 18; was born 
in Clark county, Ky., January 23, 1815, being reared a farmer and receiving 
a limited education in the subscription schools. In 1851, he emigrated to 
this county coming overland with six yoke of oxen and four horses, reach- 
ing his destination in thirty days, and purchased the farm where he now 
lives, containing 360 acres of well improved land. He was married at the 
age of twenty-three, to Miss Ann Tate, a native of Kentucky. They have 
had thirteen children: Jas. W., Sarah Ann, Pleasant. Martha, Harriett, 
Ruthy, Thomas, Ann Eliza, Hithe F., Drewzila, Wilford, Araminta and 
Amanda J. (deceased). 

BAILEY, ORANGE, farmer and stock-raiser, section 18, post-office 
Albany; one of the first settlers of Marion township, was born March 11, 
1811, in Bradford county Pennsylvania. He was raised a farmer; when 10 
years of age, came with his father. Smith Bailey, to Muskingum county, 
Ohio; and eight years later moved to Fraklin county where he lived seven 
years. He received his education in the subscription schools. He came to 
this county in 1845, built a log cabin and endured the many hardships a 
pioneer is subject to. When he arrived with a wife and four children, $1,50 
was his entire capital, and in less than a year his wife died, leaving him 
the care of four small children, and a new farm to attend too. His farm 
now contains 110 acres, all under cultivation. He is a member of the 
United Bretheren Church, and in poltics is a republican. He was first 
married to Miss Lydia Wagner of Franklin county, Ohio; and they had 
seven children: "William S., David S., Rose Mantie, Ann, and three 
deceased, Warren, Charley S., and Mary O. Was married again in January 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 681 

1849, to Miss Nancy Good, daughter of Isaac Good of Muskingum county, 
Ohio, and they have had thirteen children; Thomas J., Elizabeth, Kachel, 
James H., Frances M., Hiram, Emma J., Austin, and five deceased, Frank- 
lin, Ira, Peter J., and two in infancy. 

I3AItE, W. K., farmer and raiser of fine stock, section 2, post-office Ash 
Grove; was born in Van Buren county, Iowa, Marcii 6, ISii. Coming 
with his parents to tliis county wiien one year old, settling on Soap Creek, 
'being one of the first settlers. Here he grew to manhood helping his 
father clear the farm, and attending school in the winter. At the age of IS 
lie moved to Bloomfield, went to school two years, then returned to the 
farm. In the spring of 1864, he, in company with several others, went to 
California and returned in 1869. He was married January 23, 1873, to Miss 
Alice Wonn, daughter of Hon. 11. A. Wonn of this county, and moved on 
his present farm on Coon Creek, where he owns 127 acres of well improved 
land. Mr Bare has three children: Thomas H., Bernice W., and Ewell L. 

BARTLFTT, GEORGE C, farmer and stock-raiser, section 1, post- 
ofBce Ash Grove; was born in Bloomington, Illinois, September 1, 1847. 
When two years old his parents came to this county. He was educated in 
common schools, and lived at home till he arrived at manhood. lie now 
owns a farm of 120 acres, well improved. He was married December 25, 
1870, to Miss Mary L. Cade, a native of Appanoose county, Iowa. They 
have four children: Lovey L., Laura A., Elmer A., and Olive M., all living 
at home. Mr. Bartlett and wife are members of the M. E. Church. 

BOYER, M. M., county treasurer elect, farmer, section 33, was born in 
Coles county. Ills., March 25, 1839. In 1854, he came to Davis county, Iowa. 
He was reared a farmer and educated in the common schools, teaching part 
of the time. He lived on a farm till the breaking out of the rebellion, 
when he enlisted in the Secc/hd Missouri Cavalry, and served a short time 
when he was discharged on account of his small stature, but enlisted again 
in company G., 39th Iowa Infantry, as a musician, and served till the close 
of the war. He was in the battles of Parker's Cross Roads, Town Creek, Ala., 
and Snake Creek Gap ; was present at the burning of Columbia, and at the sur- 
render of Joe Johnston, and was discharged at Washington, June 13, 1865, 
when he returned home and spent most of his time farming and teaching 
until 1879. since which he has been preaching in the Christian Church. 
In )S81, he was elected county treasurer, on the greenback ticket, by a 
majority of seventeen votes. He was married August 24, 1854, to Miss 
Mary B. Moore, a native of Pulaski county, Ky. They have had ten child- 
ren, seven of whom are now living, viz: Amanda E., Madison S., Mary Dela, 
Annie M., Henton D., Lizzie B. and Minnie II. Three died: John W., 
Herman G. and Samuel T. 

BRYANT, BENJAMIN, farmer and stock-raiser, section 1, post-master 
at Ash Grove; was born in Clay county, Ohio, May 27, 1829. At the age 
of nine, he moved with liis parents to Boone county, Missouri, and four 
years later to Ripley county, where he grew to manhood. He was raised 
on a farm and obtained a common school education. In October, 1846, he 
came to this county. In 1863, he enlisted in company B., Tliirtieth Iowa 
Infantry, and served till the spring of 1864, wlien he was honorably dis- 
charged on account of disability. Returning to this county where he has 
since lived, he was married August 3, 1846, to Miss Rachel Chilton of 
Ripley county, Missouri. They have had twelve children, nine now/living, 



682 HISTOKY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

some of whom are prominent men in Iowa. A. J., Sawyer, James C, * 
professor, Lucy J., wife of M. Ralston, of Wapello county. The rest ar& 
at home. 

COHAGAN,JO]S^ATHAN, farmer and stock-raiser, section 13, post-office 
Ash Grove; is a native of Louden county. West Virginia, born Decem- 
ber 21, 1819. At an early age his parents moved to Morgan count}', 
Ohio, where he lived till he was about twenty-eight years old. He was 
raised a farmer, and educated in common schools. In the fall of 1852, his 
parents came to this county and he has lived here ever since. His farm is 
located on Bear Creek and contains ninety acres, eight}' under cultivation 
and the balance woodland and pasture. He has good buildings and a nice 
orchard. He was married November 30, 1S43, to Miss Lydia Mitzel, a 
native of Pennsylvania. They have had iive children; George, Nancy, 
Aquilla, Peter, and Elizabeth deceased. George is a farmer in Nebrsaka, 
Hamlitou county, and Aquilla in Polk county, Nebraska; Nancy and Peter 
are at home. 

GEEENLEAF, DR. STEPHEN, postofHce Ash Grove; is a native of 
this county, a son of Dr. D. C. Greenleaf, of Bloomfield, was born Marchi 
24, 1853, and attended school in Bloomfield, then entered the Iowa Wesleyan. 
University at Mount Pleasant. He studied medicine with his father, attend- 
ing two courses of lectures in Chicago, graduating at the medical college at 
Louisville, Kentucky, taking the prize in a class of 82 students, and in ex- 
amination, June 29, 1876, he came away with the honorary diploma. Re- 
turning te Bloomfield he entered the practice July 5, 1877, and was very 
successful, and in October, 1879, he moved to Unionville, Appanoose coun- 
ty, entering into partnership with his father-in-law, Dr. S. H.Sawyer, until 
July 1, 1881, when he came to this township, being the first regular phys- 
ician in the township. He was married September 28, 1877, to Miss M. L. 
Sawyer, a native of Unionville, Iowa. They have three children :Thayne 
L., Larue Lillian, and Harrold. Mr. Greenleaf is a member of the Blue 
lodge. No. 119, at Unionville, and chapter 143, at Centerville, and St. Johns 
Commandery, No. 21, at Centerville. In jjolitics he is republican, being 
the township committeeman. The doctor is building up a very successful 
practice. 

HANNAH, DAVID L., farmer, section 15, postoffice Oak Springs; was 
born in Franklin county, Indiana, February 24, 1822. Here he lived until 
1856, a cooper by trade, working with his father until he was seventeen, his 
mother dying when he was twelve. In the fall of 1856 he came to this 
county, settling on his present home, having entered the land. He went to 
California in 1850, and stayed two years. In 1861 he enlisted in company 
D, Third Iowa Cavalry, and was teamster of the company until he got dis- 
abled, when he was discharged and returned home, where he has lived ever 
since, except two years in Hamburg, Iowa. His farm contains 146 acres, 
located on Lick Creek. His orchard yields some of the best fruit in the 
county. He has served as Justice nearly all the time he has been here. 
When he was twenty-one, he married Miss Dosia Ann Lansey, a native of 
New Jersey, and they have had four children: Alonzo, Sarah, and two de- 

HENDRICKSON, HENRY, farmer, section 2, postoffice Ash Grove; 
was born in Adair county, Ky., in February, 1815; was reared on a farm 
and received a common school education. At an early age he moved with 
his parents to Shelby county, Ind., where he grew to manhood, his mother 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTT. 683 

dying when he was but seven years old. In ISoi, lie came to this county, 
and settled on tlie farm lie now owns. It is located north of Bear Creek, 
and contains 127 acres, well improved, ninety acres being under cultivation, 
with nice iniildings and good young orchard. Mr. H. was married June 25, 
1836, to Miss K. Dawson, a native of Kentucky. They had three children, 
Jessie IL, Wra. J. and Elijah D. (deceased). Mrs. II. died August 23, 
1867. Mr. H. married again in February, 1869, to Miss Susan M. Maguire, 
a native of Johnson county, lud. They have had two children, John and 
Clifton, both deceased. Mr. and Mrs. H. are both members of the Baptist 
Clnirch. 

HUDGENS, H. II., farmer and stock-raiser, section 20, postoffice Union- 
ville; was born October 16, 1811, in Cumberland county, Virginia, and emi- 
grated to Williamson county, Illinois, in 1853, where he lived till 1847, 
when he came to Davis county, arriving in Bloomlield in June, where lie 
lived until 1848, when he moved to his present farm. Mr. Hudgens was a 
member of the first board of supervisors in Davis county, elected by the 
democratic party. He has been a prosperous farmer and an honored citizen, 
a member of the Protestant Methodist Church for a good many years. His 
farm is located on North Soap Creek, and contains 120 acres of land, well 
improved, watered and fenced. He was married jSToveniberl 7, 1836, 
to Miss Susan Harrison, a native of Tennessee. They have eight children, 
William C, Thomas J., Lucian B., Mary J. (wife of Hiram Clark, of Appa- 
noose county), James M., George W. and John M. (living at home), and Re- 
becca, (wife of II. II. Wheeler, of Fremont county). 

HUDGENS, WILLIAM C, farmer, and stock- raiser, section 18, postoffice 
Unionville; was born in Williamson county, Illinois, January 15, 1838, 
where lie lived until he was ten years old, when his parents moved to Davis 
county, Iowa. He was raised on a farm and educated in the common schools. 
His farm is located on Soap Creek, and contains 240 acres, of which ISO is 
under cultivation. He was married October 31, 1861, to Miss Angeline 
Wolan, a native of Kentucky, and they have nine children, all living at 
home: Frank, John H., Thomas, Sussn M., Samuel, Eliza, Eldora, Bertha 
L., and Edith. 

HUNTER, JONATHAN, farmer and stock-raiser, postofiice Ash Grove; 
was born in Wood county, Virginia, December 26, 1844. Raised on a farm 
and educated in common schools, at an early age he moved with his parents 
to Morgan county, Ohio, where he lived about ten years, then moved to Van 
Buren county, Iowa, where his father died, in August, 1852; he then went 
to Wapello county, and lived with his uncle until he was married, Septem- 
ber, 1863, to Miss Sarah E. Schofield, a native of Indiana. They have had 
eight children : Rosa E., William F., John IL. Lilly D., Larrice L., and three 
deceased, James, Charley and Sylvaiuis. Mr. Hunter's farm is located on the 
blufi's north of Bear Creek, containing 160 acres, half in cultivation, balance 
pasture, with good buildings and tine young orchard. Mr. Hunter and wife 
are members of the Christian Church. 

IRELAN, AVM., farmer, bridge builder, and lumber manufacturer, post- 
ofiice Oak Springs; was born May 31, 1840 in Guernsey county, O. He 
was reared a farmer and educated in the common schools, and at an early 
age came with his parents to Appanoose county, Iowa. In the spring of 
1859, his father died, leaving him to suppport his mother and sister; being 
in reduced circumstances he had a hard time, but being energetic, he suc- 
ceeded. He was married December 24, 1859, to Miss Elizabeth J. Fuller- 



684 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

ton, of Muskingum countj^ O. At tiiat time his capital consisted of one 
horse, one cow, two sheep and one pig. Not getting along very well on the 
farm and being a natural mechanic, he built a shop and did jobbing of all 
kinds, and in the winter of 1868, he bought a half interest in a saw mill 
which he ran with success for one year, wlien he sold out and bought a mill 
of his own, which he rnn for seven years, doing nothing else, still owning a 
farm of eighty acres. In 1877, he invented and patented what is known as 
the A. A. Truss Bridge, which has been used extensively in Davis and Ap- 
panoose counties. In 1S78, he patented, what is known as the Combina- 
tion Section Truss Bridge, which is also used by Davis and Appanoose 
counties, and by the Wabash Railway Co. In 1879, he made an improve- 
ment on the latter bridge, which he patented. In September of that year, 
he purchased a farm of 349 acres, of the best improved land in the town- 
ship, with good buildings, where he now lives. He is now running a 25 
horse power saw mill, in connection with his farm. He has sold a half in- 
terest in his bridge business for $3,000, to Chas. Baum of Centerville. He 
has not been out of a bridge contract since his tirst bridge was built, seven 
years ago, and he has $14,000 worth of work engaged. Mr. I. is the father 
of nine children, Thomas W., Geo. W., Sarah A., Frances M., Henry, Net- 
tie, Charley B., Jennie and an infant (deceased). Mr. I. is one of the 
wealthiest men in Davis county, honored and respected by all who know 
him. 

KERSHNER, ISAAC W., blacksmith, postofhce Ash Grove; was born 
in Dark county, Ohio, March 13, 1847, and was educated in the common 
schools. He learned his trade with his father, beginning when quite a 
small boy, and at an early age, they emigrated to Wapello county, Iowa. In 
1876, he came to this county, where he has since lived. He started in busi- 
ness for himself about nine years ago in Wapello county, and was very suc- 
cessful, and since coming to this county, he has continued doing well. He 
was married May 9, 1871, to Miss Lidia Campbell, a native of Schuyler 
county. Mo. They have three children, Julia A., Mary M. and Lorandy M. 

LOWE, DANIEL, stock-raiser, section 26, postoffice Drakeville; was born 
in Vermillion county, Ind., in May, 1838, wdiere he lived till 1841, when 
his father Obediah Lowe, moved to Scotland county. Mo., to wait for the 
treaty to be made with the Indians, which took about a year and a half, he 
then moved into this county when the Indians gave possession, and staked 
out his claim on the section where the subject of this sketch now lives. Mr. 
L. was reared a farmer and educated in the common schools, and lived with 
his parents till he reached manhood. He now owns 650 acres of improved 
land on Soap Creek, all in cultivation, with good buildings and orchard. 
Mr. L. has more stock than any one else in the township. He was married 
in December, 1863, to Miss Sarah A. Mounts, a native of Ross county, O. 
They have had three children, John D., living at home, Jas. O. and Lillie 
B., deceased.. Mr. L. is hold in high esteem by his neighbors. 

MARTIN, ABRAHAM, farmer" and stock-raiser, postofEce Oak Springs; 
was born in Logan county, Ohio, September 12, 1835, growing to manhood 
and getting his education there. In 1859 he came to Schuyler county, 
Missouri, where he lived till the war broke out, then came to this county, 
where he has since lived. He was married, December 24, 1862, to Miss L. 
Wheeler, a native of Union county, Ohio. They have had seven children, 
Sylvester R., David O., Benjamin F., Charles E., Elbert O., and two de- 
ceased, Irwin and Mary M. Mr. M's farm is located on Soap Creek, and 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 685 

contains 320 acres of well improved land, and has all the conveniences of 
farm life around him. 

MERRITT, WILLIAM, farmer, postoffice Unioiiville, was born in Han- 
cock county, Indiana, July IS, 1837, and emigrated to Sullivan county, 
Mo., in 1839, and five years later came to Davis county. He was raised a 
farmer, and at eigliteen his father gave him liis time as a legacy, when he 
embarked in the merchandise business on Fox River, in this county. His 
farm is located on Soap Creek, and contains 40 acres, well improved. He 
was married, July 17, 1872, to Miss C. Rice, a native of Randolph county, 
Indiana, and their union has been blessed with three children, Sally, John 
and Nancy. 

MILLER, FRANCIS P., farmer and stock-raiser, sections 29 and 30, 
was born in Marshall county, Tenn., March 29, 1826, and educated in the 
subscription schools. At the age of twenty-one he left home to battle with 
the world, and in 1852 came to Appanoose county, Iowa, and four years 
later came to his present home. He has built a saw and grist mill which 
he has been running in connection with his farm, wiiich contains 840 acres, 
of which 190 are under cultivation, the balance in wood land and pasture, 
on which lie raises large quantities of stock. He was married to Miss J. C. 
Irwin, of Marshall county, Tenn., and they had ten children, John E., Mary 
C, Henry O., Amanda O., Ellen G., Cora May, Emma T., and three de- 
ceased, Dovie Jane, Francis J. and an infant. 

MILLER, JOHN E., farmer and stock-raiser, section 30, was born in 
Appanoose county, Iowa, January 12, 1853. At the age of four years his 
parents moved to Davis county, whei-e he has since lived. He was raised a 
farmer and helped his father in the saw-mill until he was twenly-fonr 3'ear8 
old. He was educated in the common schools, and was married August 31, 
1876, to Miss M. J. Robb, a native of this county; they have two children, 
Roy R. and Dovie L. Mr. Miller's farm contains 60 acres of well improved 
land, located on Soap Creek. He is one of the rising men of this township. 

MOOTS, GEORGE, farmer and stock-raiser, postoffice Oak Springs; is 
a native of Logan county, Ohio, born December 13, 1808. He was raised 
a farmer and educated in the subscription schools. At an early age he 
went to learn the harness and saddler trade with Jolni Hooper of Clark 
county, Ohio, and at the end of two years embarked in business for himself 
in IvOgan county. Five years later he came to Scotland countj'. Mo , and 
five years later, to Davis county, Iowa, where he lias since lived. He staked 
out the first claim in Marion township, on what is now section 24, before 
the Indians gave possession. He has been a very successful farmer, althi)ugh 
once he had his house burned down, and once had a large security debt to 
pay. His farm is located on Soa]) Creek, and contains 120 acres, brick 
house, good barns and orchard. He has held a good many public offices, 
and was postmaster sixteen years. He was married in June, 1833, to Miss 
Mary Moots, a native of Ross county, Ohio; they have had eight children; 
Amy Z , Susan A., Eraeline, John S., Conrad D. and three deceased. 

MOOTS, JOHN S., farmer and stock-raiser, postoffice Oak Springs; is a 
native of this county, born October 9. 1850; lived at home with his father, 
George M.. until he was twenty-seven, getting his education in common 
schools. He now owns a farm of 50 acres of well improved lancl on Soap 
creek. He was married, February 10, 1878, to Miss Ruthanda Mounts, a 
native of this county, and they have one child, Evans. Mr. M. is a mem- 
ber of Jefferson lodge No. 86^ A. F. & A. M. at Drakeville. 



686 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

MOUNTS, EKBECCA, section 22, postoffice Oak Springs; is a native of 
Ross county; born May 17, 1822; was educated in subscription scbools, and 
reared on a farm, livini)- vvitii her parents, until she married John Mounts, 
who was a native of Ross county, Ohio, wliere he lived until grown, tiien he 
moved to Pekin, Illinois, and two years later returning to Ross county. 
Six years later they came to tliis county where slie has lived ever since. 
Mr. Mounts died July 5, ISTi. since which time, she has, with the help of 
an agent, managed her large farm of 400 acres. It is well improved, under 
good cultivation, with good orchard and buildings. She has been the 
mother of nine children, seven now living: Sarah A., Francis M., James A., 
Casanda, Cynthy E., Rutlianda and Esther. Mrs. M. is liiglily thought of 
by everv one within the range of her acquaintance. 

PROCTOR, MRS. HANNAH, section 15. postoffice Ash Grove, is a 
native of Yorkshire, England, born in 1825; at an early age her parents 
came to America, going to Ohio, wliere she lived until married to James 
Proctor in the spring of 1842, when they emigrated to Van Biiren county, 
Iowa, where they lived one year. Mr. Proctor was a native of Cincinnati, 
Ohio. They came to this county in 1844. They raised a family of thirteen 
children, William R., John W., Joseph, Ester Ann, Alice, Mary, James, 
Joshua, Clary, Tommie, Lovey, and Francis and Mary Bell, deceased. Mr. 
Proctor died in 1875. Mrs. Proctor lias a nice farm containig 167 acres, 
well improved. 

RE MY, LEWIS, farmer and stock-raiser, section 14, postoffice Ash 
Grove; was born in Yinton county, Ohio, June 18, 1830, and when two 
years old came to Fulton county, Illinois, and six years later to Schuyler 
county, Missouri, where lie lived till the breaking out of the war. Missouri 
being too hot for him, he went back to Ohio, and in the fall of 1865 came 
to this county, where he has since lived. He was raised a farmer and re- 
ceived his education in the old subscription schools. He was mai-ried Au- 
gust 27, 1852, to- Mi^8 Hester Ann Davis, of Vinton county, Ohio. They 
have had two children, both deceased. His mother is still living in Vinton 
count}', Ohio, at the ripe old age of ninety-three. His farm is located on 
Bear Creek, and contains eighty acres of well improved land. His family 
consists of himself, wife and grandchild. 

ROBB, WILLIAM K., fanner and stock raiser, section 30, postoffice 
Union ville, was born December 11, 1S27, in Clark county, Indiana; was 
brought up a farmer, and lived in Clark and Bartholomew counties until 
1845, when he came to this county. In 1849 he took the gold fever and 
went to California, and after being unsuccessful there one year and a half, 
returned to this county, where he has lived ever since. He is a successful 
farmer, owning 252 acres, of which 80 acres are in Appanoose county, all 
well improved, with one of the finest houses in that part of the county, a 
good orchard, his land fenced partly with osage orange. He was married, 
April 15, 1852, to Miss Hannah J. Lowe, daughter of Daniel Lowe, a native 
of Kentucky. They have had thirteen children: Francis M., Benjamin F., 
Andrew J., Clemmie, Leander, Mary E. William K., Sylvester G., Clarence, 
and four deceased, Harrv, Sarah Ann, John W. and Abraham. 

ROBERTS, JOSEPH, Sii., farmer and stock-raiser, section 12, postoffice 
Ash Grove; is a native of Burke county, Virginia, born August 26, 
1802. Reared a farmer, receivi-ng a limited education in subscription schools. 
His fatlier entered the army during the war of 1812, and was never heard 
of afterwards; leaving the support of the family on Joseph, he being the 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTi'. 687 

eldest son. While a small boy, his family came to Gi'eene county,Ohio. When 
fifteen years old he threshed wheat, getting the eighth bushel for himself, 
which he carried ten miles to mill, to get iionr for tiie family. At the age 
of twenty-four, he learned shoemaking with John Grass, and followed the 
business in the winter for tweiity-tive 3'ears. He has cleared two farms, 
split rails, and done almost every way to make an honest living. He came 
to Iowa in October, 1837, and has a farm of 200 acres. Pie was married 
January 20, 1831, to Miss Mary Berry, a native of Virginia. They have 
had ten children: Isaac, living in Ohio; James, in California; "William, in 
Missouri; Thomas, one of the most successful physicians in Iowa; Josepli, 
A stock-raiser in tliis county; the others are deceased, Eli being killed in 
the army. Mr. Roberts has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
•Church fur fifty-eight years, and his wife for fifty years. Though a very old 
man, Mr. Roberts still works all tiie time 

ROBERTS, JOSEPH, Je., stock-raiser, section 12, postotfice Ash Grove; 
is a native of this county, born April 2, 18JS; raised a farmer, attending the 
public school, he lived with his parents until he reached maturity. He owns 
a nice farm of 160 acres, well improved. He is one of the most successful 
stock-raisers in the county, raising only blooded stock. He was married 
December 1, 1870, to Miss Phoebe Arnold, a native of Ohio. By this union 
there were seven children, Harvey M., Laura D., Lillie, Emmett and Ever- 
ett (twins), and two deceased, Albert and Lulie. Mr. Roberts and wife are 
men)bers of the Methodist Episcopal Churcli. 

ROBERTS, ABNER, fariner and stock-raiser, section 10, postoflice Ash 
Grove; is a native of Greene county, Pennyslvaiiia, born August 21, 1812. 
He received a farmer's education in the subscription schools of the early 
day. Losing his father when very young, he and his raotiier went to AIus- 
kingum county, Ohio, when he was six years old. His mother being poor 
he was thrown upon the world. When he arrived at manhood, he married 
Miss Sarah Dawson, February 9, 1832. she being a native of Vii'ginia. They 
have had ten children: Jane, Mary, Jessie J.. William IL, Aquilla, Amanda, 
•George F., Sarah, Ephraim, and Maria, deceased. Mr. Roberts' farm is lo- 
cated on Bear Creek, and contains 120 acres of well improved land. 

ROBERTS, J. J., a pioneer farmer and stock-raiser, section ll,postoffice 
Ash Grove; is a native of Muskingum county, Ohio. He was reared a 
farmer and educated in the common and subscription schools. At the age 
•of fifteen he came with liis parents to Davis county, where be has since 
lived. He now lives on the farm that his father entered; it is located on 
Bear Creek, and contains 170 acres, well improved, ten acres of woodland 
pasture, and one of the finest orchards in the county. He was married Jan- 
uary 26, 1862. to Miss Salvina E. Pagett, a native of Morgan county, Ohio. 
Tiiey have had six children, Rena, Flora E., Charlie E., Ruby J., and Hiram 
E., and George, deceased. In politics Mr. Roberts is a strong republican. 
He is a worthy citizen and higlily respected by those who know him. 

RO WE, JACOB, farmer and stock-raiser, and postmaster at Oak Spring; 
is a native of Westmoreland county, Penn., born November 27,1835. At 
the age of ten, his parents moved to Washington county, and lived there 
nine years, when he came to this county. He was raised a farmer, and at- 
tended the common schools, and a short time at the West Alexandria Acad- 
emy. During the war he enlisted in Company A, Fonrtli Iowa Infantry, 
having at the time three brothers in the service. At the close of the war 
he returned home and settled on his present farm on Soap Creek, containing 



688 HISTORY (IF DAVIS COUNTY. 

82 acres, well improved, witii two good orchards. He has been postmaster 
at Oak Spring for a long time. He was married, Febriiar^' 17, 1861, to 
Miss A. V. Moots, daughter of George Moots, of this county. They have 
one child, Sherman E., living at home. 

ZIGLER, DAVID, farmer and stock-raiser, section 29, postoffice Union- 
"ville; was born in this county, February 12, 1846. He got his education 
in common schools, and was raised a farmer. He lived at home with his 
father, Jacob Zigler, until he was twenty-three, when, March 4, 1869, he 
married Miss Harriet M. Donahue, a native of Lynn county, Iowa. Tiiey 
have had four boys, all at home: Oscar, Henry, Charles and John. Mr. Z. 
owns a nice farm of 90 acres, on the bluffs of Soap Creek, nearly all im- 
proved, with a good young orchard. He has held a good many township 
offices, and is now a school director in district number 8. 



PERRY TOWNSHIP. 



BENGE, WILLIAM, farmer and stock-raiser; postoffice, Bloomfield; was 
born May 1, 1837, in Wayne county, Indiana. From there his parents 
removed to Bartholomew county, where he grew to manhood and acquired a 
common school education. He came with his parents, to Iowa, in 1855, and 
located in Lick Creek township, this county, where he lived some years, 
then bought and sold several farms, and bought the farm he now occupies, 
in October, 1879. It contains 135 acres, of highly improved land. Mr. 
Beuge was married December 25, 1859, to Miss Malinda Fisk, a native of 
Oiiio, and they have two children: Alfred Tilman, and Jesse Calvin. Mr. 
Benge intends giving his sons a liberal education; one of them is now 
attending the Southern Iowa Normal at Bloomfield. Mr. Benge has a spec- 
ulative disjwsition, and regards a horse trade afe a rare treat, and is liable ta 
get the best of the bargain. 

BOYD, J. S., farmer, postoffice Bloomfield; was born February 26, 1837, 
in Putnam county. Indiana. He came to this county in February 1861, and 
settled on his farm in this township six miles east of Bloomfield, beautifully 
located and finely improved, containing 400 acres, worth $30 an acre. He 
was married June 30, 1861, to Mary R. J. Harbert, and they have had three 
children, one living; Robert, Ada, and John. Mr. Benge is a very success- 
ful farmer, and has his farm well stocked with the best stock. He is a raaQ 
highly respected and esteemed by every one. 

DAY, IdENIvY C, farmer, postoffice Bloomfield; was horn October 25, 
1839, in Bartholomew county, Indiana, and came to this county, with his 
father, in May 1846, and settled in this township, on the farm he now 
owns, containing 285 acres, with good improvements, and well watered, and' 
is quite extensively engaged in stock-raising. He was married November 
6, 1860, to Miss Mary C. Arney, and they have been blessed with nine 
children, John W., M.'^ E., Charles S., Ambrose E., Mary C. Jacob S., A. 
C, Henry C. and Jesse W. Mr. Day has held a number of township of- 
fices, having been justice of the jjeace two terms. He has been a member 
of the M. E. Church since 1857. 

HATHAWAY, D. S. W., stock-raiser and dealer; section 24; was bora 
June 26, 1849, in Madison county, Ohio. He was a son of Erastus and 



HI8T0BY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

Mercy, of Martha's Vineyard. He was reared a fanner, and received 
his education in the subscription school and the academy at London, Ohio- 
In March, 1858, l)e left home and came to this county, first settling in Un- 
ion township, and four years later came to Perry. In 1856, he came on his 
present farm, having purchased it wild in 1854. He has it now finely im- 
proved, and in splendid cultivation. It contains 490 acres, with a line resi- 
dence, commodius barn, and orchard. He is also engaged in stock-raising. 
Ills sales amounting to $7,000 a year. He was married in October, 1853, to 
Susan Ilagan, who died in 1854; married again in 1856, to Amelia Tanne- 
hill. of Ohio, they had three children, Frank, Charles and Clara. His wife- 
having died, he married again in February, 1873, to Elizabeth McMurray,. 
of this county; they have une son, Ward S. In piolitics Mr. H. is a green- 
backer. He has Ijeen county supervisor, and is a genial man, having the re- 
spect of all who know him. 

HENRY, J. R., farmer and stock-raiser, postoffice Bloomfield; was born. 
February 14, 1830, in Peimsylvania. At the age of fourteen his parents 
settled in Greene county, Illinois, where they lived till 1855, when they came- 
to Ottumwa, Iowa; and came to Davis county in 1871. He was married 
July 10, 1872, to Mrs. Jane E. Williamson, widow of A. D. Williamson, 
one of the pioneers ot this county. She is a native of Kentucky, daughter- 
of Thomas H. Wells, one of the early settlers of Wapello county. She 
is a lady of refinement and culture, having received her education at a^ 
select school, held in tlie old court house at Ottumwa. She was married 
to Mr. AVilliamson April 24, 1853. He died August 15, 1865, leaving 
five chiltlren, four now living: Fi-emont, Orpah, Edward B., and Oscar 
K. ; Ella, deceased, wife of Seth St. John, died in 1876. By her present 
marriage she has one child, Ada R. Mrs. Heniy is now engaged in pre- 
paring a history of the early days of Wapello and Davis counties. The 
relatives of her first husband were among the first settlers of Davis- 
county. His brother assisted in surveying the town of Bloomfield; and was- 
a cousin of Governor Steele, Territorial Governor of Colorado. Mr. and 
Mrs. H. are nicely situated, and surrounded with every comfort. 

KIXNY, W. is., farmer and stock-raiser, pustoffice Bloomfield; was born 
May 23, 1835, in Clark county, Ohio. He came to this county with his 
father in September, 1848, and settled on the farm now owned by him, con- 
taining 300 acres, located five miles east of Bloomfield, and is one of the 
best farms in the township. He is extensively engaged in stock-raising. 
He was married April 7, 1860, to Emily J. Hendrix, who was born October 
26, 1842, in Fountain county, Ind., and died March 3, 1864. Mr. K. mar- 
ried again Novembei 30, 1865. Rebecca A. Jenkins, who was born January 
2, 1830, in this county, and died March 2, 1876. Mr. K. was married the 
third time April 6, 1879, to Mary E. Gillmore, who was born July 27, 1856, 
in Lee county, Iowa. Mr. K. has had five children, two now deceased: 
Dora D., Rosa C, Sonora O.; Cora E., and John Q. A. Mr. K. is one of 
the best stock men in the county, and at one time held the ofiice of county 
coroner. ^7^ *-" 

MEXDENHALL. HOX. D., (retired), section 14, postoffice Bloom- 
field; was born March 28, 1810, in Guilford county. Main©, near the Rev- 
olutionary battle-field of Gnilford. He there grew to manhood, and received 
his education in the subscription schools. When eight years old his father 
died, and his mother afterwards married John Brooks. In 1832, the family 
emigrated to Wa^'ne county, Ind., where he served an apprenticeship ta 



690 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

the gunsmith trade, which lie followed twenty-four years. He came to Iowa 
in 1843, and bought a claim, consisting of 178 acres, from William William- 
son in this county; then went to Fairtieid, and, in partnership with liis 
nephew, opened a gun-shop, where he remained about eighteen months; 
then moved on his claim in this county, and began improving it; also 0]ier- 
ating a gun-shop, that business being very profitable in tiiat day. In 18(51 
he turned his attention exclusivel3' to farming. August 18, 1834, he was 
married to Miss Eliza Wilson, a native of Stokes county, N. C and they made 
their wedding tour to Washington, Wayne county, Ind., in a wagon. They 
have raised four children : Henry T., Arthur W., Hoi-ace, and Cornelia E., wife 
of John Ferguson. The old folks have sold off all but fiO acres, and are 
comfortably situated one and three-fourths miles north of Bloomfield, and 
are prepared to enjoy the remainder of their days in peace and plenty. Mr. 
M. has taken great interest iti tlie public good, and has served the people 
in several capacities. He was elected to the General Assembly in 1855, 
when the capital was at Iowa City. He was many years a member of the 
board of supervisors. Mrs. M. was born May 18, 1812. She is a lady high- 
ly respected by every one. 

MERRILL, JOSEPH, farmer and stock-raiser, section eight, postofiice 
Bloomfield: was born June 8, 1829, in Brown county, Ohio, and was reared 
in Clermont county; receiving a good common school education. At nine- 
teen he was apprenticed to learn the carpenter's trade, which he followed 
seven years. In 1857 he went to Nebraska, and worked two years on a 
ranch near Omaha. In 1859 went to Pike's Peak; engaged in mining, and 
was one of the lucky ones. He visited the home of his childhood in 1866, 
and the same year came to this county and bought the farm he now owns, 
contaitiing 200 acres, originally entered by Andrew Leach. It is well im- 
proved, with a fine New England barn, with stalls for thirteen horses and 
twenty head of cattle. He has a fine herd of thirty well graded short-horns. 
He was married March 14, 18(!9, to Miss Adelaide, daughter of Isaac Arm- 
strong; a native of Ohio, reared and educated in this county. They have 
four cliildren: Edwin S., Alfred, Phillip, and Hattie. Mr. M. is deeply in- 
terested in the improvement of cattle and hogs. 

MONROE, HON. W. S., farmer, section 4, postofiice Bloomfield; was 
born June 12, 1826, in Oldham, Kentucky. When eight years old his 
father removed to Scott county, Indiana, where he lived aijout twelve years, 
then removed to Jefferson county, and lived till 1856. His early life was 
spent on the farm and going to school. At the age of eighteen he began 
working at his trade, whicli lie followed about twelve years. In April 1856 
he arrived with his family in this county and settled on his present farm, in 
a log cabin. He enlisted in February 18C3, in company C, Seventh Iowa 
Cavalry, and was engaged mostly against the Indians, in Missouri and Ne- 
braska. He was mustered out as sergeant, in August 1864, at Omaha. He was 
elected on tlie republican ticket in 1873, to the Fifteenth General Assembly, 
from this county. He has served as county supervisor two years, and town- 
ship trustee two years. He was married March 17, 1852, to Margaret E. 
Jordan, of Knox county, Indiana. They have been blessed with ten child- 
ren, seven living, Martha A., Daniel L., Nancy P., Mary M., Inda J., Wil- 
liam W. and Minnie M., and three deceased. Ester C, Eva S., and Ida L., 
D. L. and Inda J. are teachers. Mr. M. is very pleasantly located on a 
_good farm of 176 acres, on which he has a fine orchard of 200 bearing trees. 



HISTOIIV OF DAVIS COUNTY. 691 

S HELTON, J. N., stock-dealer, postoffice Bloomfield; was born October 
17, 1838, in Decatur county, Indiana, and came to Davis county, Iowa, in 
1844; lie was reared a farmer, and educated at Troy acadamy. He lived 
Avitli liis parents till lie grew to manhood, and in 1863, he entered mercan- 
tile business in Gleinvood, Missouri, and did a large business. In 18(i5, he 
was elected Probate Judge of that county and iield the office two terms. In 
1873, he sold out his business and returned to this county and went into the 
stock business, which he has since been engaged in. lie was married July 
21, 18(i4, to Miss Jennie Rector, a native of Lawrence county, Indiana. 
Tiioy have had seven children, five living; Zua B., Chauncy N., John H., 
Grace Y., and Lettie S. Nannie M. and Maud, deceased. 

SIIELTON, ANDREW W., fanner and stook-raiser, postoffice Bloom- 
field; was born in this county. May 23, 1853; educated in the common 
school, with one year at AltOn (Illinois) Academy; was reared a farmer, a 
])ortion of the time being in his brother's store as clerk. At the age ot 22 
he struck out for himself, as a farmer, and in 1880, he purchased the farm 
where he now lives, containing 280 acres, well improved, with good build- 
ings, and well stocked, located on Fox River, five miles east of Bloomfield. 
He was married September 15, 1875, to Miss Elizabeth Horner, a native of 
Indiana. They have two children, Curtis V. and Eugene W. Mr. S. is a 
member of tiie Baptist Church, of the I. O. O. F., at rulaski, and Masonic 
order. He is a man greatly esteemed by all who know him. 

SHIELDS, WM., farmer, postoffice Bloomfield; was born March 12, 1808, 
in Jetterson county, Tennessee, where he grew to manhood and acquired a 
common school education. He came to this county October 17, 1842, and 
settled in this townshiji, where lie now i-esides. He is one of the old settlers 
of the county, coming here while the Indians were camped all around him. 
He now has one of the best farms in the township, containing 280 acres, 
seven miles northeast of Bloomneld. He was married February 10. 1831; 
to Miss Mary A. Taylor, born May 29, 1811, in Knox county. Tennessee. 
They have eight children, J. H., John, Elizabeth A., Sarah E., William H., 
Mary J.. Samuel T. and Andrew S. 

TAYLOR. JOHN, farmer, postoffice Bloomfield; was born August 18, 
18Ui, in Knox county, Tennessee. He came to this county in 1842, being 
■one of the earliest settlers in the county. At that time the Indians were 
camping all around him. He owns a fine farm of 273 acres, i»nely improved 
about eight miles northeast of Bloomfield, and is extensively engaged in the 
stock business. He was married July 4, 1839, to Miss Rebecca Shields, 
who was b(irn February 15, 1814, in Jefterson county, Tennessee. Mr. and 
Mrs. Taylor are nicely situated, surrontided witli all the comforts of life, and 
passing their old age in peace and ]ileuty. 

TAYLOR, WM. farmer postoffice Bloomfield; was born February 22, 
1822, in Kno.x county, Tenn., and there grew to manhood and received a 
limited education. He came to this county in 1846 and settled where he now 
resides. He owns a good farm well improved, about eight miles northeast 
of Bloomfield, containing 2 50 acres. He was married August 5, 184(], to 
Maria Allen, a native'of Kentucky, who died October 4, 1854, aged twenty- 
seven' years and seven mouths. Mr. T. married again, Matilda McMurry, 
who died August 27, 1861, aged forty-five years and three mouths; he was 
again married April 24, ISH'i, to Harriet J. McAfurry, who was born August 
25, 1819, in Blunt county, Tenn. They have two children, Elizabeth A. and 
Isabella. 



692 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

YOUNG, WESLEY, farmer and stock-raiser, sections 16 and 21, postof- 
iice Bloomiield; was born April 16, 1817, in Augusta county, Va. Here be 
spent his j'outli on the farm and at intervals attending tlie subscription 
schools. At the age of sixteen, he, with his parents, settled in I>artlioloinew" 
county, Ind., where he lived till 1S43. In 1842 his father failed, by indors- 
ing for speculators, and he was appointed administrator of his estate; there 
being no money in the country, he then went to work and built a flat boat, 
loaded it with lumber, live stock, and provisions; ran it down White River 
and the Wabash, Ohio, and Mississippi to New Orleans, where he realized 
$500 for his cargo, a large sum then. He then came to this county in the 
fall of 1813 and located on the land where he now lives. He has owned 
large tracts of land, and made it a business never to contract beyond his 
ability to pay. He is largely engaged in raising live stock. His farm con- 
tains 380 acres, highly improved. He was married in Indiana. January 2^ 
1840, to Miss Ann Eliza Young, a native of Kentucky, who died October 
13, 1860, leaving six children,' John W., M. D., Rachel M. wife of W. G. 
Thorne; Elizal)eth M., wife of Wm. Miller; Virginia A., Winfield S., and 
Eliza E., wife of Arthur Kibby. Married again December 31, 1861, to- 
Mrs. Amanda Macy, a native of Pennsylvania. She has Ave children by 
her former husband, Riley Macy, John was killed May 1, 1863. at Helena,, 
was in company A, Third Iowa Cavalry; Allen, Reuben W., killed at Res- 
aca, Ga., was in Thirtieth Iowa lanfantry; Eliza J., wife of Wni. Pitman, 
and Oliver C. 



PRAIRIE TOWNSHIP. 

ALLEN, JAMES IL, fanner and stock-raiser, section 6, postoffice Pul- 
aski; was born in Union township, this county, May 13, 1843. His father, 
John A. Allen, being among the first settlers of the count}'. Mr. A. spent 
his 3'onth assisting on the farm and attending the pioneer schools. He en- 
listed in May, 1861, in the Second Iowa Infantry, but being undei' age was 
rejected, and in October, 1862. witii the same result; tried again April 19* 
1864, was accepted and joined compenv I. Thirteenth Iowa Infantiy; was 
in the battles of Kenesaw Mt., Nickajack, Peach Tree Creek, Ball's Knob, 
etc.; was wounded near Atlanta, July 22. with a tragment of shell, but soon 
reported again for duty; being at the fall of Atlanta, with Sherman to the 
sea, at Orangeburg, Columbia, etc.. and was in the grand review at Wash- 
ington. He was married April 8. 1863, to Miss Mary F. Elrod. a native of 
Indiana, daughter of Rev. John Elrod, late chaplain of Thirteenth Iowa In- 
fantry. They have two children living, Lizzie A. and Maud M. and four 
deceased, Elmer, Clara, Veda and Willie. Mr. Allen owns a fine farm of 
215 acres. 

ARMSTRONG, ISAAC, farmer and stock-raisMt section 6, postoffice 
Pulaski; was born July 6, 1808, in Salem county, Irew Jersey, and at the 
age of ten, he came with his parents to Cincinnati, Ohio; then to a farm in 
Warren county, Ohio, where he spent thirty-six years of his life. Hebe- 
came a resident of this county in 1856, locating where he now lives. The 
homestead consists of 125 acres. Lie also owns a good farm of 110 acres in 
Union townsliip. He was married in Ohio, in March, 1832, to Miss Louisa 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 693 

Peacock. They have had nine childi-en, James, Samuel li., John P., Benja- 
min S., Adelaide, wife ot Joseph Merrill; Elizabeth, wife of August Brown; 
Clara, wife of James Smith; Maggie and David. Mrs. A. died September 
25, 1871, highly respected by every one. She was a member of the Free 
"Will Baptist Church, many j'ears, and her people were Quakers, of New 
Jersey. Mr. A. was one of the first school directors in his district, and 
takes great interest in education. His son, Benjamin, served in the army 
during the war. 

AUGSPUEGER, HENRY, farmer and stock-man, postoffice Pulaski; 
was born August 22, 18i5, in Butler county, Ohio, of German parents, who 
settled in Ohio in an early da}^ While yet a lad, his father died, and the 
family came to Iowa, and located in Grove township, in 1855, where he 
grew to manhood, and I'eceived a limited education. At the age of eighteen, 
he purchased 200 acres of land in Prarie township, and has since kept on 
adding to his possessions, till now he owns TOO acres. The home farm con- 
sists of 480 acres, well improved and nicely situated, within one mile of the 
railroad station at Pulaski. He has as fine a house and farm buildings as 
there are in the county. Mr. A. was married in February, 1877, to Miss 
Mary Plank, daughter of J. J. Plank, of Pulaski; a very worthy lady. They 
have two children. Bertha, and an infant boy not named. 

BRl'NK, W. M., merchant, Pulaski; was born March 23, 1857, in this 
county, his early life being spent in his father's store at Stiles, until 1873, 
when his parents moved to Lancaster, Mo., where his father engaged in 
merchandizing; and he finished his education in the Lancaster graded 
schools, going to school in the forenoon and selling goods in the afternoon. 
He became a partner in the firm ot Brunk & Son, at the age of nineteen. 
He returned to this county, and engaged in the stock business at Stiles, in 
1877, and in 1879, located in Pulaski in the store of Brunk & Son, his fath- 
er and grandfather; and became sole proprietor in 1S80. He was married 
February 13, 1879, to Miss Mary Stockman, a native of this county, daugh- 
ter of John Stockman, of Stiles, and they have two children, Guy and 
Maud. Mr. G. is a good business man, and full of push and energy. 

BAUGHMAN, CIIRiSTIAN, farmer and stock-raiser, section 22; post- 
ofiice Pulaski; was born October 31, 1825, in Wayne county, Ohio, and there 
grew to manhood, receiving a common school education. He came to this 
county, and located where he now lives, in 1858, and has a fine farm of 420 
acres. He was married December 12, 1850, to Miss Catharine ]-'lank, of 
Wayne county, Ohio, and they had seven children; Elizabeth A., David K., 
Jacob S., J. J., Mary A., Lovina A. and William C. Mr. B. is deeply inter- 
ested in fine horses, and has done more to improve the breed of horses in the 
county than any other one man. His Percheron and Norman horses are 
models of beauty, and unequalled for service. His wife lost her reason in 
1867, and had to be removed to the Insane hospital at Mt. Pleasant, where 
she died in December, 1876. She was a lady of fine, social and family dis- 
position, a member of the Mennonite Church, and highly respected. 

CRAVEN, W. H. H., farmer and stock-raiser; sections, 'I^, 23 and 15, 
postoftice Milton; was born December 18, 1842, tlie first white child born in 
Prarie township. His early youth was spent assisting his father on the farm and 
attending pioneer schools, and one term at Troy Academy. He enlisted in 
August, 18G1, joining the Seventh Missoiiri Cavalry, being the youngest 
member of the company. They joined the regiment at Macon City, Mis- 
souri, and immediately went to Little Rock; being in the battles of Lone 



694 HISTOEY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

Jack, Black Water expedition, Prairie Grove, capture of Little Rock, at 
Princeton, Arkansas, wliere, witli twenty-eight men from his coin]jany. and 
ten from company E, he was in a sabre charge, capturing a pet position of 
the enemy; was at Monticello, Mooses Hill, and a great many skirmishes. 
He was mustered out a sergeant, in October, 1S64, at St. Louis. Keturning 
liome, was made first lieutenant, in Captain Milligan's company of border 
guards. He was married August 30, 1866, to Miss Eliza Eckman, a native 
of Ohio, and the}' have four children: George S., William B., Harry E., and 
Mabel. Mr. C. owns a fine farm of 600 acres, in good cultivation. As boy 
and man, lie has seen the rise and progress of Davis county, and is proud of 
liis native home. 

CRAVEN, JAMES E., farmer and stock-raiser, section 2-1, postoffice 
Milton; was born April 4, 1833, in Montgomery count}', Indiana. His ])ar- 
ents settled in Van Buren county, Iowa Territor}', in 1837, improved a claim,, 
for four years, then sold out and took up a claim on section 26, Prairie town- 
ship, where the old pioneer, Bushrod W. Craven, died, in October, 1878, at 
the age of seventy-one. Mr. C. was educated in the pioneer schools. He is 
now the owner of 400 acres of improved land, with good buildings, orchards, 
etc. He was married in September, 1854, to Miss Mary J. Russel, a native 
of Delaware, who died October 14, 1855, a member of the M. E. Church. 
He married again February 27, 1861, Miss Mary P. Holland, a native of 
Delaware, born November 25, 1839, and died May 16, 1863; leaving one 
child, Mary F. He married again December 29, 1869, Miss Laura C. Thnyre, 
a native of Illinois, and they have four children: George D., Hattie May, 
Carrie A. and Jessie H. Mr. C. has endured, as boy and man, all the 
hardships, privations, joys and sorrows of a pioneer. 

CONNER, R. G., of the firm of Conner Bros., blacksmiths, Pulaski; was 
born July 24, 1835, in Preston count}'. West Virginia, and was raised a 
blacksmith. He came with his parents to Mahaska county, Iowa, in 1848, 
and to this county in 1850, locating at Troy, and worked in his father's shop 
seven years; when his father's health failed, and the business was carried on 
by himself and his brother Amos, till 1874, when they located at Pulaski. 
They do all kinds of work in their line, having a machine lathe and drill, 
and guarantee satisfaction. Mr. Conner was married January 12,1862, to Miss 
Margaret Montgomery, who died August 20, 1872; he married again Octo- 
ber 12, 1873, Miss Elizabeth Spaigh. They have tiiree children, Abbe L., 
L. L., and Nellie L, two girls, and one boy. Mr. Conner owns a neat little 
home in Pulaski. 

ENGLAND, KIRK, farmer, postoffice Pulaski ; was born October 27, 
1877, in Cecil county, Maryland. At the age of nineteen he went to Penn- 
sylvania and worked two years as an apprentice at the carpenter's trade, 
then returned to Maryland and there pursued the same business for a num- 
ber of years. In 1868, he married Miss Maria Pearson, a native of Iowa, 
then on a visit to Maryland, daughter of Augustus Pearson, of this county. 
She was born Dec. 26, 1841, and recpived her education in the early schools 
of the county, and in Troy academy, and is a lady of very intelligent and 
refined appearance. Mr. England came to this county in 1868, and located 
where he now lives, and has a fine farm of 126 acres, well improved. They 
have three children, Orion W., born April 8, 1873, and Jessie and Bessie, 
twins, born August 20, 1881. Mr. England is a man well and favorably 
known all over the county. 



HISTOEY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 695- 

FRYBERGER, GEO. P., carpenter and builder, postoffice Pulaski; was 
born in Huntiu'^ton county, Indiana, November 26,1850. At the age of 
thirteen he came witli liis parents to Jefiei'son county, Iowa, and there grew 
to manhood and finished his education at the Fairfield high school. At the 
age of 25 he engaged with H. Caraway of Bloomfield to learn cabinet mak- 
ing, at which he worked four years. From that, house-cMr])entering became 
easy. Worked as foreman for Andrew George, two seasons. Pie com- 
menced the business of contractor and builder this present season. He 
emploj's none but the best workmen, and guarantees firstclass work. He is 
a young man of more than ordinary ability, with a thorough knowledge of 
his trade. 

GEORGE, ANDREW J., carpenter and builder, Pulaski; was born Oc- 
tober 22, 1842, in Franklin county, Indiana. At eight years of age he 
moved with his parents to Clinton county, where he grew to manhood and 
obtained his education. At the age of twenty he came to this county and 
worked with an older brotlier at the carpenter trade. He was married in. 
this county October 22, 1863, to Miss Rachel Swinney, a native of Indiana. 
They have had two children, Adda Fay and one deceasee in infancy. Mr. 
G. has engageil in contracting since 1876, he employs from ten to fifteen 
first class workmen, and his work gives perfect satisfaction to his patrons. 
He has completed this season over $3,500 worth of work. He is perma- 
nently located at Pulaski, where he owns a nice home. 

( GERARD, J. H., harness and saddle maker, Pulaski; was born July 12, 
1850, in Lee count}', Iowa, and theie grew to manhood, and received a com- 
mon school education. At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to a har- 
ness maker. He then learned mai'ine steam engineering, which he followed 
on the lower Mississippi for five years, and in lb73 was examined by the 
board of e.xaminers, and received papers as second engineer. In 1880 he 
was helping to run the machinery in a saw mill, and was caught some way 
and had liis right leg severely mashed and knee dislocated, which has per- 
manently disabled him. He then engaged in his present business. He 
was married January 19, 1874, to Miss Catherine W. a native of Germany. 
They have two children, Maggie and Katie. 

HARPER, JOHN, fanner and stock-raiser, section 12, postoffice Milton; 
was born October 16, 1816, in Hancock county, West Virginia, where he 
grew up, and was educated in the common schools; learning the carpenters 
trade when a young man; and came to Iowa in 1848, and located where he 
now lives. He was married July 1, 1841, to Miss Catharine Saunders, a na- 
tive of West Virginia. In 1850, he started with his family, to visit the 
home of his youth, and, cholera, being ]irevailent, they were attacked with it 
on board an Oiiio steami)oat, and his wife, one cliild, and a brother died, and 
were buried at Mt. Vernon, Indiana. Mrs. H. was the mother of four chil- 
dren, deceased; two sons, Robert and W. II. H. served in the army, during 
the war, and came lionie with shattered constitutions, and died within two 
years after. Returning to Iowa, Mr. II. built a saw-mill on Fox rivei-, in 
1854, and worked it, about three years. He owns a fine farm of 164 acres, 
ninety well im])roved, with fine house and barn built by himself, and good 
orchard, etc He was married the second time December 30, 1852, to Miss 
Louisa Saunders, a sister of his first wife, and they have had seven children; 
John S., Frances M., Emeline, and four deceased. 

HASTINGS, PROF. D. W., principal of the graded schools, Pulaski; 
was born July 1, 1855, in this county. His father, I. S. Hastings is now 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTr. 

living near Floris, where our subject was born. Here he grew to manhood, 
assisting liis father in the chair factory, and acquiring a common school edu- 
cation in winter. At tlie age of seventeen entered Troy Academy for two 
years, tlien attended tlie Nortli Missouri State Normal for two years, teach- 
ing during vacations. He then returned home and for three years was prin- 
cipal of the Floris school, and in the summer of 1880, took charge of the Pu- 
laski schools, where he is now giving eminent satisfaction. The Professor 
has also taught several Institutes. He was married February 13, 1SY7, to 
Mary J. Bryson, a native of Van Buren county. They have one child, 
Ethan A., born April 11, 1879. Tiie Professor intends making a specialty 
of languages and litei-ature. 

HOrCHKISS, L. R., or grandfather Hotchkiss, as lie is familiarly called; 
was born June 9, 1801, at Waterbury, New Haven county, Connecticut. He 
there grew np and was educated in the subscription schools. He lived there 
forty-five years, mostly engaged in farming; then came to this county, being 
one of the pioneers, and has lived here ever since. He settled on section 21, 
and opened a new farm, where he still resides. He was married in North 
Haven, New Haven county, Connecticut, November 25, 1834. to Miss Lou- 
annie E. Tuttle, who is still living at the age of sixty-eight, and they have 
liad four children, Louisa and Ellen, who both married Llotchkisses, K. L., and 
E., who was killed in battle at Ringgold, Georgia; he belonged to company B-, 
Thirtieth Iowa Infantry. Mr. H. and wife are members of the Christian 
Church; in politics he is an ardent greenbacker, and was an old abolitionist 
and republican. He was a station agent on the umler-ground railway, in the 
old slavery days. 

HESKETT, JAMES E., livery and sale stable, Pulaski ; was born in Louden 
county, Virginia, March 15, 1848. At the age of six his parents located in 
Belmont county, Ohio, where he grew to manhood and received a common 
school education. He came to Iowa with his parents in 1867, settling in 
Prairie township, this county, where he assisted on the farm. In 1876, he 
started the first livery stable in the town of Pulaski. He was married De- 
cember 25, 1878, to Miss Jeannette M. Neidy, a native of this State, daugh- 
ter of Joseph Neidy, killed in the army, February 15, 1862, and they liave 
had one child, Zoe G., an interesting little girl. 

HOTCKIIISS, C. C, druggist and pharmacist, Pulaski; was born in this 
county, Marcii 31, 1854. During his youth he assisted on the farm and at- 
tended the common school. At the asje of fifteen he engao-ed with his uncle, 
A. T., in buying and shipping stock, in which he still retains an interest. 
He engaged in his present business in 1878, and carries afuU line of drugs, 
paints, oils, fancy goods, jewehy, notions, and glassware. Mr. H. is a young 
man of more than ordinary promise, and attends strictly to business; he is 
looked upon as one of the enterprising Dusiness men of the county. When 
a child of nine years, he met with a very serious accident, his hand being 
caught between the rollers of a sorghum press, mashing the hand and wrist, 
which .were saved, however, by snrgical skill. He is an Odd Fellow. 

KING, D. G., wagon-maker, Pulaski; was born June 24, 1842, in Jeffer- 
son county. New York, where he was reared, and educated in the common 
schools; during the war he enlisted, August 8, 1862, in the Tenth New 
York Heavy Artillery, being at Staten Island; then in the defenses at 
Washington; in the battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania C. H., Cold Har- 
bour, Bermuda Hundred, and the seige and capture of Richmond; he was 
mustered out June 24, 1865, and in 1868 came west, locating in this county, 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTV. 697 

and followed carpentering several years. He was married in June, 1865, to 
Miss Rebecca Ganger, who died one year after, leaving an infant, who sur- 
vived its mother hut three months. He was again married Septeinl>er 14, 
1879, to Miss Melissa (roddard, a native of this county, daughter of Richard 
Goddard, of Troy, and they have one child, Emma, born December 17, 1880. 
He located at Pulaski, in 1874; worked as a carpenter till 1877, when he 
ojiened a wagon shop, and does a general repairing liusiness. He has a nice 
little home, and is a public spirited citizen. 

KIRK, E. L., dealer in agricultural implements, and fruit grower, Pulas- 
ki; was born December 27, ISiO, in Cecil county, Maryland. There he 
grew to manhood, received a common school education, and learned the trade 
of wagon-making. He enlisted in August, 1862, in the Sixth Maryland In- 
fantry, and was in the battles of Opecan, Winchester, Cedar Mountain, sec- 
ond Bull Rnu, Reams' Station, Wilderness, and Cold Harbour; being 
wounded at Winchester, losing his index linger, and had his wrist injured. 
Was at the seige and capture of Petersburg and Richmond, and at Sailors' 
Kun was slightly wounded by a bayonet thrust in the arm. He was at the 
■snrrender of Lee, at Appomattox, and mustered out in June, 1865, at Balti- 
more; became a resident of this county the same year, locating at Pulaski; 
He worked at wagon-making seven years, and engaged in his present busi- 
ness in 1879; he takes great interest in fruit growing, and has a splendid 
-orchard, also the finest apiary in the county, and is skilled in bee culture. 
Mr. K. was the first man inside the rebel works at Petersbui'g; at the grand 
assault, April 2, 1865, his regiment being the first to plant their colors. He 
Avas married in September, 1868, to Miss Martha Knight, a native of Iowa, 
and they have two children, Willie J. and Minnie L. 

MERRITT, MARION, manufacturer of coopers' stock, postoffice Pulaski ; 
was born in Davis county, April 14, 1851; was here raised to manhood, and 
received a common school education; spending his youth on his father's 
farm. His father, John Merritt, is now living, at the age of seventy-four, 
in Fox River township, being one of the oldest settlers in the comity. At 
the age of 19, Mr. M. engaged in business for himself, dealing in live stock. 
In 1875, he enmigated to California, and engaged in lumbering in Tehama 
county; and later at farming. He was married September 14, 1873, to Miss 
Marietta Hanshaw, of this county, who died in California, December 6, 
1878, and is buried at Red Blufi's, in that State. She was aged 22, and a 
sincere clu-istian lady, a niendier of the Christian Cliurch. He was success- 
ful in California, but the death of his wife changed his life, and he i-eturned 
to this county, and went into his present business in the spring of 1880. 

MILLIGAN, J. W., merchant, Pulaski; was born July 11, 1842, in Van 
Buren county, Iowa; obtaining his education in the common schools and 
Troy Academy. He came to this county with his parents, in 1855, and 
assisted his father on the farm till he was twenty-three, when he struck out 
for himself; as a farmer, till 1871. He then commenced business at Pulaski, 
occupying the same building ever since, and doing a thriving business in 
general merchandise of all kinds; and has recently added a dress-making and 
millinery department, presided over by his wife. He. was married February 
15, 1866, to Miss Martha J. Taylor, a native of Indiana. They have six 
children: Charles H., Ida E., Hattie I., Walter C, James C, and Garfield. 
Mr. M. is a Mason and an Odd Fellow, and has been township clerk beyond 
the recollection of the oldest inhabitant. 

24 



698 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

MUIR, J. W., proprietor of the Pulaski House, Pulaski; was born April 
15, 1849, in Jefferson county Mo., and while an infant his parents moved to 
Scotland county, where he grew to manhood, and received a common school 
education. lie followed farming till the spring of 1881, when he sold out 
and embarked in the hotel business at Pulaski. He was married April IG, 
1876, to Miss Fannie Fordenwalt, a native of Iowa, and daughter of Adam 
Fordenwalt. They have had two children, Elmer and Ethel. Mr. M. makes 
a splendid hotel man, and he and his wife do their best to make their guests 
comfortable. 

PEED, J. E., Esq., J. P., Notary Public, land, loan and insurance agent, 
Pulaski; born December 28, 1840, in Massachusetts; his parents being 
pioneers in Wai-saw, 111.; then going back to Massachusetts. They came to- 
Iowa in 1852, locating in Roscoe township, in this county, where Mr. P. 
grew to manhood, and acquired an education. In 1862, he was appointed 
watchman at the St. Louis House of Refuge, and soon alter enlisted in the- 
Fifty-iirst Missouri Infantry; was afterward promoted to lieutenant, and 
served till the close of the war, being mustered out September 3, 1865, when 
he returned to this county, and was married in April, 1866, to Miss Margaret 
Stover, a native of Ohio. They have three children, living: Dora B., Es- 
tella J., and Geo. E. ; and two deceased, Fanny and Garfield. Mr. R. met with 
an accident in 1869, and came very near losing his right eye. He was elected 
justice of the peace in 1877, and still holds the office. He also handles 
Wood's mowers and reapers, in connection with E. L. Kirk. Mr. Reed is a 
man highly respected by those who know him. 

RUSSEL, JOHN C, farmer and stock-raiser, section 24, postoffice Mil- 
ton; was born October 18, 1830, in Sussex county, Del. At the age of six- 
teen his parents located in Van Buren county, Iowa, where they still live, at 
an advanced age. His father, Hon. Robt. Russel, was a member of the- 
legislature of Iowa, in 1853. Mr. R. assisted his father on the farm till he 
"was twenty-three years old. He located where he now lives in 1854; his- 
farm consists of 200 acres, having a well kept appearance. He also owns 
another farm of 113 acres. lie was married October 28, 1852, to Miss 
Margaret Cravens, a native of Indiana, born May 9, 1835, daughter of Bush- 
rod Cravens, the pioneer of this county. They have five children: Mai'y J., 
William D., George L., Fanny C, and Hannah G. Mary is the wife of J. 
E. Spence, of Milton. Mr. R. has been township taustee and secretary of 
the school board, the latter for many years. He is a self-made man, having 
commenced with nothing. lie has travelled a great deal, having been clear 
to the Pacific Ocean; but could never find a place that suited him as well as 
Davis county. 

SMITH, J. M., hardware and agricultural implements, Pulaski ;^was'bom' 
January 2, 1847, in Wayne county, Ohio, and at the age of fourteen came 
with his parents to Pulaski in this county. The first season he was here he' 
lost his right leg from white swelling, after which he attended Troy Acad- 
emy and acquired a good business education. He taught school two yeai"S, 
was then employed by the B. & S. W. R. R. company as station ageii't for 
four years, and then engaged in his present business. He keeps a full stock 
of hardware, cutlery, agricultural imjilements and notions. He was married! 
March 31, 1874, to Miss Alice Knight, a native of Iowa. Mr. S. stands 
high in the esteem of his friends and patrons. 

SHELTON, W. H., JVI. D., physician and surgeon, Pulaski; was born Sep- 
tember 23, 1835, in Indiana, and at the age of ten moved to Iowa with his 



to' 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 699 

parents, locating in Perry township in this county. Pie spent his youth at- 
tending school and entered Troy Academy in 1853, I'eniaining two years, 
then went to the Medical College at Keokuk, known at that time as the 
Iowa Medical Institute, where he graduated February 28, 1860, and hung 
out his shingle at Pulaski the same year. Although proficient in other 
schools he has adopted the Allopathic practice, and now has a very extensive 
practice in Iowa and Missouri. He owns a fine residence and grounds in 
Pulaski, and about 800 acres of fine land in three I'arms. He was married 
in March 1859, to Miss Mai'y Wilson, a native of Indiana, daughter of 
Eben Wilson of Grove township. They have six children, Elva H., Clay 
A., Pernard, Etta L., Anna, and R. O. 

SMITH, W. T., of the firm of Smith & Hotchkiss, grain, lumber, and 
live stock dealers, Pulaski; was born October 3, 1855, in Edgar county. 111. 
He there grew to manhood and received his education at the Danville Bus- 
iness College. He came to this county in 1873 and engaged in farming for 
seven years; then one year in the drug business at Pulaski, and in 1880 be- 
gan his present business with Mr. Hotchkiss. He was married October 11, 
1878, to Miss Alice A. McDonnell. They have two children, Bessie, born 
July 0, 1879, and James J., born August 28, 1881. Mr. Smith is a fine 
business man and has the confidence of the community. 

SNODGRASS, G. W., M. D., farmer and stock-raiser; section 21:; post- 
office Milton; was born January 1, 183-1:, in Dauphin county, Pennsylvania. 
When three years old, he came with his parents to Warren county, Ohio, 
where his father erected a grist mill and also engaged in farming. Here he 
spent his youth, and attended school. At the age of sixteen he entered the 
West Point College at Spring Bar, Ohio, where he remained three years. 
He then entered the office of Dr. Wade, his cousin, in Cincinnati, and at- 
tended lectures at the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery. In 1854 
he came with his j^arents to Lee county, Iowa, and the next year attended 
lectures, at the Keokuk Medical College, and the sarne year was induced 
by Drs. Wallace and Egbert, to locate at Milton, going into part- 
nership one year with Dr. Wallace, and then on his own account. The doc- 
tor, though having a very extensive practice, has never hung out a "shingle." 
He was married "November 6, 1856, to Miss Sarah J. Billups, a native of 
Virginia, and an orphan when they were married. They have five children: 
Wra. J., Martha J., Geo. W., John, and Sarah A. The doctor owns a fine 
farm of 800 or 900 acres, with three fine houses, which makes him some- 
what a granger. He is purely a self-made man, starting with §100 less 
than nothing, and has now acquired an enviable reputation for his fine pro- 
fessional and social qualities. 

TOWNSEND, JOHN W., farmer and stock-raiser, section 10, postoffice 
Pulaski; was born October 1, 1832, in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and 
moved to Ohio at the age of eight, with his parents, to Franklin county where 
he spent his youth, assisting on the farm and attending tlie common schools. 
He came to Iowa in 1854, worked as a farm hand and finished his education 
at Troy academy. Being energetic and thrifty he became the owner of 400 
acres of land, in 1864. He is a self-made man, having left home with liut 
$25. He now owns 760 acres of good land, with good improvements. He 
was married October 13, 1864, to Miss Charity Hardesty, a native of this 
county. They have five children: Lewis L., Willis S., Caleb R., Ore, and 
Eva. Mr. Townsend intends going into the dairy business, and will, no 
doubt, make a success of it. 



700 HISTOEY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

TUCKER, DAVID, farnier and stock-raiser ; postofRce Pulaski; was born 
April 8, 1825, in Butler county, (_)liio. At the asje of eleven his jjarents 
moved to Indiana, and settled in Iiipley county, and there grew to nianliood, 
i-eceiving a limited education in tlie common schools. lie was married Oc- 
tober 17, 1850, to Miss Martha A. Taylor, a native of the Old Dominion. 
Her parents were for many years residents of Grove township in this coun- 
ty. Mr. Tucker became a resident of this county in 1850, and bought and 
improved a larm of 120 acres in Grove tov.'nship, where he lived twelve 
years, then sold out and engaged in merchandising at Pulaski one year; then 
bought the farm he now owns consisting of 160 acres, then wild land. He 
and his wife have been for many years members of the M. E. Church. Thej' 
are the parents of seven children: Mary J.. Wm. H., Sarah F., Allen W., 
Kebecca A., and two deceased. Mr. Tucker takes an active interest in edu- 
cation and has given liberally to the sn^iport of churches and schools. 

WASHBURN, SELAH B., farmer and stock-raiser, section 11, postoffice 
Milton; was born April 8, 1825, in Putnam county, New York. And at the 
ago of ten moved with has parents to Madison county, Illinois, where his 
father died three weeks after; since which time he has had to fight his own 
battles. He learned blacksmithing and picked up an education; coming to 
Iowa and locating in Lee county in 1844-, where he opened the pioneer 
blacksmithsho]) in Primrose. He came to this county in 1862, locating 
where he now lives; he has a fine farm of 240 acres, well improved. He 
was married October 16, 1847, to Miss Vashti Jane Kelley, anativeof New 
York. They have six children: Horton S., Melvin E., Lewis T., Irvine, Ida 
and Retta. He was burned out October 1, 1875, the house and contents be- 
iiig totall}' destroyed; a loss of about $1,300. Mr. W. is a self-made man; 
he intends removing to Milton, and (j^uitting hard work; lie is now town- 
ship trustee, and treasurer of the school board. 

AVOODWARD, A., farmer and dairy-man, postoffice Milton; was born 
July 29, 1829, in Summit county, Ohio; he grew to manhood in the west- 
ern reserve, and was educated in the common schools; and learned the coop- 
ers trade. Carried on a shop two years, then came to Iowa in 1851, loca- 
ting near Stringtown in this county, where he engaged in brick making. 
He bought a farm in Yan Buren county in 1853, and July G, 1854, married 
Miss Lucy Wilson, daughter of Byram Wilson, a pioneer of this county. 
This lady enjoys the distinction of being the first white child born in Davis 
county, being born at Stringtown, October 10, 1838. She was educated at 
the early pioneer schools, and is a lady of refined tastes and cultured mind. 
They have a family of six children, Retta, Allen, Scott B., Aggie, Eva and 
Harry; and have given them a good education. Mr. W. bought the -farm 
he now owns, in 1870, consisting of eighty acres of well improved land, with 
good buildings, fine orchard, and nicely situated near to Fox River timber. 
Mr. W. is putting in practice the knowledge of the dair\' business gained 
in his youth in the great dairy district of Ohio. 

YOAST, PETER W., farmer and stock-raiser, section 17, postoffice Pu- 
laski; was born May 23, 1807, in Belmont county, Ohio, and there grew to 
manhood, receiving a limited education. When sixteen he entered a woolen 
factory as apprentice, learned the business, then became foreman inafactorj' 
at Steubenville, Ohio, and four years later went on a farm he owned in Rich- 
land county; he came to Iowa in 1852, and located where he now lives, the 
next Februar}'; he owns 320 acres of fine land, and raises a good deal of 
stock. He was married May 1, 1828, to Miss Temperance Foster, of Ohio, 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTT. 701 

born April IG, ISO". They have raised seven children, six living: Mary J., 
wife of Klias Loney; Susan, wife of Frank Ellis; Sarah, deceased, wife of 
James Fulton; John M. a doctor in Van Buren county; Martha, wife of 
Prof. Sam T. Ballard; Amanda, wife of William Corrick; and Emily, wife 
of William H. Boyd. Mr. Y. has always taken great interest in education; 
has been a school director over twenty years, and justice of the peace seven- 
teen years, nine 3'ears Iti his native State. 



ROSCOE TOWNSHIP. 

ADKINS, K. B., was jirominent among the early pioneers; born at Mil- 
ton, Sussex county, Del., Octol:>er IS, 1820, son of Bagwell and Julia Ann 
Adkins of Delaware. Mr. A. was raised there and received his education 
at the subscription schools. When he was eighteen, he became a])prentice 
to Hiram Brouni of Philadelphia, to learn the carpenter's trade. His wages 
were twenty four dollars a year, buying his own clothes; he remained two 
years, then worked five years at the business near home, and in lS-15, came 
to Milton, Van Buren county, he himself entering the land upon wliich 
that town stands. Two years latter he moved to Prairie township, in this 
county, and three years latter, to Galesburg, Ills., and in one year returned 
to Prairie township, and three years later came to his present home, enter- 
ing 3t!0 acres of land iti section 21. He was married December 22, 1810, 
to Miss Naomi Lank, daughter of Jas. and Nancy Lank, of Sussex county, 
Del. Thev have had twelve childi-en, ten living; Jas. B., Peter L., Josiah 
H., Win. H., Alfred A , Jno. W., Mary Jane, David C, Chas. F., Geo. W. 
(Julia Ann and Benj. F., deceased). Mr. A. has a well improved tarm.and 
has given 400 acres to his children. He is engaged in stock-raising, feed- 
ing and dairying. Mr. A. is a member of the M. E. Church and of Masonic 
Lodge No. 50. In politics he is a democrat. 

AJVDERSON, WM. AV., lives on section 5, in Poscoe townshiji, post- 
otiice Pulaski; was one of the pioneers of Roscoe. He is a native of Cum- 
berland conntj-, Va., born June 6, 1828. When quite young his fatlier em- 
igrated to Pike county, O., where Mr. A. lived until 1S5G. He was reared 
a farmer and educated in the subscription schools of early days; moved to 
Iowa, and settled in Roscoe township, Davis county, where lie has since re- 
sided. He was married November 25, 1852, to Miss Susan M. Bristol, of 
Pike county, (J. They have live children: Reuben W.. now ex-county su- 
perintendent; Mary E., now Mrs. A. J. Pinnell; Catherine M.. now Mrs. H. 
C. Powers; Wm. M. and Florence S. Mr. A. has a farm of 35S acres, a nice 
residence surrounded with ornamental trees, also a fine orchard of 150 trees. 
He is now eno'aged in stock-raising. Mr. and Mrs. A. are members of the 
M. E. Church, and are foremost in any effort to raise the morals ot the 
community. 

BELL, GEORGE W., a prominent business man of this township, was 
born in Van Buren county in June ISIO. His father, Jos. Bell, came from 
Kentucky, and settled there in 1837. Mr. Brown was raised there, a farmer, 
and educated in the common schools. In December 18(13, he started for the 
land of gold, by way of Panama. After remaining one year in California 
and Nevada, he returned by steamer, by way of Graytown, in June 1865. 



702 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

One year later he came to this county settlinif on his ]iresent farm. He 
was married, Jannarj' .">, 18(31, to Miss Malvina Frazee, of Van Bnren county, 
daiigliter of WilHam and Mary Frazee, a lady of culture and refinement. 
The}' are the parents of eight intelligent children, James Emery, Mary, Ida, 
Barbara Alice, Angle, Sadie, Jenny and Willie. Mr. Bell owns a farm of 
560 acres, and one of the best orchards in the county of 1,000 trees of 
choice fruits; a tine residence, and commodious barn. Fie is engaged in 
stock-raising, and is a member of Aurora Lodge, No. .50. Mr. and Mrs. 
Bell and two daughters are members of the M. E. Church. In politics, Mr. 
Bell is a democrat. He lives on section 13; postoffice Milton. 

BREWER, RICHARD, is the owner of a good farm of 160 acres, in 
section 14; he was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, February .5, 1834, 
where he remained until he was 17, wiieu he went to Flatnilton, Ohio. One 
year later he came to V;in Buren county, Iowa, and in 1854, went to Cali- 
fornia overland, engaged in farming and mining in California, Oregon 
and Idaho, until 18(58, then returned to Van Buren county. In the 
spring of 1871 lie came to this county. He was married February 
15, 1869, to Emeline F. Arnold, of Van Bnren county, and has two child- 
ren, Mary Ella and Mattie Mary. He has a good house and barn, and or- 
chard of 200 trees. In politics he is a republican. 

BROWN, S. R., one of the pioneers of Roscoe, is the subject of this 
sketch Fie was bdni in I:>lunt county, East Tennessee. When quite young 
his father, Samuel, who was a son of Tiiomas Brown, moved to WashingtDn 
county, Indiana, where Mr. Brown i-esided about twenty-tive years. In 1852 
he moved to Henry coutity, Iowa, and after remaining there two years, in 
the spring of 1855, he came and settled on his present tarni in this county. 
Mr. Brown was raised a farmer and received his education in the subscrip- 
tion schools of the early days. He was married June 6th, 1847, to Miss 
Lydia Ann Peugh of Wasliington county, Indiana, formerly of Bartholo- 
mew county, Kentucky. There were born to them four sons, Augustus 
Walter, Charles Franklin, Thomas Weldon, and Samuel Burr. Mr. JBrown 
owns 240 acres of land in a high state of cultivation, with an orchard of 250 
trees. The grove known as Round Grove, is on his farm. He is engaged 
in stock-raising. Is a member of the M. E. Church and the Masonic order. 
He is in politics an independent republican. His postoffice is Pulaski. 
Mr. Brown is well respected wherever he is known. 

CORRICK, W. C. lives on section eight, postoffice Pulaski. Born in 
Randolph county, Virginia, Marcli 17tli, 1828. His parents moved to 
Hawkins county, Ohio, where he lived until 19 years of age, when he came 
to Wyacondah township, this county. He was raised a farmer, and edu- 
cated in common scliools. In 1852, he went to California, mined for two 
years, then returned to this county, settling on his present farm; was married 
in Octoljer, 1855, to Miss Francis Ann Dunkin, of this county, and iiecame 
the father of three children, Theodore, Jasper and Mandj', deceased. His 
wife died in 1862, and in 1863 he married Miss Sarah Duckworth of this 
county who also died in 1864. He was again married in 1865, to Amanda 
A. Yoft, who is the mother of nine children: Mattie, Herman, Emma. Clara, 
Willie, Mary, Albert, Charley and a babe not yet named. Mr. Corrick 
owns a fine farm of 220 acres, and ]>lenty of stock. Mr. and Mrs. Corrick 
are members of the M. E. Ciiurch, and are highly respected. 

FAGG, S. W., farmer and stock-raiser, postoffice Pulaski; was born Jan- 
uary 4, 1860, in Fountain count}', Ind., he there grew to manhood, helping 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 703 

liis father in liis flouring mill and in acquiring an education which he fin- 
ished at the Wabasii College. He came to Iowa in 1879, and located where 
he now resides. lie owns a nice farm of 110 acres, finely improved, with 
good substantial buildings, orchard, etc., well fenced and calculated for a 
good stock farm. He is a young man of splendid business capacity, with 
fine prospects. 

GRIFFEATH, D., was born in Perry county, Penn., July 10, 1828, and 
at ten years of age he went with his mother to Van Buren county, Iowa, 
near Birmingham, and in 1866, he came tc hispreseut homein Davis county, 
which was tlien wild land. Mr. G. received a common school education. 
He was married June 20, 1850, to Miss Nancy Wilfrong, by whom he had 
one chilli, Wm. W. His wife having died Fel)ruary 2<l, 1852, he was mar- 
ried again October 4, 1S56, to Miss Delilah Bivins of Jefferson county, by 
whom he has seven children: Nancy Alvira, David Fremont, Marion M., 
Madison M., Susan D., Washington Jett'erson and Clinton Clay. He has 
172 acres of good land, comfortable buildings and an orchard of 200 trees. 
He is enjiaged in stock-raisina;. Mr. and Mrs. G. and their eldest daughter 
are members of tlie M. E. Church, In politics Mr. G. is a democrat; his 
postotlice is Milton. 

HANEY, J., the subject of this sketch was born in Alleghaney coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania, July S, 1832. When six years of age, his fatiier being 
dead, his mother came to liipley county, Indiana, where he resided until 
1854-, receiving his education in the common schools. While in Ripley 
•county lie engaged in selling goods. In the fall of 1854, he came to Van 
Buren county, and the ne.xt spring to this county, settling on his present 
farm, of 148 acres, in section 13, on which he has a good residence, plenty 
of shade trees, and oi'chard of 324 trees. His postoffice is Milton. He was 
married in August 1853, to Eliza Wildman, of Ripley county, Indiana, and 
had eight children, Jas. P., John F., Luella, Jos. A., Illioda, Mary E . Sarah 
M., and Clara M. He was married tiie second time to Elizabeth B. Knight, 
of Davis county in November, 1869, and had four children, Alvy F., OrrD., 
Orrin W., and Ira L. In politics he is a greenbacker. 

HARTZLER, ENOS, the son of Joseph and Fanny Ilartzler, was bora 
January 27, 1824, in Wayne county, Ohio, wiiere he lived until he became 
of age. He was raised a farmer, and obtained a common school education. 
In the autumn of 1872, he came west and settled on his present farm of 200 
acres in section 12. Ife was married, September 7, 1851, to Miss Nancy 
Burkholder, of Wayne county, Ohio, daughter of John and Barbara Burk- 
bolder. They have five children: Catherine, now Mrs. E. D. King; Alfred 
J., John II., Josiah P. and Leander E. He has good buildings and a fine 
orchard of 500 trees, one of the best fruit farms in the township, and an 
apiary of fifty stands of bees. In politcs he is a republican, and a member 
of the Mennonite Church. He is a genial gentleman and a good citizen. 

HOFFMAN, ISAAC, is the son of Thomas Hoft'man. He was born in 
Salem county. New Jersey, December 30, 1825. When ten years of age, 
his parents emigrated to Quincy, Illinois, where, in 1846, he enlisted for 
the Mexican War, in the First Illinois Volunteers, under Capt. James D. 
Morgan. Mr. II. was in the famous battle of Buena Vista, and for five 
days after the battle was held near it, which brought on a sickness, from 
which he has never fully recovered. In June, 1847, he returned home, and 
in 1853 started, for California on horseback, traveling 900 miles alone. 
After mining two years and a half, he returned to the scenes of his boy- 



704 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

hood; after remaining there one year, he removed from Qnincy to Carroll 
county, Mo., and five j'ears after, in the fall of 18G1, he came to his present 
home in Davis county. He was married to Miss Mar^' Jane Collins, of 
Adams count}'. 111., October ISth, 1856. They have been blessed with 
twelve children: Olivia K., Olive Mary, Leola Belle, Maryetta (deceased), 
Anna, Charley, Elnora, Rosa T., Ida, Alice, Delberry and Walter. He has a 
fine farm of 2io acres, a good residence, and 560 fruit trees. He also has a res- 
idence and ten acres in Bloomfield. He belongs to the M. E. Church and to 
Masonic lodge No. 50. He has some fine stock, and having traveled exten- 
sively, is well versed in the ways of tbe world. He lives on section 32, and 
his postoffice is Pulaski. 

HUBBARD, C. SYLVESTUS L., deceased, was one of the early pioneers^ 
born in Middlesex county, Connecticut. August 2!itli. ISIS, and there grew 
to manhood; was in the employ of a Hartford publishing house for three 
years, and lived in Rushville, Indiana, one year; then in 1839, came to Van 
Buren county, Iowa, and two years later moved to the west part of this 
township; then came to the home farm, where he passed away October 15, 
1870. Mrs. Hubbard, widow ot S. L. Hubbard, whose maiden name waa 
Helena Gleason, was born in Roxbury, Delaware county, New York. She 
was married to S. L. Hubbard, in Van Buren county, in December 1840. 
She is the mother of seven children : Margery, Clarissa, Margref, Matilda, 
Leverett, Mary E., Edward, Wallace, and Nancy, deceased. Mrs. Hubbard 
is located on a good farm of 120 acres, with a brick residence, a barn and 
good orchard. The farm is conducted by Wallace, the youngest son, a 
jolly bachelor, and a young man of good business capacity. 

KING, JAS. F., was one of the early settlers in the county. Born. 
Novembers, 1837, in Sussex county, Delaware. When five years of age his 
father, Win. R. King, came to Van Buren county, and one year later to 
Davis, where Mr. King was raised and received his education. When the 
war broke out, he enlisted in the Nineteenth Infantry, Company H, com- 
manded by Col. Crabbe, taking an active part in the battles ot Prairie 
Grove, seige of Vicksburg and Sterling farm. Near Morganza Bend he 
was taken prisoner, and was held ten months at Tyler, Texas; was exchang- 
ed at the mouth of Red River, July 21, 1864; went to New Orleans, from 
there to Pensacola; in November went to Fort Morgan, then to Pascogoola;. 
was at the fight at Spanish Fort. Mr. King went through the service 
without a scratch, was mustered out at Mobile, Alabama, in July 1865, and 
paid off at Davenport, Iowa. He married Miss Sarah E. Daughters, of 
Scotland county, Missouri, December 21, 1865. They have had two child- 
ren, Letty F. and Vernitia, deceased. Mr. King owns a farm of 140 acres. 
In politics he is a democrat, and like most democrats, a gentleman. 

LIKES, GEORGE, deceased; was born in Bhiladelphia, Pa., in 1814, 
where he lived for ten years, then resided twelve years in Cinncinnati, O.,. 
then in Ripley county, Ind., until 1855, when he came to this county March 
5, where he lived until his decease, August 30, 1868. Mrs. B. E. Baker; 
was born in Pike county, O., in 1832. In 1853, her father John Bromley 
came to this county, where, in January 28, 1858, she was married to Geo. 
Likes, and by this marriage had three children: Sarah Catharine, Geo. 
Washington and Columbus B. She was again married September 22, 1872, 
to B. E. Baker of this count}', who was born in Decatur county, Ind., in 
July, 1843, where he lived twenty-one years; then went to Richland county, 
and one year latter, back to Decatur county, remained there one year; them 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 705 

in St. Joe one year; tlieii to Washington county, Kan., untii 1869, when he 
came to this connty. They are tlie parents of two boys, John Wni. and Jas- 
per Franklin. They are located on a good farm of 130 acres, with comfort- 
able buildings, an orchard of 130 trees, and a peacli orchard. Mr. and Mrs. 
B. are m.embers of the M. E. Church, and highly respected. 

MILLER, THOMAS, lives on section 32,'postoti:ce Pulaski. Pie is one 
of the oldest pioneei-s now living in the township, having settled on hi& 
present farm in 1347. He was born in Hardin county, Ky., September 6, 
1825. When he came to this county, there were only two houses between 
his and Blooinfield. He was married in December, 1854, to Miss Sarah 
McMillan of this county. Nine children were born to them: Amanda, 
Robert, David, T. Ellen Nora, Almeda, Albert, Minnie, Clyde, and Tliomas, 
deceased. Mr. M. owns a farm of 3.^0 acres, with good house, barn and or- 
chard, with plenty of fine stock. When Mr. M. came to this county he was 
poor, but now, by his industry, he has acquired quite a property. 

FINN ELL, FRANCIS C. P., farmer and stock-raiser, section 12, post- 
office Milton; was born June 6, 1817, in Kanawha county, Va., and while 
quite young came with his parents to Ohio, and seven years latter went to 
Logan county, West Va., on the Wyandotte river, whei'e he assisted his 
father to buikl a flat biiat eighty feet long, cutting and sawing the lumber 
with a whip saw. Loaded it with corn and chesnuts, and with five families 
of emigrants on board, started down the river to Cirincinnati, where he sold 
the boat and cargo and bought teams and started for the wilds of Michigan. 
At Indianapolis, his father died after a brief illness, and one month latter 
his mother also died, leaving a family of nine children, seven being girls. 
The ne.\t year they continued their journey, arriving in 1835. and lived 
there two years, when the death of his oiily brother broke up the family, 
and he, with others, started in a sleigh in midwinter, for the territory of 
Iowa, and made the first location in that part of this county where he how 
lives. He built a cabin, made improvements, and went to Burlington for 
frnit trees, and planted the first orchard in the county. He now owns 604r 
acres in a high state of cultivation, with afine house, barn and orchard. He 
was married December 24, lS4(t, to Miss Elizabeth Hawley, a native of 
Canada, who died in 1847, leaving two children, Mary A., wife of Henry 
Harrel of Milton, and Isaac H. He married again November 9, 1849, Miss 
Rebecca L. Powell, a native of Virginia. They have seven children: Benj. 
F., Jas. S., Amanda C, Thos. S. and Eldrag S. Mr. P. was a lieutenant 
during the "border war," in Capt. Hawjey's comj^any of Col. Selsby's regi- 
ment. Was called out and camped near P'armington, and dispersed witliout 
bloodshed. Was one of the club officers of the 'Hairy Nation" division of 
regulators, before the State was organized. He has been a membe'' of the 
board of supervisors, and school treasurer for many years. He is an old 
line democrat, and takes great interest in politics. 

WRAY, T. J., lives on section 6. postoffice Stiles; was born in Giles 
county, Tenn., October 18, 1827. When he was four years old, his father 
moved to Adams county. Ills., where he lived five years, then came to Van 
Buren connty, Iowa, where they lived about nine years. In the spring of 
1845. he came to Wyacoiidah township, and in the spring of 1852, he went 
to California, being live months on tiie way. After mining thi-ee years, he 
returned and purchased his present farm, and moved on it in 1857. He was 
married to Miss Rebecca Radee of this county. Eight children have been 
born to them, six now living: Effie Jane, Emma A., Ida May, Clara Francis^ 



706 HISTOKY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

Mary Elizabeth, J. Wm., and two deceased, Geo. B. and Minnie. Mr. Wray 
has a ojood farm of 18-3 acres, a good liouse, barn and orchard. He was raised 
a farmer and educated in the common sihools. lie is a member of Masonic 
Lodge No. 217 and of the M. E. Chnrcli. 

WflAY, G. W., lives on section 7, postoffice Piihiski; was born in Giles 
county, Tenn., March 7, 1830. When he was quite young, his father moved 
to Adams county, Ills., where they lived live years; then moved to Van 
Bnren county, Iowa. In 18i5, they came to this county, settling in Wya- 
condah township. He was raised a farmer and received a common school 
education. In 1852, in company with his brother, he went to California, 
returned to this county in 1855, and moved on his present farm in 1857. 
He was married February 14, 1857, to Miss Louisiana Miller. They have 
six children: Henry Frank, Mary E., Martha J., Eeuben, Albert and John. 
He has a fine farm of 140 acres, all in cultivation. Mr. W. is a Mason, be- 
longing to Quitman Lodge, No. 217, and also one of the standbys in the M. 
E. Church. 



SALT CREEK TOWNSHIP. 

BUCHANAN, WM., ferryman at McClure's ford, postoffice Eldon; was 
born November 30, 1823, in Juniatta county. Pa. At the age of ten years 
he came with his parents, Alexander and Margaret, to Perry county, Ohio, 
where he lived till 1846. He was reared a farmer and there acquired a lim- 
ited education. In 1846 he went to Pickaway county and worked for J. O. 
lienick, dealer in blooded stock. In 1856 he came to Ottumwa, Iowa, and 
run a ferry four years; then went to Piatt county, 111., and for twelve years 
engaged in farming and stock-raising; then went to Lyon county in freight- 
ing business, and wh ilethere had his leg broken. In 1875 he returned to 
Ohio, and in September, 1881, he settled herein his present business. He 
was mari-ied July 20, 1846, to Harriett E. Whitmore, of Perry county, O., 
and they were blessed with ten children, seven now living, John J., Alex- 
ander, Sanford Allen, Walter W., Ezra M., Drusilla F., HiTram J. Mrs. B. 
died in 1881. Mr. B. owns one of the best ferry boats on the Des Moines 
river and is very obliging and accommodating. 

DEBURN, F. G., farmer and stock-raiser, section 16, postoffice Eldon; 
was born July 5, 1838, in Monroe county, N. Y., and in 1845 came with his 
parents to Davis county, Iowa, and though quite young, he helped his father 
stake out his claim of 40 acres. He was married in April, 1855, to Miss M. 
Jolmson, a native of Iowa, and had one child, Hiram. His wife having 
died, he was married again October 16, 1867, to Miss Levina Strang, a na- 
tive of .this county. They had six children: Mary A., Nancy J., Ida A., 
Louisa, Joe G., and Anetta. Mrs. D. having died, he was married again 
May 31, 1881, to Miss Ai}ua Christina Helmina Amelia Low, a native of 
Germany. Hikam Debukn, a brother of the abave named, was a soldier in 
the late war, in the Seventeenth Iowa Infantry, and was wounded at Vicks- 
burg. Mr. F. G. Deburn is the owner of a good farm of 121 acres, and is 
engaged in stock-raising. In politics he is a greenbacker, and a member of 
the Christian Church. He is a hospitable gentleman, and has the respect of 
all who know him. Feederick Debuen, father of the above, was born 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTT. 707 

April 2, 179<), in Germany, and came to New York in 1838. ] [e ran a gov- 
ernment mill for some time, and was very badly injnred by being caught in 
the drive wheel. When he first came to this territory the deer were so plen- 
ty he could kill them with an axe. In 1858 he fell into a cellar and broke 
three ribs, and in 1873 he broke his leg iri the thigh. He died March 29, 
1877.^ 

DEBURN, WM., farmer and stock-raiser, section 16, postoftice Eldon; 
was born July 5, 1830, in Monroe connty, N. Y., and emigrated with his 
parents to this county in 1845. and although quite young, he helped his 
father stake out his claim of 40 acres. He was educated in the common 
schools of this county. He has a fine stock farm, well improved, and has 
lived here and seen the wilderness around him blossom as the rose. He 
was married in A])ril, 1855, to Miss Martha Johnson, a native of this county, 
and liad one child, Hiram. He was married again October 16, 1867, to 
Miss Sebina Strong, also a native of this county, and had six children: Mary 
A., Nancy, Ida A., Susie, Joseph G., and Aurtiiie. He was married a third 
time to Miss Anna Christiana William Helmena Amelia Susie Keines, a 
native of Germany. We don't see how Mr. D. ever managed to pop the 
question to such a long name as that. Keno? 

DUCKWORTH, W. C, whose portrait appears elsewhere. is a lumber man- 
ufacturer and dealer, postofhce Eldon; was born May 81, 1837, in Putnam 
county, Ind., where he lived for seventeen years, assisting on the farm and 
attending school. At the age of seventeen he was apprenticed to a mill- 
wright, with whom he remained four years. He enlisted during the war in 
company G, Second Iowa lanfantry, serving three years as a private; then 
reenlisted in the Tenth Colored Infantry as a lieutenant and served one year, 
being a prisoner for fifty-two days, and was discharged April 6, 1865. He 
then came home and has since been one of the county's most successful bus- 
iness men. He was nian-ied in 1859 to Miss R. 0. Eavens, daughter of 
W^m. Eavens one of the old settlers of this county. They have had six chil- 
dren, A. L. and H. E.. twins, Rachel E., L. S., and two deceased. Mr. D. is 
a member of the K. T., St. ,Tohns Commandery, at Ottumwa. 

DYE, ELI, fai'mer, section 8, jiostoffice Eldon; was born September 11, 
1823, in Morgan county, (Jhio. Here he grew to manhood and received a 
good education in the subscription schools. In the fall of 1847 he arrived in 
this county with his family and settled on his present farm, liuying it wild 
from the government. It now consists of 160 acres well improved, with a 
large two story residence, a good barn and orchard. He was married June 
17, 1847, to Miss Nancy Tener, of Morgan county, O., and they were 1 Jessed 
■with three children, Mary S., Emma G., and one deceased, Erastns. Mrs. 
D. died August 27, 1852, and Mr. D. was married again February 3, 1858, 
to Miss Melissa Vinton, daughter of Bradley and Catharine, of this county. 
They have had six children, Florence R., Lucy C, Katy M., and three de- 
ceased, Edgar, Olive and Lily. Mr. and Mrs. D. and two daughters are 
members of the M. E. Church, In politics he is a greenbacker. Mr. D. 
has given his children a good education, and four of his daugliters have been 
teachers. 

HEM, JACOB, farmer and stock-raiser, section 24, postofiice Hickory; 
■was born in Germany, may 1, 180S; came to this country in 1835, and 
worked as a stone-mason, fii'st in Illinois, and then in Missouri. In 1840, 
he located in Davis county, staked out his claim of 320 acres, and commenced 
clearing his land. He now has about 2t)0 acres well improved, "goot"' or- 



708 HISTOEY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

chard, and "goot vater." In 1835 he was married to Miss Wesley, a native 
of Germany, and raised a family of five children: Mary A., wife of A. Peter- 
son; Elizabeth, wife of G. Staiii>-hter; Francis M., Jacob M., and Maggie,, 
wife of J. Person. Mr. K."s wife died October 17, 1880, and he married 
again July 30, 1881, to Miss Clara Bellk, a native of Illinois. He has a very 
pleasant home, where he intends to spend the rest of his days with his young 
■wife. 

JONES, HENRY, farmer and stock-raiser, section 13, postoffice Hickory;, 
was born in Butler county, Ohio, March 1, 1825, and lived with his parents 
on the farm until he was 2C> years old. He came to Scotland county. Mo., 
in 1843, with an ox team, which was rather slow, but he managed to get 
there, and in the fall of the same year he came to Davis county, where he 
now lives; staked out his claim and built his first cabin, 18x26, a large house 
in those days. Mr. J. was hunting on the banks of the Des Moines when 
the last of the Fox tribe of Indians passed down the river. He was married 
January 1, 1852, to Miss Sweney Carter, a native of Kentucky, born May 
3, 1827. They have had six children : George F., Sarah, wife of Francis Gar- 
rett; William H., Joseph C, Jessie B., Mary J. and Marquess. 

LYNCH, J. K., farniei- and stock-raiser, section 15, postofiice Eldon; 
was born in Spencer county, Ohio, January IS, 1833, and lived with liis- 
parents until he was of age. He and his younger brother spent their 3'oung 
days as bee hunters, and iiunting Indian relics. He was married March 4, 
1855, to Miss Susan Stroud, a native tif Missouri, wlio was born March 4, 
1838, and died February 16, 1881, and he married again September 26, 1881, 
Miss M. A Sinipspn, a native of III. By his first wife he raised a family 
of eleven children, all living at home, except one, died quite young: Charles 
H., Mary M., John W., Priida V., Margaret A., Sarali L)., Emma C, Eliza- 
beth, and Thomas J. Mr. L. has a fine farm of 80 acres, 40 acres well im- 
proved. 

McCLURK, AVM., farmer, section 20, postoffice Floris; was born Octo- 
ber 12, 1829, in Jessamine county, Ky. At the age of one year he moved 
with his parents to Orange county, Ind., where he lived about 15 years. In 
the fall of 1844, his father moved to Iowa Territory and settled in Van 
Buret) county, and thi'ee years later came to this county. He settled on 
thefa'rm he now owns in 1854, consisting of 320 acres, now higlily improved. 
He is engaged in stock-raising. He was married March 11, 1851, to Miss 
Letitia A. Prevo, daughtei- of L. T. Prevo, who came to Van Buren county 
in 1837, and moved to this county in 1840. Mr. and Mrs. M. have been 
blessed with nine children: Manuel, Maria, Ovid, Clara, Thomas J., Mary 
F., Margaret, Stella, and William P. Mr. and Mrs. M. are members of the 
Church of Christ. He is a democrat in politics, and is one of the most 
enterprising farmers in Salt Creek township. 

NOEL, PETER, farmer and stock-raiser, sections, 14, 15 and 16, post- 
ofiice Eldon or Hickory; was born in Scioto county, Ohio, October 3, 1816, 
and lived with bis parents, and was educated in the common schools, until 
he was twenty-six, when he bought a farm, and went to raising stock until 
1850, when he sold out and emigrated to Davis county, Iowa', and staked out 
liis claim of 160 acres, where he now lives; built his first cabin, and com- 
menced improving his farm, which is now under good cultivation, with a fine 
orchard on it. He was married January 15,1842, to Miss Rachel Downing, 
a native of Adams county, Ohio, who was born February 23, 1824. and they 
have had eight children, Philip A., Aramintha, wife of A. Quigley; George 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 709 

W., Dora, wife of A. Davis; and two sons in the army; Bartlioloniew; starved 
to death in rebel prison, and Mechic, killed at Champion Hill; and two chil- 
dren died in infancy. 

PHELPS, A. H., farmer and stock-i'aiser, section 33, postoffice Troy; was 
born January 12, 1846, in Union township, tliis county, and spent his youth 
assisting his father ou the farm, and attending school. His father and an 
elder brother enlisted in com]iany E, Third Iowa Cavaliy, and in 1863, bis 
father coming home on account of disal)ility, he enlisted, in October, 1863, in 
the same company. He was in the Steele raid through Arkansas, and in the 
figlits on the Price raid, and at Independence, Missouri, where his brother 
fell, and at Mill Run and Osage, Kansas; was taken sick and sent to hospital 
^t Louisville, Kentucky, and mustered out August IS, 1865; came home to his 
father's farm, and at the age of twenty-one worked at carpentering two years. 
He was married February 11, 1869, to Miss Mary Hall, a native of Virginia, 
and a daughter of G. B. Hall, of this county, and they have 
two children, "Wayne and Clayton. Mr. P. moved to Nebraska in 1871, 
and three years later, returned to this county. He bought his present farm 
in 1881, consisting of eighty acres of well improved land, known as the Gra- 
liam farm. 

SLOAN, WM., farmer, section three, postoffice Eldon; was born Decem- 
ber 14:, 1817, in Chester county, Pennsylvania. When six years of age his 
parents, Robert and Elizabeth, removed to Ohio, where he lived for thirty 
years. He was reared on a farm and received a limited education in the 
subscription scliools. He arrived in this county June 15, 1853, and settled 
on the farm where he has since made his home. He owns a fine farm of 
140 acres, well improved. He was married in March 1841, to Miss Char- 
lotte Gerry, who died in January 1842, and Mr. S. married the second time 
to Margaret Mann, of Columbus, Ohio, they have six children ; George W., 
Mary Ann, Joshua K., Robert, Fi'ank and Sarah E., twins, and Matilda A. 
In politics Mr. S. is a democrat, and is a man verj' highly respected by those 
who know him. 

SWAIM, JOHN, farmer, section 20, postoffice Floris; was born May 31, 
1821, in Jefferson county, Ohio; when quite young his parents, 
Elias and Rachel, removed to Belmont, then to Monroe, where 
he lived till eighteen years old, when he learned the carpen- 
ter's trade in Harrison county, and served as apprentice with 
Thomas Bradley for four years; then came to Iowa, and settled in this 
county, in 1845. He now owns a good farm of 200 acres, well itftproved; 
everything about the place showing the thrift and industry of its owner. He 
was married in August, 1843, to Miss D. Hale, and they have four children; 
George M., John H., Rachel, and Florence. In politics Mr. S. is an inde- 
jjendent democrat, and is one of the most substantial and intelligent farmers 
in the township. 

YAUGllN, IRVIN, farmer and stock-raiser, section 26, ])Ostoffice Hick- 
ory, was born in Morgan county, Ohio, October 16, 1843, and came with 
his mother to Davis county in the fall of 1855; and was educated in the com- 
mon schools of the county. In the spring of 1862, he emigrated to the far 
west, where he was engaged in mining and prospecting. He traveled all 
over the territories and j^assed through all sorts of adventures, being robbed 
of his "dust'' by highwaymen; he returned to this county in 1864, and lo- 
cated where he now resides, and has made a \ery successful farmer. 



710 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 



SOAP CREEK TOWNSHIP. 

ALLEN, JOHN A., fanner and stock-raiser, postoffice Belknap; was 
born in April, 1820, in Montgomery count}', Kj., and at an early age he 
moved with his ]>areuts to Bourbon county, Ky., and in 1836, on account of 
the slavery question, they moved to Putnam county. Lid. He was raised at 
the plowhandle and educated in the subscription schools. In 1841 he came 
■to Davis county, Iowa, and in 1851 moved to Lucas county, and i-eturned 
to this county in 1863, where he has since resided. His farm is located one 
aTid a quarter miles from Belknap and contains sixty acres of improved 
land and ten acres of woodland, with good buildings and orchard, well fenced 
and stocked. He was married December 3,18i0,to Miss Elizabeth A. Ingram,, 
a native of East Tennessee. They have four children: William, Jas. H., 
Mary and Milton T. Mr. A. and wife, are members of the Presbyterian 
Church, and are very highly esteemed by all who know them. 

BEKRY, JAMES, farmer, postoffice Belknap; was born December 19,. 
1817, in Frederick county, Va. He was reared a farmer and received a lim- 
ited education in the subscription schools. At the age of five he moved with 
his parents to Muskingum county, Ohio, where he grew to manhood. He 
came^to Iowa in the fall of 1845, and located in this county where he has since 
resided, tie owns a line farm of 125 acres in cultivation and forty acres of 
woodland. He was mai'ried January 24, 1843, to Miss Nancy McConnell, a 
native of Ohio. They have had eight children: Thomas, who enlisted Octo- 
ber 6, 1863, in company E, Ninth Iowa Cavalry, and gave his life for his 
country, September 6, 1864; Jas. E., John, Samuel L., Ephraim S., Mar- 
garet, deceased; Wm. J. and Mary E., at home. Mr. B. and wife are mem- 
bers of the M. E. Church. 

BOVAPD, G. L., telegraph operator, Belknap; was born January 4, 1862, 
in Armstrong county. Pa. At the age of seven years he moved with his 
parents to Schuyler county. Mo., where they lived till 1876, when they came 
to Moulton, Iowa. He acquired a good education, graduating at Moulton 
high school; and then began learning telegraphy, and eight months later 
went to work on the "Wabash" as an extra for eight weeks; then took the 
night office at Belknap, a position he now occupies. He is a fine operator 
and a perfect gentleman. 

CANNADY, FRANCIS M., farmer and stock-raiser, postoffice Belknap; 
was born August 27, 1834, in Vermillion count}', Illinois. He was reared 
a farmer and educated in the common schools. At the age of thirteen he 
came to this county with his parents, and in the fall of 1848, moved to Wa- 
pello county, where he grew to manhood; he afterwards moved back to this 
county, and now owns a fine farm of forty acres highly improved. He is 
also engaged in in the manufacture of shaved ax-handlcs, in which he is 
doing a rushing business. He was married I)ecember 25, 1859, to Miss 
Mary A. Lester, a native of Pike county, Illinois. They have four children, 
Laura F., Marion G., Byron L., and James R. In politics Mr. C. is a re- 
publican. 

DODD, ELIZABETH, postoffice Belknap; was born in Trumbull county, 
Kentucky, where she grew to womanhood and was educated in the subscrip- 
tion schools. She was married in October 1829, to John Dodd, who was 
born in 1800, in Henry county, Kentucky, where he grew to manhood on a 



HISTOET OF DAVIS COUNTY. 711 

farm and received a limited education. In 1830 he moved to Hendricks 
county, Indiana, where he cleared a farm of eighty acres and lived fourteen 
years; he then came to this county, where he entered a farm of 170 acres, 
which is now under line cultivation. They were blessed with fourteen chil- 
dren, nine living: William, Thomas, Bernard, Catharine, Jnnietta, Charles, 
Henry, Martlia J. and Alvah. Mr. Dodd died in the winter of 1873, and 
Mrs. D. still lives on the old homestead. 

GRANT, EDWARD, Jr., farmer, section 32, Drakeville postoffice. Is 
the t)wner of 440 acres of well improved land; he was born January 23, 1829> 
in British America, and at the age of eight years came with his parents, 
Edward and Alice Grant, to Harrison county, Ohio, where he was raised on 
a farm, and received a common school education. In 1848 the family set- 
tled in this county. He went to California about the year 1852; his mother 
died in this county in 1856, and his father in 1861. In 1864 he returned 
from California, and found three sisters witiiout father or mother. He at 
once bought a farm and the girls kept house for him, until the last one was 
married, about a year ago, when he leased his farm, and intends to visit Cali- 
fornia again this fall. Mr. G. stands high in this county, and commands 
the respect of all who know him. 

HARBOUR, R. J., farmer and stock-i-aiser, postoffice Belknap; was born 
February 1, 1841, in Henry county, Iowa, and at five j^ears of age came 
with his parents to this county, and here grew to manhood. He was reared 
a farmer and educated in the common schools. When the war broke out he 
enlisted in company E, Third Iowa Cavalry, and was in the battles of that 
regiinent, being wounded in the head and shoulder at " Moore's Mills," July 
2, 1862, and i-emained in hospital till the next spring; then rejoined his 
company, and was at Iron Mountain, Little Rock, Guntown, Tupelo, and in 
Wilson's raid from Eastport to Macon, Georgia. Was discharged in the 
fall of 1865; returned home and purchased the farm he now owns, which is 
located six miles northwest of Bloomfield, and contains 110 acres of tine 
land, mostly in cultivation. He was married March 9, 1866, to Miss S. J. 
Vest, a native of Indiana. They have seven children: Schuyler C, JohnE., 
George, May, Bessie, Elizabeth and Lousia, the last two twins. 

KING, II. T., farmer and stock-raiser, postoffice Drakeville; was born in 
Maryland, November 10, 1814, and lived there until he grew to manhood. 
In 1837 he moved to Madison county, 111., and in the fall of 1874 he came 
to this county and settled two miles north of Drakeville, and owns 288 acres 
of well improved land. He owns a great deal of stock and has 230 feet of 
cattle sheds, besides two of the best stables in the county. He was married 
December 3, 1835, to Miss Louisa Dorsey, of Maryland. They had seven 
children: John B. and James T., living in Golden City, Col.; Clara, wife of 
Albert Estabrook, and four deceased, Mary E., wife of E. H. Dorsey, and 
three in infancy. Mrs. K. died June 9, 1860, and he married again June 20, 
1861, Miss Elizabeth Higby, of Alleghany county. Pa. They have three 
children, Obedia H., Ulyses G. and Wm. K. Mr. and Mrs K. are members 
of the M. E. Church. He has been a member of a church since 1829, and 
is a self-educated man. 

McCONNELL, T. J., deceased, farmer; was born December 16, 1833, in 
Muskingum county, Ohio, where he grew to manhood, reared a farmer and 
educated in the common schools. He was married in 1856 to Miss Nancy 
Dutton, a native of Muskingum county, Ohio, and had four children: Mar- 
garet A., Jessie T., Jas. W., Elizabeth J. Mrs. M. died May 4, 1872, and Mr. 



712 HISTOEY OF DAVIS COHNTY. 

M. was married August 9, 1873, to Elizabetli Duttou. Mr. M. died February 
6,1877, since wliich time his wife and sons have carried on the farm, contain- 
ino- 122 1-2 acres under fine cultivation. Mr. M. came to this county in 1856, 
and was one of the most higlily respected citizens of the county. 

McCONjSrp]LL, SAMUEL, farmer and stock-raiser, section 13, pofetoffice 
Bellvnap; was Ijorii February 11, 1827, in Muskingum count}-, Ohio, where 
he grew to manhood and received a common school education; living with 
his parents till he was twenty-one years old, when he went to work at the 
carpenter's trade, which he followed more or less for twenty years. In 1851 
he came to Iowa, remained about three months, then returned to Ohio until 
1857, when he came back, locating in Davis county, till I860, settling on 
his present farm. In ISCO he went back to Ohio on a visit, and on account 
■of the war remained till 186(i, when he returned to this county, where he has 
since lived. His farm is located four miles north of Belknap, and contains 
120 acres, with good buildings, orchard and vineyard; and has one of the 
best stone quarries in the State. He was married in September, 1852, to 
Miss Maria J. Craig, a native of Ohio. They have liad six children: Maggie, 
James F., John W., Sadie, and Samuel F., and Mary, deceased. Mr. In. and 
wife are members of the Protestant Methodist Church, and in politics he is 
a democrat. 

McGEE, JOEL, hotel-keeper, Belknap; was born November 28, 1831, in 
Bartholomew county, Ind. Here he grew to manhood and received a com- 
mon school education. In 1848 he came to Wapello county, Iowa, and two 
years later to this county. In 1852 he started for California and reached 
San Francisco after a voyage of ninety-six days. In 1855 ho returned to 
this county where he has since lived. He worked at blacksmithing until 
1876 when he commenced keeping hotel, which he has since followed with 
credit to himself and family. He owns a farm of ninety acres adjoining the 
town of Belknap. He was married October 20, 1856, to Miss Jane E. Dun- 
lavy, a native of Indiana. They had five children: Sarah E. and Clara E., 
both at home, and three deceased. Mrs. M. died August 2, 1867, and he 
was mari-ied again October 20, 1873, to Sarah Kinney, a native of Clark 
county, Ohio. Mr. M. is a member of the Baptist Church; he and his family 
are well educated and are surrounded with all the evidences of refinement 
and culture. 

MUNN, DAYID, farmer and stock-raiser, section 12, postoflice Belknap; 
was born in 1827, in Switzerland county, Ind. He was reared a farmer and 
received a common school education, and there grew to manhood. In 1867 
he came to Davis coutit}-, Iowa, and purchased the farm he now lives on, 
located on Soap Creek, containing 148 acres, 100 in cultiuation and the bal- 
ance good timber pasture. His farm is well stocked, has good buildings 
and a fine young orchard. He was married in 1857 to Miss Nancy Brooks, 
a native of Indiana. They have four children: Adolphus, Calvin, Albert 
and Jas. W. Mr. M. has raised a colt this year, which at five months old 
weighed 820 pounds, which is pretty hard to beat in this county. 

MUNN, J. F., farmer and stock-raiser, postoflice Belknap; was born Sep- 
tember 4, 1132, in Switzerland county, Ind., where he grew to manhood, be- 
ing raised on a farm and receiving a common school education. In 1860 he 
came to this county and purchased the farm where he now lives, containing 
120 acres of fine land with good improvements. He was married July 6, 
1862, to Miss Eosa Dawson, a native of Jennings county, Ind. They have 
seven children: John L., Wm. E., David M., Catharine, Addison, Thomas, 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 713 

^nd Ellie M. Mr. M. is a Mason, being a member of lodge So. 86, Drake- 
viile. In politics he is a republican. He has the respect'and confidence of 
the entire community. 

PARSONS, C. C, station agent, Belknap; was born March 12, 1854, in 
Oneida, 111.; and here he lived and attended school till he was twelve years 
old; then went to Scott county, where he worked on a farm for two years; 
then returned to Knox county for a year. At the age of fifteen he began 
learning telegraphing, which took five months; then took charge of the night 
■office at Oneida, and remained three years; went into the employ of the C., 
K. I. & P., and took charge of Princeton station, Mo., for one year; then the 
Eldon station for three years; tiien took charge of the Belknap Junction of- 
fice of the C, R. I. & P. and Wabash roads, which position he now holds, 
being also the express agent. He was married September 19. 1877, to Miss 
Xillian Richardson, a native of Texas. They have two children: Clarence 
M. and Hester. Mr. Parsons has four lots and a nice residence here, and 
is very comfortably situated; he is a fine business man, and enjoys the cou- 
fideiice of both companies, and the respect and good will of the entire com- 
munity. 

PARSONS, JAS. H., postoffice Belknap; was born February 29, 1860, in 
Knox county, 111., where he lived fifteen years and acquired a common 
school education. In 1876 he went to work for the P. & D. R. R. about a 
year; then came to Belknap and worked for the C, R. I, & P. R. R. for six 
months; then worked for the P. & D. a year, at Danville, 111.; then for the 
C. & E. I. about two years; then for the C. M. & St. P., as yard switchman, 
at Chicago, until January 9, 1881, when he had the misfortune of having a 
pair of car trucks run over his lower limbs, which permanently disables him 
for manual labor. After recovering, in a measure, he commenced learning 
telegrapliy, in the office at Belknap, where he is now engaged. 

RUTMAN, DANIEL T., farmer and stock-raiser, postoffice Belknap; 
was born July 19, 1822, in Sangamon county, 111. When quite young he re- 
moved with his father to Fulton county. III., where he grew to manhood on 
the farm, and acquired a common scliool education. In the spring of 1843, 
he came to this county, being among the first settlers of Soap Creek town- 
ship. He was married in 1849, to Miss J. Roundy, a native of Saratoga, N. 
Y. They have been blessed with eight children: Stiles H., Miles A., "Giles 
L., Horace E., John T. D., Mary and Yirgil M. Mr. P. and wife are mem- 
bers of the M. E. Church, and in politics JVIr. P. is a greenbacker. By his 
npright conduct and fair dealing, he has merited and acquired the esteem of 
all who know him. 

SHARON, JOHN II., farmer and stock-raiser, Belknap; was born Dec- 
ember 4, 1847, in Juniatta county, Penn.; here he grew to manhood and was 
educated, graduating from the Ross Creek Academy, in the same county. 
When the war broke out, he enlisted in Company I, One hundred and twen- 
ty-sixth Pennsylvania Infantry, and after serving in the army, returned home 
and went to farming again, and in the fall of 1864, came to this county, 
where he now owns a nice farm of 100 acres, four and a half miles from 
Bloomfield, all under cultivation, with good buildings and orchard. He was 
married September 7, 1865, to Miss Prudence Wann, ariative of Muskingum 
county, Ohio, who died June 7, 1874; Mr. S. married again June 17, 1877, 
Mrs. Biddle, a native of Greene county, Peim., who had two children by her 
former marriage: James R., and Jessie N., and has one child by this mar- 
25 



h 



714 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

riage, Catherine L. Mr. and Mrs. S. are members of the Congregational 
Church, and are higldy respected in the community where they live. 

SHERMAiST, H., farmer and stock-raiser, postoffice Belknap; was born 
May 2G, 1819, in Jetierson county Ind.; he was reared a farmer, and here 
grew to manhood. In the fall of 1856, he came to this county, where he 
purchased his present farm and has since resided. It contains 100 acres, 
now under a high state of cultivation, and he has just completed the best 
farm house in that part of the county, and also has a large barn, and good 
orchard. He was married September 4, 1845, to Miss Elizabeth A. Munn,. 
a native of Switzerland county, Ind. They have had eight cliildreii: Jamea- 
A., Admana N., David N., Jolin M. Kossanna, Arribell, Thomas, and Orange- 
D. Mr. and Mrs. S. are members of tlie P. M. Church. 

STARK, GREENUP, pioneer farmer and stock-raiser, postofhce Belk- 
nap; was born in February 1817, in Henry county, Kentucky. He 
was reared a farmer and educated at the subscription schools, and lived in 
Henry county till he was thirteen years old, then with his parents moved to 
Decatur county, Indiana, where he lived till 1846, when he came to Davis 
county, Iowa, where he has lived on the farm which he entered, for thirty- 
five years. It contains 280 acres, 200 under cultivation, with eighty of 
woodland pasture. He was married in February 1842, to Miss 'Hannah 
Wallace, a native of Virginia. They have had nine children, five now liv- 
ing, J. J., wife of Mr. Lowe, of Mills county; A. W. A., Lucy, one of the 
best school teachers in the county; G. W. and Mattie, a young lady of seven- 
teen, at home. Those deceased were, Lucinda, Josiah, John and Jamea. 
Mr. S. by steady, hard work, has made his farm, in imjirovenient and pro- 
duction, second to none in the county, and has gained the confidence and 
esteem of all who know him; he has been a republican since the organiza- 
tion of the party, and has held many offices of trust. 

WHITAKER, J. B., M. D., Belknap; was born July 15, 1837, in Surry 
county, N. C. When quite young his ]iarents moved to Monroe county, 
Indiana, where he lived fourteen years, acquiring his education at home un- 
der a private tutor. At the age of seventeen, he entered College at Jack- 
sonville, Illinois, where he spent three years, and then commenced the study 
of medicine with Dr. C. P. Dunlap, of that place; attended three terms at the 
Cincinnati Medical College, and there graduated February 24, 1860; he 
then entered the government service as chief commissary at Santa Fe, N. M.,^ 
where he served tliree years, eleven months and two days, then returned to 
Terre Haute, Indiana, where he practiced till ISSO, when he come to Belk- 
nap, where he has now gained quite a large practice. He was married in 
August 1857, to Miss Mary E. Briscoe, a native of Monroe county, Indiana. 
They have one child, Alice, who is now a school teacher in Indiana. Mrs. 
W. died October 6, 1858, and the doctor was maj-ried again June 13, 1877, to 
Miss Mary E. Cupp, a native of Lawrance county, Indiana. Mr. W., wife 
and daughter are members of the Baptist Church. 

WINN, THOMAS A., Jk., telegraph operator, Belknap; was born ApriL 
28, 1861, at Canton, Missouri. At an early age he moved with his parents to 
Virden, Illinois, and attended the public schools. At the age of thirteen 
years he began clerking in a store for his grandfather at Wentzville, Mis- 
souri, and remained three years; then learned telegraphing, took charge of the 
Wentzville night office, W. St. L. & P. R. R. for four months, then went to 
Montgomery for two years; then for three months at Ferguson, and was then 
promoted to day operator at Belknap, Iowa, which he now holds. Since 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 715 

writing the above Mr. Winn lias been transferred to a better position at 
Spriiifflield Illinois. He is one of the best operators on the Wabash road. 

VAN BENTHUSEN, JOHN, fanner and stock-raiser, postoffice Belk- 
nap; was born September 26, 1S23, in WaiTen count}', Ohio. At the age 
of five years he with his parents moved to Shelby county, Ind., settling in 
a dense forest, where he grew to manhood, enduring all the privations of 
pioneer life. In 1850 he came to this county, settling in Mai-ion township, 
entering a farm of IGO acres, which he made into a comfortable homestead. 
He was married October 1, 1841-, to Miss Sarah Clayton, a native of Ohio, 
l)orn April 22, 1827. They had eleven children, nine now living: Mary E., 
Percilla, Susan E., Wm. H., John W., Sarah E., Thomas C, Steven and 
Herman. He and his wife are members of the Protestant Methodist Church; 
he is a Mason and in politics is a greenbacker. During the war he enlisted 
in company F, Fortieth Iowa Infantry, and manfully discharged the duty 
of a soldier. He was mustered in November 15, 1862, being one of five 
brothers in the army. He was in the battles of Vicksburg, Helena, Little 
Rock, Fort Smith, Port Gibson; was in the service three years and not off 
duty a day in tliat time. He is now looked upon as one of the best farm- 
ers in the count v. 



UNION TOWNSHIP. 

AKERS, B. C, Esq., justice of the peace, Troy; was born November 17, 
1812, in Barron county, Ky. ; at the age of nine years, he moved with his 
parents to Tennessee, where he was reared and educated; waking three miles 
to attend a very indifiierent subscription school. In his youth he tollowed 
fiatboating on the Cumberland, Ohio and Mississippi rivers; and was in New 
Orleans in 1833, during the cholera epidemic. He was married August 27, 
1835, to Miss Martha Etheridge, a native of Tennessee, and they have had 
five children: Amanda J., deceased March, 1880, wife of John H. Miller; 
Martha M., wife of S. B. Siddons; James C, Sarah E., wife of John E. Con- 
ner; and Mary E., deceased, when three years old. In 1840, Mr. A. came to 
Iowa, and lived in Yan Buren countj' twenty-two years, enduring all the pri- 
vations of a pioneer life. He came to this county and located in Troy, iu 
1862, since which time he has been one of the county's best citizens. He 
has been justice of the peace or constable for a great many years, and has 
been many years a member of the Baptist Church. His son, J. C, served 
three years during the war in company H, Nineteenth Iowa Infantry. 

BARKER, JOHN T., farmer and stock-raiser; section 9, postothce Troy ; 
was born October 20, 1842, iu Van Buren county, Iowa; his father, Isaac, 
locating there in 1839, where he died in 1847. Our subject then lived 
with his mother till he was seventeen; came to this county in 1861, 
and attended school one winter, working for his board. He enlisted Au- 
gust 6, 1862, in company I, Nineteenth Iowa Infantry, and was in the bat- 
tles of the regiment, being taken prisoner at Sterling Farm, Louisiana, Sep- 
tember 21, 1863; exchanged July 22, 1864; he was mustered out July 10, 
1865. He still sufl'ers from epilepsy, caused by exposure in the army. He 
was married January 31, 1867, to Miss Catharine A. Denning, a native of 
Van Buren county, born December 22, 1844, and they have six children: 



716 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

William H., Jacob PL, Sarah A., John T., Jesse F. and J A. In 1873, 
he bought eighty acres, in this county, now in cultivation. He has a good 
orchard, and vineyard, and owns twenty acres of timlier. The family are 
members of the Presbyterian Church. 

BELL, D. S., general merchant, Troy; was born June 9, 1813, in Jeffer- 
son county, Ohio. At the age of twelve he came with his parents to Van 
Euren county, Iowa; his education being mostly acquired in Ohio. At the 
age of seventeen he enlisted, in Se]>tember, 18G1, in company D, Third 
Iowa Cavalry, and was never off' duty till the Price raid in Missouri, in 1864- ; 
was at the Pea Kidge, and from there to Helena, Arkansas; had his horse 
killed, and was taken prisoner at Lagrange, Arkansas, and taken to Little 
Rock, and four months later was paroled when General Steele captured that 
city; went to St. Louis for ten days; then returned to his regiment at Little 
Rock, and protected union citizens; then veteranized, and after thirty days 
furlough, went to Memphis, and was in the Tupelo fight; then in the cam- 
paign against Price in Arkansas and Missouri, and Kansas; being taken 
with sore eyes, the result of exposure on this trip; mustered out September, 
1S65; returned to this county and engaged in business at Troy; then had 
the mail contract between Keosauqua and Bloomfield; was then salesman 
for Mr. Bishop five years; then commenced his present business at Troy, 
with $700 stock, and at present does a very large and increasing business. 
He was married in May, 1875, to Miss Druella Bruce, a native of Indiana, 
and they have two children, Ethel and Everett. 

BISHOP, ABRAM, farmer and stock-raiser, section 2, postofiice Troy; 
was born in Virginia, in 1818, and there grew up and was educated, till he 
was eighteen, when he moved with his parents to Indiana, in Putnam coun- 
ty, where he lived eighteen years. In 1854, he came to Illinois, and three 
years later to Iowa, and located where he now lives. His farm consists of 
eighty acres, well improved. He was married in October, 1849, to Miss 
Philadelphia B. Webb, a native of Kentucky, and they have ten children: 
Nanc3\ Richard, George, Abram, Eliza, Livy, Belle, John, David and Hen- 
ry. Mr. B. has a nice comfortable home, and can "look forward to an old age 
of peace and plenty. 

I30LLMAN, SAMUEL, farmer and stock-raiser, section 32, postoffice 
Pnlaski; was born January 1, 1804, in Lebanon county, Pennsylvania; here 
he grew uji and received his education; making his first move to Virginia, 
where he served as apprentice three years in the millers trade, and was 
married, in 1830, to Miss Susannah Good, a native of Virginia, and came to 
Ohio the following year, where he lived fourteen years. In 1845, lie came 
to this county, and located where he now lives; having no team or means 
he went through many hardships, till the Mormons went through, when he 
purchased a team of them, which enabled him to break his land. Five years 
later he had 160 acres in cultivation, and has been prosperous ever since; he 
now owns 385 acres; also town property in Bloomtieid. His wife died in 
1875, leaving seven children, all grown: William N., John A., George W., 
David M., Samuel N., Frank P., and Margaret, wife of Kirk Pearson; Dav- 
id died in 1878. 

BROWN, JOHN, farmer and stock-raiser, section 28, postoffice Troy ; was 
born August 17, 1826, in Richland county, Ohio, where he grew up, assist- 
ing on the farm, and attending the common schools. He then traveled, in 
Pennsylvania, in 1849, and in 1851 spent about a year visiting different 
parts of Iowa; returned to Ohio in 1852, and was married October 18, 1854, 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 717 

to Miss Unity N. Ivuox, also of Oiiio. He engaged in farming till 1S67, 
when he came and located where he now lives; he has a farm of ICO acres, 
115 acres in good cnltivation; he feeds most of his crop to stock. He has a 
family of nine children; Maiy Belle, wife of C. D. Saunders; James L., Rob- 
ert W., Alice A., Abbie D. and John K., born in Ohio, and Emma J., Wil- 
liam A. and Lela V.. born in Iowa. Tl.ey are members of the Presbyterian 
Church, ami are well and favorably known over this county. 

CONNEli, LEE W ., blacksmith and wagon-maker, Troy; was born in 
1829, in Preston conntj', West Va. At the age of twelve he moved with 
his parents to Pennsylvania, then to Indiana, and in 1S48 came to Iowa. 
He received a limited education, and learned his trade in his father's shop. 
On coming to Iowa, they located in Troy, and carried on a shop, with the 
assistance of two younger brothers, till 1S53, when he married Miss Sarah 
Evans, a native of Tennessee, and built thesho]) he now owns and occnpies, 
where he worked till 1865, when he moved to his farm, on account of fail- 
ing health, where he lived thirteen years; then resumed his business in 
Troy. His family consists of six children: John A., Samuel E., Charles 
F., Mar}' F., wife of Whitne}' Camei'on; Addie and Mattie. His farm is 
situated in Van Buren county, and consists of S'2 acres, well improved, 
with good buildings and orchard. One son, Charles F., works with his 
father in the shop; he does a good business, and his work is too well known 
to need any recommendation. 

COX, ENNIS, farmer and stock-raiser, section twenty-eight, postoftice 
Troy; was born June 10, 1822, in Adams county, Ohio. At the age of six- 
teen, lie moved with his parents to Bartholomew county, Indiana, where he 
spent his youth, helping on the farm, and attending the district school in 
winter. He was married August 3. 1843, to Miss Lucy A. I'elle, a native 
of Indiana, living happil}' till she died, J^^ovember 7, 184:9, leaving three 
children: James IL, John A. and Benjamin F. Mr. C. married again Feb- 
ruar}' 7, 1851, Miss Rebecca Kirk, a native of North Carolina. They came 
to Iowa in 1854, locating in Wyacondah township, and became a resident of 
this township in 1850; living on section 34 till 1873, when he bought the 
fine farm and j-esidence he now owns, known as the Arney property' farm, pf 
of 240 acres, well improved; his house is a mansion, without doubt the finest 
in the towi:ship, if not in the count}'; it was erected in 18G8, at a cost of 
§6,000; the location, surroundings, and conveniences being perfect. He 
bought property in Tro}', in 1873, and moved there to educate his children, 
and there his wife died, July 30, 1878. She was a kind and indulgent moth- 
er, a good wife, and a member of the M. E. Church for many years. She 
left four children: Maria, Milliard, Edward and Amy. Mr. C. man-ied again 
July 1, 18S(), Lucinda E. Shook, daughter of John Corrick, of this county. 
Mr. C. is an active member of the M. E. Church, and is highly respected in 
the community. 

COX, J. H., merchant, Troy; was born in Bartholomew county, Ind., 
Jul}' 25, 1844, and at the age of ten came with his parents to Wyacondali 
tov/nship, in this count}', wliere the}' lived two years, then moved to Union 
township. He received his education at the common schools, with a finish- 
ing course at Troy Academy. He did good service for his country during 
the war, enlisting in November, 1863, in company F, 30th Iowa Infantry; 
he was in the grand review at Washington, their banner having on it, '' 23 
engagements," Mr. C. having been in seventeen of them ; among: others, 
Kenesaw Mountain, Marietta, Lookout Mountain, Atlanta, Lovejoy Station, 



718 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. , 

Macon, Jonesboi'ono;li, Beaufort, S. C, Colmabia and Mill Creek, where 
they received news of the surrender of Lee, havint^ been with Sherman in 
his famous march to the sea. The war over, he returned to Iowa, and re- 
ceived his discharge the day he was twenty one; lie went to work with his 
father on the farm, and was married December 28, 186G, to Miss Isabella 
Wiley, a native of Missouri; they have six children: Irene, Bernard, Au- 
gusta, Olive, Lucy and Guy. Mr. C was several years engaged in the stock 
business, and wetit into his present business in March, 1881. Fie handles 
dry goods, groceries and provisions, making a sjiecialty of farm produce; 
he has been township clerk; is an Odd Fellow, and member of the Chris- 
tian Templars, and takes an active interest in temperance work. 

COX, W. F. C, farmer and stock-raiser, section 2i, postoffice Troy; was 
born in Beaton county, Missauri, December 15, 1840. When eight years 
old he came with his parents to Appanoose county, where his father died 
in January, 1850; two years after, the family, he being the eldest of three 
children, moved to Mahaska county, wliei'e his mother married again; they 
moved to Adair county. Mo., in 1855, and he went to Illinois in 18(iO; he 
followed farming, and when the war commenced he enlisted in company 
H, sixty-eighth Illinois Infantry, which regiment was mustered out in Oc- 
tober, 18fi2. In 1864 he came to Iowa, and located on his present farm in 
1869, which was then all brush, which he cleared away, making a nice farm 
of 70 acres. He was married in Illinois, in June, 1862, to Miss Mary 
Crawford. They have had eigiit children: Eva J., Amanda E., Ardiila M., 
Wm. T., Mary B., Owen, Ilarrison B., and one deceased, Hiram B. Mr. 
C. is a man of more than ordinary pluck and energy, and has the respect 
of everybody; he is a Mason, a member of Troy lodsre. 

CUFP, MRS. MARY A., maiden name Smith,''section 29, jiostoffice 
Troy; was born in Trenton, N. J., Aprd 7, 1832; she moved witii her pa- 
rents to Pennsylvania when eight years old, where she was reared and edu- 
cated in the common sciiools; she was married March 14, 1852, to S. F. 
Cupp, and tliey kept the West Branch Hotel, between Lock Haven and Jer- 
sey Shore, Penn., for four years; they came to Missouri in 1858. At the 
breaking out of the war Mr. C. and two other neighbors were the only 
Union men in the vicinity, and they were repeatedly warned by the confed- 
erates that they must join a companj then recruiting for rebel service, or 
leave; doing neither, while working in the woods, lie was shot by bush- 
whackers, once in the arm and once through the body; as soon as he recov- 
ered, he came with bis family to Iowa, in September, 1861. He bought 
the farm on which Mrs. C. now lives, in 1865, and died July 6, 1867, al- 
ways having been weakly since he was shot. He was an active member of 
the Christian Church. Since his death, Mrs. C. has managed the farm, con- 
sisting of 80 acres, 45 under good cultivation; she is the mother of seven 
children: (i. W., T. J., in Kansas, Mary E., wife of Isom Elrod; Anna J., 
wife of J. W. Miller; Matilda E., Charles S. and Willie A. Mrs. C. has 
displayed a commendable faculty for business, and has, in the main, been 
quite successful. Mr. C. lies buried on the farm, by request. 

^ DOWNING, ROBT. B., farmer and stock raiser, section 4, postotiice 
Troy: was born July 3, 1830, in Adams count}-, Ohio. Here he grew to 
manhood, assisting his father on the farm, and acquiring an education, and 
also worked at coopering a few years; he came to Iowa in 1855, and located 
where he now lives; he has a fine farm of 93 acres, with everything well 

kept and neat. He was married October 30, 1850, to Miss Edia M. Tole, 



HISTORY OF DAVIS OOUNTT. 719 

of Kentucky, reared and educated in Ohio. Tliey liave four children: An- 
geline S., wife of M. Wilkinson, in Texas; Charlotte A., widow of E. Wil- 
kinson, deceased; Malon W. and Josiah. Mr. and Mrs. U. are members of 
the M. E. church. Mr. D. was for several years constable, and is well 
known in the countv. 

FOSTER, PROF. C. E., B. A., Principal of Troy Academy; was born in 
Wayne county, Iowa, April 26, 1859; was educated at tiie Missouri State 
Normal Scliool at Kirksville, where he o-raduated in June 1880, and took 
«harge of the Troy Acadamy, and classical school, in September 1881. Ow- 
ing to mismanaoement on the part of former teachers, this old time seat of 
learning wliere^ so many of the foremost men of this county acquired their 
education, had fallen into decay. And the trustees, B. F. Shreve, W. H. 
Koeser, W. M. Evans, W. Parks, and R. M. Lock, secretary, in September 
1881, employed Prof. Foster, to try and instil new life into tlie institution. 
It is now in a prosperous condition, studentscoming in every week, from all 
parts of this and adjoining counties. The Professor has established a 
■course of lectures and illustrative experiments in physical sciences, in con- 
nection with the school. He also intends giving lectures in different parts 
of the county, during the j'ear. The Professor has earned a high reputa- 
tion as an instructor, and has the hearty indorsement of liis Alma Mater, 
being recommended as a man of great energy and executive al)ility. Troy 
Academy, thus entering its 28th year, under such favorable ansi)ices, bids 
fair to excel, in its chosen field, that of training teachers, and giving a 
thorough classical and scientific education. 

GARRETT, J. M., M. U., physician and surgeon, Troy; the oldest phys- 
ician now living in this localit}', was lx)rn October 28, 1S28, in Highland 
■count}', Ohio, where he was reared and educated, assisting iiis father on the 
farm. He entered the Salem Academy at the age of seventeen; and read 
medicine three years with his brother, J. P. Garret; attended lectures at 
Ohio Medical College, in 1849 and 1850. He was then called to take charge 
of his brother's practice, he being in poor health. He was married in Sep- 
tember, 1854, to Miss Anna M. Wilson, a native of Ohio, and came to Iowa 
the following year, commencing practice at Troy, and meeting with good 
success. His wife died in August 1857; she was highly respected and a 
member of the M. E. CUiurch. She left two cliildren, Wilbur and Arthur, 
one, a teacher in this county, and the other a telegrapli o]:>erator in Kansas. 
Be married again September 15, 1859, Miss Jane A. Paxton, a native of 
Virginia. They have six childi-en: Elmer E., Mary F., Jolm M., Jjucy, 
Mattie M. and Ileece. Tlie doctor ran for the legislature in 1863, on the 
republican ticket, against a democratic majority of 800, and was defeated 
by eight votes; but was elected in 1S65, by 150 majority, and reelected in 
1867. In 1872, he retired from practice on account of failinii; health, and 
lived on his farm till the spring of 1881, when he moved back to Troy, and 
commenced practicing again. He has been victimized a number of times, 
once to the tune of $3,000, by a sharper. He has a very extensive practice 
— old school. 

GILLER, H. R.. farmer and stock-raiser, section 29, postoffice Troy; was 
born April 14, 1846, in Noble county, Ohio. Wliile quite young, his 
parents died, and he lived with his maternal grandfather, who gave him a 
good common school education. During the war he enlisted, at tlie age of 
fifteen, in Company C, 161st Ohio Infantry, and was at the battle of Har- 
per's Ferry; being a hundred day regiment, discharged at Columbus in 1863, 



720 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

he reenlisted, April, ISG-i, in Company C, 185tii Ohio Infantry. Being iii< 
several engagements, mostly against bushwhackers in Kentucky; discharged 
in September 1865, went to Poiigkeepsie, N. Y., to commercial college, and 
also attended one at Chicago; and in the spring of 1S66 went to Colorado^ 
and worked for a rancher four j'ears. Having saved iiis money, he thea 
bought a halt interest in 492 iiead of cattle, and ran a cattle ranch. At 
one time was worth in cattle §30, OOf), but reverses came and when he settled 
up in 1879, was far short of that. He then came to this county and bought 
the farm he now lives on, consisting of 160 acres, of well improved land. 
He was married November 11, 1879, to Miss Celia B. Sullivan, daughter of 
C. Sullivan of Union township. Mr. Gillerowns an interest jn stock yet in 
Colorado, and is a man of extraordinary energy. Mrs. Giller is a refined 
and cultured lady; for several terms a teacher in Troy public schools. 

HAINE, DAVID, farmer and stock-raiser, postoliice Troy; was born 
November 23, 182.5, in New Carlisle, Clark county, Oliio. His father died' 
when he was five years old, and he lived with his mother till he was twelve- 
years old, when she married again, and his guardian placed him with D. L. 
Warwick as apprentice in harness-making and saddlery, where he remained 
two and a half years. lie then moved to Champaign county, and assisted 
his stepfather on the farm, and attended school till August 21, 18-16, when 
he married Miss Isabelle Jane Patterson, a native of Ohio, and came to this 
county with liis young wife, and bought the farm he now occupies, consist- 
ing of 160 acres. Five years after, he and J. 1. Earhart, C. Ewing and H. 
W. Briggs laid out the village of Troy. In 1858. he started a harness shop- 
at Troy, which he carried on in connection with his farm till 1880. He has 
two daughters: Sarah, wife of George W. Tittle, now in Kansas, and 
Uclella, wife ot E. J. Mize, of this county. Mr. H. is a member of the- 
Masonic order. 

HALL, GEORGE B., farmer and stock-raiser, section 3, postothce Troy; 
■was born November 28, 182-1, in Preston county, "West Virginia, and there 
grew to manhood, spending his youth in assisting his father on the farm, 
and attending school in the winter. He was married, March 30, 184-8, to 
Miss Nancy Gandj', also a native of Virginia, and came to his present farm 
in 1855. He has a fine farm of 115 acres, well improved, with good build- 
ings and orchard. He has living water and plenty of blue grass pasture^ 
and is well fixed for raising stock, and keeps enough to feed his crops. 
His family consists of six children: Martha J., wife of James H. Phelps; 
Mary C, wife of A. H. Phelps; Susan A., wife of W. G. Black; Edward C, 
Eva B., Stella M. and two deceased, Elizabeth, wife of U. M. Downing, and 
James Willie. Mr. H. is well thought of by those wlio know him, and has 
been township trustee for ten years, receiving at one time the entire vote of 
all parties. 

HEASTON. JOHN, farmer and stock-raiser, section 27, postoffice Troy; 
was born November 25, 1821, in Clark county, Ohio, and there grew to man- 
hood and received a limited education at the subscription schools. He 
came to this county in 1856, and lived at Troy two years, then went on the 
farm where he now lives, consisting of 160 acres, mostly in cultivation, 
well watered, and a good stock-farm. He was a member of Capt. Steele's 
Company of Border Guards, during the war, and was called out several 
times. He was married January 5, 1842, to Miss Mary Moore, a native of^ 
Ohio, born January 16, ISIS. They have reared a family of seven children, 
Eliza Jane, wife of V. Soliday; Barbara A., wife of D. L. Thomas; Rachel K^ 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 72t 

wife of George Lane; Mary E., wife of Wni. Kemp; Jolin M., Win. M., and 
Thomas L., all married except Thomas. The home of Mrs. lieaston's fath- 
er burned down when she was 18 3'ears old, and a brother and two sisters 
perished in the flames. Mr. Heaston also had a sister burned to death. 
He has met with some losses b\' bnrsted banks, but has been able to over- 
come it by industrious habits. 

LEACH, CHARLES, farmer and stock-raiser, section 10, postoffice 
Tro}'; was born in Monongahala county, West Virginia, in 1816, and there 
grew to manhood and was educated in the common schools. He came 
to Van Buren county, Iowa, in 1839, and four years later came to this 
count}' and located where he now lives, which was then all timber; the first 
year clearing away enough to build a cabin and plant a little corn. He 
now has a nicely im]))oved farm of 160 acres. He was married in his na- 
tive State, in November, 1837, to Miss Plannah Llamilton. They have six 
children: 'John L., Cai'oline, wife of (S-eorge Grovener; Margaret, wife of M. 

Baker; Mary E., wife of Henry R ; William F. and Harvey C. John 

L. is still at home, being highly thought of in the community, and having 
been repeatedly elected assessor of his township. Mr. L., Sr., was a trustee 
for several years. 

LEACH, JOHjST C, farmer and stock-raiser, section 12, postoffice Tro}'; 
a son of Jeremiah Leach, one of the first settlers of the county; was born 
in this county Octobers, 1845; he acquired a common school education, 
and during the wai', in February, 1861, enlisted in company D, third Iowa 
Cavalry; was on the raid with Gen. Grierson, and had his horse shot under 
him at Tupelo; was in the raid in Arkansas and Missouri, against Price; 
was at Independence, Big Blue. Osage Creek, in the Wilson raid, Planters- 
ville, Selma, and Columbus, Ga. His captain was killed, and company 
scattered, and he came very near being captured; done duty at Atlanta, till 
August, 186."), when they were mustered out, and returned home, since 
which time he has worked on the farm. He was married October 27, 1870, 
to Miss Sarah C. Carroll, a native of Ohio. They have six children: Byr- 
nina, Lora, Leonora, Bella, Ralph W. and Wintield. Mr. L. is a man of 
more than ordinary intelligence, and has been justice, township clerk, and 
was county supervisor for four years, from 1876 to 1880. He is and Odd 
Fellow. Jerkmiah Lkach, father of the abiwe, was born in Virginia, Feb. 
S, 1810, and was there reared to manhood, and educated in the subscription 
schools; he was married there in August, 1831, to Miss Elizabeth Baker, of 
Pennsylvania, and came to this county in 1839, and staked out the claim 
on which he now lives; he was elected and swoi'ii in the first justice of the 
peace in the county; he was ordered out during the border troubles, and wa§ 
elected sergeant. His children are: Martha, wife of Wm. Mustard; Elisha, 
Jacob, died at twent^'-one; Mary, deceased; John C, and three, Margaret, 
Casandra and Reason, deceased. Mrs. L. died May 17, 1881, at the age of 
75 years, 3 months and 2 days. She was a highly respected lady, a good 
wife and kind mother, and was a member of the M. E. Church for many 
years. She is buried in the Troy cemetery. 

LIKES, URIAS, farmer and stock-raiser, section 17, postoffice Troy; was 
born January 15, 1817, in Philadelphia, Pa. He came with his parents to 
Ohio in 1821, and four years later to Indiana. When sixteen years old he 
went to Boone county. Ivy., and worked on a farm, attending school, and 
llatboating on the Ohio and Mississi])pi rivers; he then spent two years in 
Versailles, Ind., then farmed in Illinois and Michigan, and arrived in Iowa 



^22 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTT. 

in 1853, settling in Van Bnren county, for three years. September 4, 1856, 
he was married to Miss Elizabeth A. Barker, a native of Ohio; they came 
to this county the same year, locating in Roscoe township, and in 1865 
moved on their present fa<fm, which consists of 120 acres, well improved 
and suited for stock-raisiiig. His family consists of five children: diaries 
M., Mary J. D., Sarah J., (leorge W., Margaret E., and two deceased, Lucy 
C. and John J. Mr. L. is a Mason, and has been a member of the Baptist 
church for thirty years. He takes great pride in his orchards, having all 
kinds of fruit, and a vineyard. 

MARTIN, VOLNEY, farmer and stock-raiser, section 23, postoffice 
Troy; was born October 16, 1843, in Van Bui-en county, Iowa, and there 
grew to manhood, and received a limited education in the common schools; 
he worked on the farm till he was twenty-three years of a_^e, then bought the 
farm he now occupies, in this county; the farm was then all brush; he now 
has 85 acres in cultivation; his entire farm consists ot 200 acres; he has 
made the farm what it is by his own exertions, commencing with a yoke of 
•oxen, a wagon and plow. He was niarried April 26, 1877, to Anna Ritz, a 
native of Switzerland, who was reared and educated in this county. They 
have one child, Lucy Belle. Mr. M. is a man ot very energetic habits. 
Mrs. M. is an accomplished lady, and a member of the Ciiristian Ciuirch. 

MARTIN, ALBERT, farmer antl stock-raiser, section 23, postoffice 
Troy; is a native Hawkeye, born in Van Bnren coimty, November 25, 1841; 
he spent his youth helping his father on the farm, and acquiring an educa- 
tion, which he tinished at Cherry Grove Seminary, Illinois. When became 
of age he traveled for a year or two, and finally settled in this county, buy- 
ing the farm he now occupies, consisting of 180 acres, with a fine house 
and barn, and good young orchard, fenced with one and a half miles of 
osage orange hedge, and watered with living water. He was married, 
June 3, 1868, to Miss Mary A. Kerr, a native of Ohio. They have nine 
children: Flavins J., Maggie, Anna, Mary E., Albert S., Jennie L., Eugene 
C, Winfield S. and one not named. Mr. M. is one of the energetic farm- 
ers of this neck of woods; he has held the office of trustee and also town- 
ship clerk. 

MILLER, JOHN, farmer and stock-raiser, section 22, postoffice Troj-; 
was born July 10, 1823, in Wayne county, N. Y. His ancestors were an 
old Connecticut family; iie was reared and educated in New York, came to 
Michigan in 1847, and five years later came to Indiana, where he was mar- 
ried in 1852, to Mrs. Patience Austin, a native of New York; she died iri 
1867, leaving four children by a former husband. In 1869 he located in 
■Union township, this count}', and in 1875 he bought the farm he now owns, 
■consisting of SO acres, well improved. He was married again in 1869, to 
Mrs. Mary J. Kittleman, a native of Indiana, and this union proving un- 
happy, they separated, she being granted a decree of divorce the same year, 
and having a child born soon after separatjon, Charles Curtis. She died in 
1879, and he married liis present wife. Miss Paulina Goodson, a native of 
Indiana, and they have one child, Adam J.; he was in the livery business 
several years in Indiana, and Ontario, Canada. He is one of the county's 
good citizens. 

MILLER, JAMES N., farmer and stock-raiser, and wagon-maker, Troy; 
was born in Bedford county, Tennessee, August 15, 1820, and there he 
grew to man's estate, being^educated in the common schools. In 1848 he 
came to Troy, and engaged in cabinet making, a trade he learned in his 



HISTOBV OF DAVIS COUNTY. 723 

youth. Ill 1850 he bought the farm on wliich he now lives, consisting of 
125 acres of well improved land. His son, Thomas J., a student at Wabash 
College at the breaking out of the war, enlisted in Co. G, Eleventh In- 
diana Infantry, Lew Wallace's old regiment. He was the first Davis county 
man in the field, served three months, returned to this county, and enlisted 
in September, 18fil, in Company D, Third Iowa Cavalry. He was quickly 
promoted from private to sergeant, then to lieutenant, and finally captain, 
but did not long enjoy his commission, being killed while leading his com- 
pany into action, April 16, 1865. He was a young man of great promise, 
and beloved by his comrades. Mr. Miller was married, April 14, 1840, to 
Miss Henrietta Davidson, a native of Alabama. They have had three 
children: Thomas J., killed in battle; and two daughters, Hattie and Ella, 
well educated and and refined young ladies. Mr. M. is a man of generous 
disposition, who is well and favorably known over the county. He was one 
of those who first proposed and helped to establish the Academj' at Troy, 
and has alwa^'S taken great interest in education. 

NORPJS, HON. T.'0.,Troy; was born August 14, 1816, in Rocking- 
ham, New Hampshire, and lived in that State for thirty-eight years. He 
received his fine education at Dartmouth College. In 1840 he commenced 
teaching, and taught in Masuachusetts, then for fourteen years in Hampton 
Academy, where Kufus Choate was educated. In 1855 he settled in Davis 
■county. He was a classmate of Gov. Grimes, and came to this State by his 
advice, to take a position in the Iowa City schools, but after he arrived he 
changed his mind and accepted the position of principal of Troy Academy, 
where lie remained for eight years. By his energy and ability in that time 
he built up a school second to none in southern Iowa. lie is now the 
senior ]inrtiier in the firtn of Norris »t Co., doing a large business in gen- 
eral merchandise, drugs, &c., at 'J'roy, and is also the postmaster. He was 
married in June, 1856, to Mrs. Mary D. Miller, widow of Dr. Miller, of this 
•county. They have been blessed witii two daughters, Mary O. and Ella J., 
who are living at home. Mr. N. has a beautiful residence, and is sur- 
rounded with every comfort. He is a republican, and was elected on that 
■ticket to the Thirteenth General Assembly from this county. 

PEARSAL, JACOB, farmer and stock-raiser, section 2, postoffice Troy; 
was born in Franklin county, Ohio, July lit, 1814; there he grew to man- 
hood, iieing educated in the old fashioned chimne}' corner. When eighteen 
years old, he bought his time of his father for $100, and then worked at va- 
rious occupations, until he was married. In the spring of 1843, he moved 
to Iowa, and located where he now resides. They had a hard time, and 
many reverses, but by perseverence, helms come out successful, now owning 
a fine farm of 204 acres, with good house, barn, orchard, etc. He was mar- 
ried November 4, 1841, to Miss Elizabeth Crossit, a native of Ohio. She 
lost her parents when an infant, and was left to the guardianship of a pater- 
■nal nncle, who gave her n, limited education. Her parents died well off, but 
what became of the property she don't know. They have a family of five 
■children: Ervin E., Melvina, wife of L. F. Plunt; Calvin and Charles. Mr. 
P. is a man well and favorably known all over the county, having lived here 
before cither the organization of the county or State, and being one of the 
first trustees of the township. 

PEARSON, A. S., farmer and stock-raiser, section 32, postoffice Troy; 
was born August 31, 1817, in Cecil county, Maryland, where he was 
reared and received a limited education. At the age of fifteen he learned 



724 



HISTORY OF DA.VIS COUNTY. 



carpetering, but not liking it learned the mason's trade. He came to Iowa 
in 1836, working at his trade in different places. He located the land on 
which he now lives, in 1838. Tiien went back to Maryland, and September 
3, 1840, married Miss Elizabeth Kirk, and returned to his claim in lowa;- 
on his arrival his cash assets amounting to a two dollar bill on a busted bank. 
He has been constantly accumulating, and improving his land, until now he 
owns 235 acres of fine land, with good house, barn and orchard. Thej' have 
nine children, Maria, Elisha K., Augustus S., Ann, B. F., Jacob A., Clem- 
entine C, John A., and Jesse Sabina. In the early days Mr. Pearson had 
bad luck, losing his first team both dying the same season. The Indians 
were his nearest neighbors, and were always well behaved ; Mr. Pearson 
being quite intimate with some of the chiefs. 

PHELPS, MRS. ELIZA E., farmer and stock-raiser, postofiice Troy; was 
born in Washington county, Indiana, October 27, 1820, and was there reared, 
and educated in the Salem Female Seminary. Her parents were Isaac and 
Elizal)etli Tiiomas, lier father of North Carolina, and mother, of Virginia. 
She married Harrison (1. Phelps, of New York, October 18, 1838, and came 
to this county in 1842, their first claim being on section 34, this township, 
and four years later moved to where she now lives. She has raised a family 
of four sons and one daughter; Mary E., wife of A. W. Gandy; Isaac N., 
killed in the army; Alfred II., Clinton T., and Edwin G. Her husband 
was in company E, Third Iowa Cavalry as wagoner; was disciiarged after 
fifteen months, for disability from exposure, and died Marcii 19, 1869. He 
was a member of the M. E. Church, and liighly respected. Mrs. P. has since 
managed the farm, and is reasonably prosperous. Her mother lives with 
the family, being quite old. One son, Edwin G., is at home, and works on 
the farm. 

PHERIGO, WILLIAM, A., farmer and stock-raiser, section 15, postofiice 
Troy; was born September 28, 1819, in Mercer county, Kentucky, and at 
the age of twelve moved with his parents to Jefferson county, Indiana, and 
a few years later to Ripley county, where Jiis ])arents died, and are 
buried. Mr. P. spent his yontli helping on tiie farm and attending school. 
He was mariied in Indiana January 27, 184-1-, to Miss Susan Grinstead, a 
native of Kentucky, reared in Indiana. In 1850. they came to this county, 
and settled where they now live. It was all brush then; now by their united 
efibrts they have succeeded in making a fine farm of 12u acres, ninety 
under cultivation, the rest good pasture. They have reared and educated a 
family of thireen children, ten now living; M. died, aged nineteen, at St. 
Louis, of Third Iowa Cavalry; Richard L. died, aged three years; John D., 
Jasper, died, aged twenty-six; Sarah F, wife of Thomas Pherigo; George A.,. 
Martha E., James W., Essie, wife of Daniel Mower; Amanda L„ Mary J., 
wife of Joseph Carter; Edward N. and Laura A. Mr. P., his wife, and 
four children are members of the Baptist Church. He is a man of strict in- 
tegrity. 

ROSSER, W. 11., M. D., physician and surgeon, retired, Troy; was born 
in Lancaster county, Ohio, in 1837. In 1839, he came with his parents to 
Van Buren county, Iowa, where he lived till 1856. He was educated at 
Troy Academy, and was a member of the first class in that institution. He 
graduated from the medical college at Keokuk in 1861, and entered into 
partnership with Dr. Garret, of Troy, in the practice of medicine. In June 
1864, he was appointed assistant surgeon of the Forty-sixth Iowa Infantry, 
and remained with the regiment till it was mustered out. Returning home, 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. ^26 

ilie suffered with tjplioid piieniiioiiia for several mouths, contracted in the 
army. Then went to practicing again witii his partner, and on his retire- 
ment, cotitinued it alone, till 1874, when tailing health compelled him to 
retire from active practice. He was married in 1S62, to Miss Sarah J. Bel], 
a native of Ohio, and they have four children, Maud E., Eva A., Alvin M., 
and Herbert P. Dr. Rosser became interested in a drug store in 1873, 
with Stephenson A: Morris, and remained in the firm two years. He now 
owns a farm of 240 acres, in sections 1.5 and 16, most of it in cultivation. 
The doctor occupies liis leisure in its management. 

SHREVE, B. F., M. D., Physician and surgeon, Troy; was born in Perry 
county, Ohio, February 20, 1841, and there grew to manhood, receiving a 
■common school education. In 1860 he moved to Douglas county, Illinois, 
and taught school, and when the war broke out enlisted in August 1S62, in 
company B., 79th Illinois Infantry. Was taken prisoner at Stone Iliver 
and sent to Castle Thunder, Riehnaond, for thirty-one days, then paroled; 
in March 1863, was sent to Benton Barracks, exchanged, and transferred to 
the Veteran Reserve Corpse, appointed surgeon, and was stationed at Indi- 
anapolis till mustered out in July 1865. lie then returned to Illinois and a 
jear later went to Jasper county, Iowa, and became a resident of this coun- 
ty October 3, 1873, and engaged in the practice of medicine at Troy; he 
had studied medicine with Dr. A. T. Marshall of Douglass county, Illinois, 
before going into the amj', and after coming to Troy, he attended the lec- 
tures of the Keokuk Medical College, and received his diploma December 
16, 1875. He was married in Jasper county, in Febnrary 1866, to Miss 
Addie L. Moore, a native of Ohio. They have four children, Jessie E., 
George F., Willard B., and Lulu Inez. The doctor has an extensive prac- 
tice. He is a self-made man, never having received any assistance from 
any source, but has attained his present reputation and standing, by his own 
energy and merit. 

SIDDONS, JOHN, farmer and stock-raiser, sections 34 and 27, postoffice 
Troy; was born in Ontario, Canada, February 24, 1825. He there grew to 
manhood, and was educated in the schools of the Dominion. He came to 
this country and located where he now lives in 1869. He has a fine farm 
of 500 acres, 400 well improved, with good buildings and orchard, and 100 
acres of good blue grass woodland pasture. He has a family of six child- 
ren, Nelson E., Francis E., Martin, Mary, George H., and Oscar, to whom 
lie has given a good education. Owing to a nervous complaint, he intends 
to seek a colder climate, and thinks ofi locating in Manitoba, which he re- 
cently visited, and with which he was very much pleased. Davis county, 
by this, will lose one of her best citizens. Mr. Siddons is an Odd Fellow. 
He was married in March 1847, to Miss Joanna S. Clubine, also a native of 
Canada. 

STEELE, J. A., farmer and stock-raiser, section 18, postofiice Bloom- 
field; was born February 19, 1822, in Knox county, Tennessee, and came 
with is parents to Indiana when nine years old, and lived three years in 
Putnam county, then settled in Owen county, where he grew to manhood 
and received a common school education. He came to Iowa and located 
■where he now lives, in 1851. He owns a fine farm of ISO acres, well im- 
proved; he also owns seventy acres in Perry township, forty acres improved. 
He married May 14, 1847, to Miss Elizabeth J. Taylor, also a native of 
Tennessee. His family consists of, Margaret E., wife of George Pullman; 
W. S., M. G., J. E., G. W., Mary A., Sadie M. and A. H., also two de- 



726 HISTORY or dayis county. 

ceased, Samuel H.. aojed two years and eight months, and James H., also 
aged two years and eight montlis. Mr. S. has licld tlie office of twonship- 
trustee, and is a member of the Grange. He has given his family a good 
education; W. S. is proprietor of a flouring mill at Humeston, Iowa. Mr. 
S. takes great interest in breeding fine stock, Durham cattle, Poland China 
hogs, and Cotswold sheep, of which he always has a large flock, finding it 
profitable; lie also owns a well bred young Clydesdale horse. 

TIBBS, G. W., farmer and stock-raiser, section 19, postoffice Troy; is a 
native of the "Old Dominion," born in Wythe county, December 14, 1832. 
He came to Johnson county, Indiana, with his parents in 1838, where he 
obtained his education, and in 1851, came to Illinois, and a year latter came 
to this county near Pulaski. In his youth he learned plastering, and has 
followed it more or less every year since. His father died in 1856, and his 
mother lias since been a member of his family; his farm consists of fifty 
acres, thirty-five, well improved; he was married in 1871, to Miss Sarah J. 
Stober, a iiative of Ohio. They have three children: Elmer E., James E. 
and Mary A. Mr. T. is an active member of the M. E. Church; he is a 
member of the A. F. and A. M., the Grange, and Christian Templars; and 
takes a great interest in education. 

WARRINGTON, CAPT. JOHN A., postoffice Bloomtield; was born 
June 28, 1837, in Hancock county, Illinois, and there grew up and acquired 
his education. His father, Benjamin, is descended from the Warringtons 
of N. J., and they from a very old and titled English family. His father 
started for California in 1851, and was drowned in the Platte river in Ne- 
braska. Mr. W. worked as a farm hand till the war, when, in June 1861, 
he enlisted in company F, " Black Hawk Cavalry," of Illinois, but mustered 
as Missouri troops, being the Seventh Missouri. He was appointed ser- 
geant Major of the regiment; and in June 1862, recruited a company, 
at his own expense, for the Eleventh Missouri Cavalry, and was commis- 
sioned first lieutenant in June 1863; in the mean time serving as Adjutant 
of a battery, also as quartermaster and commissary. He led a charge at 
Spring River Arkansas, and was commissioned Captain of company I. 
Eleventh Cavalry, April 21, 1864. Commanded a squadron on several ex- 
peditions in Arkansas and Missouri. He was always at his place of duty, 
and was mustered out August 28, 1865, having served over four years. He 
came to this county in October 1865, and bought the land on which he has 
since lived. He was married June 24, 1868, to Miss Elizabeth A. Taylor, 
of this county. They have six children : Carrie M., William B., Sadie J., 
John B., Charles L. and Ira A. The captain has just sold his farm and in- 
tends moving nearer to town to give his children better educational facilties. 
While in the army he was wounded in the knee, from which he still suffers. 
He is a Mason and an Odd Fellow, and a member of the I. O. G. T. and has 
always been an active temperance man. His hearty, social manner, and 
jovial, pleasant disposition, have endeared him to his friends and neighbors, 
and enthroned him in the hearts of his family. 



HISTORY OF 1>AVIS COUNTY. 727 



WYACONDAH TOWNSHIP. 



ANDREWS, K. D., one of the earliest settlers in Wyacondah township^ 
was born in Franklin county, Indiana, September 1, 18.36. When about a 
year old, liis parents moved to Bartholomew county, Indiana, where he 
lived until he was fourteen years old, when he came to Iowa, settling in this 
township. He was brouijht up a farmer, and acquired a common school 
education. He enlisted, November 15, 1861, in the Twenty-First Missouri 
Volunteers, was in the battles of Shiloh, siege of Corinth, Fort Blakely and 
Nashville; was discharged at Mobile, Ala., April 15, 1865, and returned 
home. While in the arm^^ he became first lieutenant. He was married, 
March 9, 1856, to Miss Julia Ann Spurgeon, formerly of Washington 
county. They have had twelve children, ten living: Mary A., Elizabeth 
A., Calvin IS'., Saraantha J., Maria A., Isaac M., Charles E., Leonard W., 
Cindella Belle and Mauda A., and two deceased, Elsie, and an infant. Mr. 
A. is located on a good farm of 180 acres, with brick residence, good bam 
and orchard, and plenty of ornamental trees. He is a member of the Mis- 
sionary Baptist Church, and in politics he is a republican. His postoffice 
is Bloomiield. 

ATTERBERRT, R. E., proprietor of the Savannah wagon and blacksmith 
shop is a native of Davis county, born December 8, 1847. His father, 
Stephen Atterberry, being one of the early pioneers of the county. He was 
raised a farmer, and got his education in the common schools. He learned 
the trade of gunsmithing with J. W. Anthony, one of the best gunsmiths in 
Iowa, and in 1876 commenced to work at blacksmithing in this township, and 
has continued at it most of the time since. He was married, June 20, 1866, 
to Miss Polly Ann Davis, daughter of Martin Davis of this county. They 
are the parents of four children, Perlina Jane, Thomas B., Mary Olive and 
Jessie Ellis. Mr. A. has the ruputation of being one of the best workmen 
in the county, and an expert in repairing machinery. He has a large 
amount of custom work and repairing to do at all times. He has a good 
residence adjoining his shop. He is a member of the Baptist Church, and 
ill politics is a democrat. 

BARNETT, W. D., farmer, section 9, postofBce Bloomfield; was born in 
Davis county. June 20, 1860, a son of D. L. Barnett, one of the pioneers of 
the count}'. His early life was spent here attending the common schools 
and the university at Mt. Pleasant. He now owns a good farm of 128 
acres of well improved land. Thinking it not well for man to be alone, he 
was married March 23, 1881, to Miss Jennie L. Russell, daughter of H. L. 
Russell of West Grove. Mr. B. is a worthy member of the M. E. Church, 
and in politics is a democrat. 

BARNETT. C, farmer, section 16, postoffice Bloomfield; was born in 
Bartholomew county, Ind., September 22, 1821. When two years old he 
moved with his father to Washington county, where he grew to manhood, 
reared on the farm, and received his education in the common schools, 
working at farming, carpentering and blacksmithing. In the spring of 
1855, he settled on his present farm in this township, entering the land 
from the government. It consists of 262 acres, under a high state of 
cultivation. He was married January 31, 1843, to Miss Mary F. Blank- 
en baker, a native of Indiana. She became the mother of three children: 



728 HISTORY OF DAVIS COtTNXr. ^ 

May A., Geo. M. and Martha E. Mrs. B. died February 2<), 1863, and he 
was married again May 8, 1864, to Miss Kachel DoncarJos of this county. 
They have one son; Jas. A. Mr. B. is an active worker in the M. E. 
Church, holds the office of township clerk, and in politics is a grcenbacker. 

BASSETT, WM., farmer, section 9, postoffice Bloomtield; was born in 
Eipley county, Ind., March 29, IS.M. When he was three years old his 
father, William, came to Lyon county, Iowa, where he grew to manhood on 
a farm and was educated in the common schools and Cornell College. In 
1874, he went to Mercer county. Mo., and in 1S7S, settled on his present 
farm in this county, where he owns 145 acres of well improved land, a com- 
fortable house surrounded with evergreens, a large barn and orchard of 
eight acres, with a great variety of small fruits. He was married April 15, 
1873, to Miss Princilla H. Putter of Linn county, daughter of Chas. Putter, 
Esqr. They have two children: Ora B. and Frank L. In politics Mr. B. 
is a greenbacker. He is a genial man and highly thought of. 

BATTIN, NEWTON, farmer, section 15, postoffice Bloomfield; was 
born January, 1839, in Cumberland county. O., where he lived for thirteen 
3'ears, when his father, Ezra, moved to Ripley county, Ind., and tive years 
latter came to Grove township in this county. Mr. B. was reared a farmer 
and received a common school education. When the war broke out he en- 
listed, August, 1861, in Company E., Third Iowa Cavalry, Col. Bussey 
commandin?. He was taken prisoner in Missouri and was taken to St.Louis, 
and in the fall of 1863, was exchanged and ordered to Benton, Ark. Here- 
enlisted in the spring of 1864, and came home on twenty days furlough; 
then went to St. Louis and Memphis; was at Tupelo, under Gen. Sturgiss 
at Gnntown, in Grierson's raid, and with Gen. AVilson; went the trip with 
Sherman, and was discharged at Davenport. Coming home, he was mar- 
ried December 7, 1865, to Miss M. E. Modrel of this county, who died in 
1869. He married again in the spring of 1870, to Miss Harriet Modrel, 
sister of his first wife. They have had five children: John E., Fred E., 
Margaret E., Nora, Jason and Everett. Mr. B. owns a fine farm of 240 
acres in good cultivation, and is engaged in stock-raising. In politics he is 
a republican. 

BENCE, CAPTAIN P. H., deceased, whose portrait appears else- 
where in this work, was born in Floyd count}', Ind., December 22, 1818, 
where he resided for thirty-two years, and received his education in the 
common schools. In 1854 he came to Iowa, settling in this township, 
where he lived until the dark days of the war came, when he enlisted in 
company F, thirtieth Iowa Infantry, as third sergeant, and afterwards was 
promoted captain, taking an active part in nineteen battles. He returned 
home October 7, 1864, and on the 12tii was taken by a band of rebel bush- 
whackers, into Missouri and shot. Tiius ended the life of one of Iowa's 
bravest soldiers, a true christian, a kind husband and father; he left a wife 
and three children to mourn his loss. He was a member of the M. E. 
church, and Odd Fellows. Mes. C. Bence, widow of the late Captain 
Pence, was born in Harrison county, Ind., and when quite young went to 
Spencer county, and lived two years, then returned, and three years later 
went to Floyd county. She was married to P. H. Bence, September 14, 
1843. They had eight children, three living: George W., John W. and 
Theodore E. She is pleasantly located on a snug little farm of thirty-five 
acres. She is a worthy member of theM. E. Churcii; her life has been an 
eventful one, and not unmixed with trials and afflictions, but she has trusted 
in the Lord, and done the best she could. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTr. 729 

BRADBURY, DAVID; was born in Wayne county, Ind., July 5, 1827, 
a son of Ezekiel and Nancy Bradbury of Ohio. Mr. B. lived in Wayne 
•county, Ind., until he was twenty-two, receiving his education in the com- 
mon schools, and in 1850, he came west, settling- in Mahaska county seven 
mouths and then came to his present farm in this county. He was married 
October 26, 1848, to Miss Margaret Hartup of Wayne county, Ind. Mr. 
and Mrs. B. are the parents of thirteen children: Malvina, F. O., C. W., 
Frank R., Albert M., Jane, Laura J., David E., James, Luther E., Byron C, 
Edward, Margaret D. and one deceased, Sarah Ellen, who died in Septem- 
ber, 1875. Mr. B. owns a fine farm of 220 acres in section 11, consisting of 
prairie and timber. He is a member of the M. E. Church and a green- 
backer in politics. When the war broke out he enlisted in Company B., 
Thirtieth Iowa Infantry, August 9, 1862, and was in the battles of Chicka- 
saw Bayou, Arkansas Post, seige of Vicksburg, (from beginning to end,) 
the seige of Jackson and was with Sherman from Atlanta to the sea, and in 
the grand review at Washington; was discharged at Davenport and re- 
turned to his family. He is given to hospitality and one of the happiest men 
in the township. His postotiice is Savannah. 

BRUNK, L. D., one of the early settles of this county, was born in 
Graceland county, Ky., December 2, 1827, where he was raised, and in the 
fall of 1847 came to Perry township, this county, where he lived until 
1851, when he came to this township. He was married in November, 1851, 
to Miss Margaret Finley, of this county, formerly of Kentucky. They have 
had thirteen children: James, S. D., Salem,' Levi and Eli, twins; G. D., L. 
D., Mary Fix, Martha Saiallwdrth, Maria Jane, Delia, Lilly May, and one 
deceased. Mr. B. owns a good farm of 227 acres, under good cultivation, 
with a nice residence and barns; he is engaged in farming and stock rais- 
ing. He is also the proprietor of the Savannah store, superintended by his 
son Salem, where he keeps a good assortment of dry goods, groceries, boots 
and shoes, hardware, glassware and notions. He is a member of the 
Christian Church, and in politics is a democrat. He is a solid business man, 
and closel}' identified with the interests of the count3^ His postoffice is 
Savannah. 

BULLOCK, H. W., is the owner of a fine farm of 360 acres, in good 
cultivation, with one of the best residences in the township; he is engaged 
in dealing in and shi]:)ping stock, and has two of the best horses iii the 
State, one of them having taken the premium at the State fair; he also has 
some fine Short Horn cattle. Mr. B. was born in England, in Norfolk 
county, April 3, 1830, where he lived for twenty-five years; when ten years 
old he commenced to learn the trade of bricklaying and plastering. He 
came to the U. S., in 1855, first settling in Coldwater, Mich., and in 1859, 
he came to Linn county, Iowa. In September, 1879, he came to this 
county, settling on iiis present farm. He was married April 2, 1853, to 
Sarah Ives, of Norfolk county, England, and they have had nine children: 
John, Barzelia, Allen, Nathan, Elizabeth, Frederick, Charley, Mary, and 
one deceased, AVilliam. Mr. B. is an energetic business man, a member of 
the M. E. Church, and in politics is a republican. His postoffice is Bloom- 
field. 

BUNDLE, SAMUEL, farmer and stock-raiser, section 10, postoffice 
Bloom deld; was born in 1856, in Ohio. When four years of age, his 
father, Steven, removed to Delaware county, Indiana, where he grew to 

26 



730 HISTOPY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

manliood, and acquired a common school education. In tlie spring of 1843 
he arrived in tliis county, and settled within two miles of his present home. 
In the spring of 1844 he went to the election held at Joel Carter's, and 
voted once for Iowa and once for Missouri, tliat neighborhood being then 
claimed by botii. After living in this county for three years, he went to 
California, overland with an ox team, being four months on the road; he 
was then for six years engaged in mining and freighting in that State, Ore- 
gon and Mexico; he then returned to this county, where he has since resi- 
ded; he owns a fine farm of 140 acres, under a high State of cultivation,, 
and is extensively engaged in stock raising. He was married October 2,. 
1855, to Miss Sarah A. I*arton, of this county. They have seven children: 
Sarah H., Emily S., Etta V., Wm. L., Steven A., Arthur G-. and Minnie E. 
In politics Mr. B. is a greenbacker, and is highly respected by those who 
know him. 

CAMPBELL, WILLIAM T., farmer and stock-raiser, section 1, post- 
office Bloomtield; was born December 16,1853, in tliis county, and spent 
his' youth assisting his father on tlie farm, and acquiring an education at 
tlie Bloomtield schools, and attending one term at Columbus, Indiana. He 
was married JSTovember 12, 1872, to Miss Jennie, eldest daughter of John 
W. and Minerva McGowan, of this county; a lady of refined tastes, finely 
educated and accomplished. They have two interesting children, Roy and 
Emma Edith. Mr. C. was the only son of Green Clay Campbell, deceased, 
for many years a resident of this county. Mr. C. has a nice farm of 160 
acres, well improved, and in good cultivation, nicely situated, one and three- 
quarter miles south of the court house in Bloonifield. Mr. C. is a man of 
more than ordinary intelligence, and his home betokens taste and refinement. 
Besides his farm, Mr. C. is the principal heir to the extensive Campbell es- 
tate, situated in this county. He makes a specialty of raising horses and 
mules; being well oft', and with plenty of means, he is able to surround him- 
self and family with all that their superior intelligence and culture would 
render necessary to their happiness. 

CARY, HON. F. W., farmer, section 1, postoffice Bloonifield; was born 
in Clark county, Ohio, in 1809, a son of Abram and Mary Carey. He lived 
there till twenty-six years old. At fifteen he learned tailoring, which he 
followed twelve years, with M. M. Cary, at Springfield, Ohio. In 1835, he 
moved to Kingston, Indiana, where he worked at his trade and studied di- 
vinity for two-and-a-half years. In 1837 or 1838, he was received a proba- 
tioner in the traveling ministry, traveling on the following circuits: 
Mnncie, Winchester, Milroy, Versailles, Vernon, Philadelphia circuit, Moor- 
field, Elizabethtown; then back to Versailles; then came to Iowa Conference, 
in 1851, to Bloonifield circuit for two years, then to Pittsburg and Winches- 
ter circuit in Van Buren county. In 1854, Irs voice failed, and he retired 
to his homestead in this township, being superanuated for two 
years, then returned to the work, to Unionville circuit Bloom- 
field circuit, Vernon circuit; then to Vei'non; then being su- 
peranuated again, retired once more to his homestead, where he has re- 
mained, as a local preacher, and managing his farm. He has a fine farm of 
210 acres of well improved land, with a fine residence, commodious barn,, 
and four acres of orchard. He was married August 20, 1844. to Miss Eliza 
A. Cross, of Decatur county, Indiana, daughter of M. and Fanny Cross, 
and they have had six children: John W., W. E., F. H., Sarah E., and twa 
deceased; August C, killed near Dallas, Tennessee, and Francis M. Mr. C. 



HISTOKT OF DAVIS COUNTY. 731 

•was elected to the legislature in lS6i, on the democratic ticket, and elected 
state senator, in 1881, on the greenback ticket. Mr. C. has long been an ac- 
tive worker in the cause of temperance and I'eligion 

COVERT, J. C, one of the school teachers of Wyacondali, is a native of 
Butler county, Pennsylvania, born June 23, 1854, where he lived twenty-four 
years; he was raised a farmer, and received iiis education in Pennsylvania, 
Youngstown, Ohio, and at P>loomfield. He received a diploma at Youngs- 
town, for superior penmanship. He came to this county in September, 
1878. He has taught scliool live years, and is at present teaching in district 
No. 8, Wyacondali. where he is giving good satisfaction. He was married 
April 4, 1880, to Miss Amanda M. McCuiley, daugliter of Squire McCiilley, 
of this count}', and they have one child; Almy P. Mr. C. is a greenbacker 
in politics; his postothce is Eloomfield. 

DOOLEY, DR. D. N., one of tiie physicians of Savannah, whose portrait 
appears elsewhere, is a native of Davis county, born January 16, 1845; his 
father, O. Do(dey, coming to this county in 1841. Tiie doctor was raised a 
farmer, acquired a general education at Kirksviile, Missouri, and his medical 
education at Keokuk, Iowa. He commenced studying medicine in 1874, 
with Dr. 15. R. Hicks, took his lirst course of lectures at Keokuk, and re- 
ceived his diploma March 2, 1881. He has tauglit school several terms, 
and November 12, 1863, he enlisted in the Twenty-tirst Missouri Infantry, 
was at the battle of Shiloh, and discliarged after serving four months; reen- 
listed in the Forty-fifth Iowa, and was witii Gen. A. J. Smith in his Missis- 
sippi cam]migns. He was married March 21, 186.5, to MissC. A. Dabney, 
daughter of Tyra Dabney, of this county. They have had four children: 
Mattie, Harvey C, Dolly and Arthur!). The doctor is well located, and 
has a practice he may well be proud of He is a member of Quitman Ma- 
sonic Lodge, No. 2l7, and is one of the original greenbackers of the county. 
He is the Nasby of the cross roads, and the secretary of the school board. 

DUCKWORTH, HON. A. K., is a citizen who has long been identified 
with the growth and prosperity of the county. He was born in Berk coun- 
ty. North Carolina, November 30, 1814. Wiien six years of age, his fatiier, 
John R., emigrated to Washington county, Indiana, where he remained for 
eleven years, then removed to Putnam county, and in the fall of 1849, came 
to this county, entering his present farm in Wyacondali townsiiip, from the 
government. Mr. D. was raised a farmer, and educated in common schools. 
He tanglit two terms in Indiana, and taucrht the first two winters he was in 
Iowa; teaciiing tiie first school in his neigiiborliood. He was married Sep- 
tember 6, 1838, to Miss Mary Jane Stone, of Putnam county, Indiana, and 
they had ten children, five boys and five girls; James M., who was killed at 
Fort Donelson; Sarah E., Oscar L., Eliza A., May E., Rachel E., Enoch T., 
Lucinda J., John R., and William S. Mrs. D. died March 2, 1854. and Mr. 
D. married again August 30,1854, to Miss Ellen Grady, of this county, and 
they have one son: Albert P. Mr. D.'s second wife died July 31, 1876. He 
is located on a farm of 240 acres. He represented this county in the State 
legislature in 1852, as a democrat, in which ])o#ition he served with great 
credit. He has held most of the township offices; was justice of the peace 
several years ; has served as adininistrator for several estates; is a memberof 
the M. E. Church, of which he has been recording steward for thirteen years. 
No name in Wyacondali is more highly respected than his; he is still a dem- 
ocrat; his postofiice is Bloomfield. 



732 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

DUCKWORTH, E. A., of the firm of Duckworth Brothers, dealers in 
stock, lumber aud lands; was born in Putnam county, Indiana, March 17, 
1843, where he lived eleven years; his father, Thomas, then emigrated to 
Iowa, and in 1854, came to this county. Mr. D. was married March 28, 
1867, to Nancy Hopkins, of this county, and has four sons; xYrthur D., 
Charles G., John C. and William A. Mr. D. is located on a good farm of 
200 acres, with good house and barn. The Duckworth brothers own two 
detached portable saw-mills, of thirty horse power; being the best mills in 
the county; they do a large business, sawing logs into* lumber. In polities, 
Mr. D. is a greeenbacker; a splendid business man, and upright in all his 
dealings. 

FEAGINS, H., resides on a fine farm of 223 acres, in section 34; his farm 
is in good cultivation; he is also engaged in stock-raising. In politics, he is 
a greenbacker. He was born in Fayette county, Ohio, December 1, 1837, 
where he lived for twenty-two years, receiving his education there in the 
common schools. In 1859, he came to this county, settling on his present 
farm. He was married May 28, 1858, to Miss Nancy Jane Green, of Fay- 
ette county, Ohio, and had two children; Eichard and Eliza. Mrs. F. died 
September 12, 1862, and he was married again October 15, 1863, to Miss 
Elizabeth Bruce, of this county, and they have six children; Alvy, Elmer, 
Charley, Maggie, Ettie, Drusie and Katie. Mr. F.'s postofiice is Savannah. 

FENTON, JOEL, one among the pioneers of Davis county, was born 
April 4, 1810, in Fleming county, Kentucky. When ten years old, his 
father, Caleb Fenton, removed to Missouri, in Boone county, where they 
lived for twenty years; he was raised a farmer, and educated in the 
subscription schools. In the spring of 1840 he came to Davis county, set- 
tling on his present farm. In 1850 he went to California, overland; was 
there some two months, and on account of sickness had to return home, 
coming by way of the city of Mexico, Vera Cruz, New Orleans and St. 
Louis, arriving home in February 1851. He was married November 23, 
1830, to Miss Lncy March, of Boone county, Missouri, formerly of Ken- 
tucky. Their union has been blessed with eight children, five living, Fran- 
cis M., Mary E., James F., Caleb E., Allie Jane, now Mrs. Dr. Shelton, 
and three deceased, Columbus, Joel and William II., who was killed at the 
battle of Shiloh. Mr. Fenton is located on a fine farm of 300 acres, well 
improved. He is a worth}* member of the Baptist Churcli, and a green- 
backer in politics. He has lived to see his boys become successful business 
men, and his daugiiters respected by all who know them. The writer of 
this is under many obligations to him for valuable information, and for his 
kind hospitality. His postoffice is Bloomfield. 

GOODE, W. D., student at the Normal Institute; was born November 
10, 1858, in Greene county, Illinois. At the age of about six years he came 
with his parents to this county, and two years later moved to Van Buren 
county and remained six years, then returned to this county, wliei-e he has 
since resided. He was reared on his father's farm, and at the age of twenty- 
one farmed a year for himself. He commenced his education in the com- 
mon schools, and at the age of twenty-two, entered the Southern Iowa Nor- 
mal Institute at Bloomfield, where he has since been hard at work prepar- 
ing iiimself for a life of usefulness. He has been making Physiology a 
special study. His father, D. W. Goode, resides in Wj'acondah township. 

HALSTEAD, DR. T. J., druggist and physician, of Savannah, was born 
in Ross county, Ohio, November 3, 1829. While quite young his father, 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 733 

T. Halstead, moved to Pickerina; count}', and in 18-1:6, to Lee county, Iowa. 
He received his education in Keokuk. He commenced the study of medi- 
cine in 18.52, witli Dr. Thomas Moore, of Ediua, Missouri, and remain'ed 
about eighteen months. Then went into practice in Laclede, Missouri, witli 
Dr. Jos. Moore, son of tiie former, where he continued until 1860, when he 
returned to Iowa, practicing in Doud's Station some eighteen months, and 
in 1862, came to Savannah, where he is now the proprietor of the Savannah 
drug store, witli a goed variety of drugs and patent medicines on hand, be- 
sides which he has a good practice. He was married April 4, 18.56, to Miss 
Biddie Princilla Malone, of Keosauqua, Iowa. They have had seven child- 
ren, Solomon B., Henry Clay, Daniel, Hester May, Delilah, Georgie and 
Effie. The doctor is pleasantly' situated in a good house, a genial man, a 
member of the Bloomfield Chapter of the Masonic order, and in politics a 
democrat. 

HARDEY, B., one of the old settlers, iirst came to this county, with liis 
father, Thomas, when five years of age, having been born in Lee county, 
July 19, 1847. They settled in this township, where Mr. Hardy now owns 
860 acres of fine land, well improved, on his home farm, in section 26. He 
has a neat residence, barn and orchard. Mr. Hardy is now in the stock 
business, in which he is quite prominent. He was married October 22.1872, 
to Miss L. P. Hill, a lady of culture and refinement. They have three 
ciiildren, Eva, EfBe and a babe not yet named. Mr. Hardy lias held tlie 
office of township assessor for three terms, and has been school treasurer for 
years. He is one of the substantial men of Wyacondah. His postoftice is 
Bloomfield. 

HAIITUP, JAMKS, farmei', section 10, postofiice Bloomfield; was born 
in Wayne county, Indiana, August 11, 1824, where he resided for twenty- 
seven years on the farm, receiving his education in the common schools. In 
1851 he came to this county, settling on his present farm in 1854, which 
has been his home ever since. He owns 100 acres of well improved land, 
an orchard of 100 trees, with a good house and otlier buildings. He was 
married April 1, 1852, to Miss Mary M. Denny, of Putnam county, Indiana, 
daughter of William R. Mr. and Mrs. H. are members of the M. E. Church. 
Mr. H. is a greenbacker in politics. He is a genial man and has the re- 
spect of all who know liim. 

HILL, GEORGE W., farmer, section 10, postoffice Bloomfield; was 
born November 22, 1841, in Warren county, Ohio, a son of Thomas and 
Hannah Hill. He was there reared to manhood and received a common 
school education. In October 1870 he came to this county and settled 
where he now I'esides. He owns a good farm of eighty acres, which he has 
brought to a high state of cultivation, and is also extensively engaged in 
stock-raising and feeding. He was married in April 186.3, to Miss Phoebe 
E. Runion, of Warren county, and they have been blessed with three chil- 
dren; one living, William H., aged fourteen. Mr. Hill is a member of the 
M. E. Church, and in politics is a greenbacker. He is a man of energy and 
intelligence. 

JENKINS, GEO. A., Sen., the subject of this sketch was born in Cul- 
])eper county, A^irginia, January 2, 1819, and while quite young, his father 
moved to Fanquiel county; was there five years, then removed to Cooper 
county, Missouri, in 1837, and one year later to Boone county, Missouri. 
In December 1845, he cane to this county, and has since lived on the same 
section. 20. He was married July 18, 1838, to Mary Hughes, of Brown 



734 HISTOEY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

county, wlio died the next year. He was married again, in July, 1840, to 
Malissa Ann Wilcoxan, of IJoone county, and has had nine children: I. F., 
Louisa S., Geo. A., A. A., il. D., Isabel! P., and three deceased, Mary, Wil- 
liam, and Rebecca K. Mr. Jenkins is located on a good farm in section 20, 
witli good residence, barn and orchard of 150 trees. He is a member of 
the Missionary iiaptist Church, and in politics is a democrat. Mr. Jenkins 
stands high in llie community where he lives, respected by everybody. 
His postofHee is Bloomfield. 

LYDA, B. A., is tlie owner of a fine farm of 236 acres, in section 30, 
with a good house, large barn, and seventy fruit trees. He was born in the 
Buckeye State, Carroll county, June 2, 1836, where he was raised and re- 
ceived his education. In the fail of 1858 he came to this county, and in 
1867 he occupied his present home; be was married in 1861 to S. C. Tay- 
lor, of this county, formerly of Indiana, and has had six children; Lizzie 
R., May L., John F., Geo. W., Anna W. and one deceased, Etiie Jane. In 
politics Mr. L. is a republican, and iiis jiostoffice is Bloomtield. He is an 
upright, honorable man, well res[iected by those who know him. 

LYONS, WILLIAM, deceased; was "born July 4, 1817, in Kentucky, 
where he lived fourteen years, then came to Johnson county, Ind., and in 
the fall of 1855, coming to this county, living in Bloomfield township five 
years, then coming to Wyacondah, wliere he resided till his death, June 
22, 1877. He was married June 22, 1851, to Mrs. Mary W. Brenton, of 
Indiana. They have had three children: John H., Josejdi W. and Mary 
E. Mrs. Lyons died January 15, 1881. Mr. L. belonged to the M. E. 
Church, and was respected by everybody. John H., the eldest son of Wil- 
liam, deceased, was born April 30, 1852, in Johnson county, Indiana; when 
three years of age his father came to tiiis county, where lie has since resi- 
ded. He was raised a farmer, and received his educafion in this county; 
he is located on a fine farm of 250 acres, well improved, with good house 
and barn, and orchard of 100 trees. In politics he is a re])nblican. He is 
a genial bachelor, his home being presided over by his sister, Mary E., a 
young lady of culture and refinement. 

MARTIN, E. W., a son of Win. Martin, of Kentucky, lives on a good 
farm of 160 acres, in section 30, with a fine brick residence, barn, and or- 
chard of 100 trees. His farm is fenced, and divided with two miles of 
good hedge fence. Mr. M. was Ijorn in Washington county, Ind., March 
30, 1829, wiiere he lived for twenty years; he was raised a farmer, but 
learned the trade of collar making, while a youth. In 1849 he emigrated 
to this county, settling first in Fabius township for two years, tiien came to 
bis present farm, which tlien had only eight acres broke, and a log cabin to 
live in. He was married February 8, 1852, to Nancy Jane Ilolstine, of 
Washington county, Ind., daughter of Geo. Holstine, of Tetinessee. They 
have had three children: Win. F., James C, a young man who now assists 
in the management of the farm, and Edwin K., deceased. Mary A., whom 
he adopted when an infant, was his niece, and is now Mrs. O. Dooley. Mr. 
and Mrs. M. are worthy members of the Christian Church. In politics Mr. 
M. is a republican. He is a self-made man; coming to this county with 
nothing, he has acquired a fine home aiid comforts. His postoflice is Bloom- 
field. 

MARTIN, WILLIAM, is the owner of a good farm of 185 acres, in this 
township, in section 13, with a nice residence, barn, and orchard of two 
acres. He was born in Yigo county, Ind., October 22, 1828, where he 



HISTOEY OF DAVIS COUNTy. 735 

grew to manhood on the farm, receiving a limited education in common 
schools. In 1850 he came to this township, which he has made his home, 
except for six years, when he was in Scliuyler county, Mo. He was mar- 
ried March 16, 1854:, to Miss Susan Jane Atterberry, daughter of Stephen 
and Martlia Atterberry, of this county. They have four cliildreii: John 
Ellis, Malissa Jane, Henry Thomas, Sarah Emma, and one deceased. May 
Isabell. Mr. and Mrs. M. are worthy members of the Christian Church. 
In politics he has always been a democrat. He is engaged in farming and 
stock raising, and is one of the solid men of Wyacondah township. His 
postoffice is Savannah. 

McCULLOUGH, JOHN, one of the pioneers of Wyacondah, owns a fine 
farm of 270 acres, of the best land in the township, and one of the best res- 
idences. He is engaged in fanning and stock-raising, and has held most of 
the township offices; has been justice of the peace for twenty years, and is 
the first man in the countv who thought brick would stand freezing, and 
was engaged in making brick for eight years. He was born in Wayne 
<jounty, Indiana, a son of John and Elizabeth McCullough, of Pennsylvania; 
his grandsire, James, came from north of Ireland. He lived in Wayne 
county until twenty-four years old, received his education in the common 
schools, came to this township October 12, IS-iS, buying what was known 
as the Willis farm. He was married, January 31, 1850, to Miss Martha 
Young, of Wapello county, daughter of William and Jane Young. They 
have had eleven children: Mary L., Boots, Mandy M., Thomas J., William 
Y., Sadie F., Samuel, Mattie, and four deceased, Jane Caroline Yates, Eliz- 
abeth, George W. and John. Mr. M. is a democrat in politics, and a genial 
gentleman. His postuffice is Savannah. 

O'NEAL, G. C, farmer, section 15, postoffice Bloomfield; was born in 
Greencastle, Indiana, January 27, 1830, where he lived till 185i, being 
raised a farmer. He commenced to teach school at nineteen, and taught 
five terms in Indiana. In the fall of 1854 he came to this township, where 
he has since resided. He has taught eleven terms of school in this county. 
He is the owner of a good farm of 98 acres, well improved. He was mar- 
ried, December 20, 1852, to Miss Mary Ann Duckworth of Putnam county, 
Indiana, daughter of Thomas Duckworth. They have had ten children: 
Elmer E., Benjamin E., Horace Greeley, Elwyn, Clinton M.. Rachel I., 
Elma v., Carrie E., Ivy M., and one deceased, Viola V. Mr. 0. is a mem- 
ber of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and in politics is a Green- 
backer. He was elected justice, init declined. He and his family are 
highly respected by those who know them. 

OWENS, THOMAS, a stock-raiser and farmer, owns one of the best 
stock farms in the county, consisting of 44-0 acres, in section 8, with a good 
liouse, barn and orchard of six acres. He was born October 22, 1825, in 
Indiana, being a son of James H. and Sarah C. Owens. He resided in 
Posey county, Indiana, until he was twenty-four, receiving his education 
in the common schools. In 184-9 he went to McLean county, Illinois, and 
in tlie winter of 1868 he came to this county. He was married, September 
IS, 1847, to Nancy W. McReynolds of Posey county, Indiana. They have 
had eleven children, Sarah J., James L., Huldah E., Elizabeth A., Mary E., 
Hannah M., T. B., Nancy C, Flora Belle, Fanny Susan and John F. Mr. 
O. is extensively engaged in stock-raising, his sales during the last year 
amounting to over $2,000. Mrs. Owens died in January, 1876, and Mr. O. 
was married again in September, 1876, to his present wife, a very estimable 



736 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 



lady. Mr. O. is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and' 
has been a ruling elder for sixteen years. He is a man of intelligence, and 
always ready to assist in whatever tends to advance the interests of his 
neighborhood. His postoffice is Savannah. 

PATTERSON, ALFRED, is a native of Tennessee. When three years 
of age, his father, Joseph, emigrated to Sangamon county, 111., and ten years 
later to Lee county, Iowa, where he lived nntil 1846. He was married in 
February, 1838, to Miss Ellen Bartlett, formerly of Tennessee. They have 
had five boys and five girls: Epps, T. J., John L.. Samuel, William, Sarah, 
Matilda, Jane, Anna and Abbie. Mr. P. owns -tlO acres of fine land in, 
section 14, with a fine residence, good barn and orchard. He has been a 
great hunter. In Lee county he found a bear on the prairies, and chased 
him some eight miles with fourteen dogs, and finally killed him; he 
weighed 700 pounds. Mr. P. still likes to take his dogs and go hunting. 
He is a democrat, upright in his dealings and highly respected. His post- 
office is Bloomfield. F. J. Patterson, his son, is a native of this county, 
born in 1855; was raised on the farm, and educated in the common schools, 
and married in December, 1877, to Miss Mattie McReynolds of this county, 
a lady of refinement and culture. Although a young man, Mr. P. is fast 
rising to be one of the substantial men of the township, gentlemanly and 
upright in all his dealings. 

SANDERSON, DAVID, was born in Highland county, O., May 8, 
1833, and at si.x years of age, his father having died, he went to live with 
an uncle for three years, then lived with Robert Adams of Fayette county, 
O., for ten years. At nineteen he commenced to learn the blacksmith's 
trade with Peter Wendle of Washington, where he worked three and a half 
years until he was master of the trade; he then went to Greenfield with his 
brother and carried on blacksmithing tor a time, then returned to Washing- 
ton, stayed one year, then went to Buena V'ista, and in 1859, came to this 
county, settling near where he now lives and engaged in blacksmithing and 
farming. He now owns a fine farm of 140 acres, in section 34, witli a good 
house, barn and orchard. He was mari-ied May 23, 1855, to Miss E. D. 
Fagan of Fayette county, 0., and had three children: Elisha M., E. C. and 
one deceased, Olive. Mrs. S. died April 28, 18G5, and he was married again^ 
in August, 1865, to Miss Tempa Inskeep of .this county. They have six 
children: A. F., Eva, Saml. D., Clayton F., Abby and Phrona. In Octo- 
ber, 1864, he was taken prisoner by bushwhackers, with his neighbor Capt. 
Pence, and taken about tvvelve miles into Missouri, where Capt. B. was 
shot while riding on the same horse with Mr. S. In politics Mr. S. is a 
grcenbacker, his postoffice is Bloomfield. 

SEABURY, HON. W. A., farmer, section 14, postoffice Bloomfield; was 
born in Bristol county, Mass.. October 2S, 1847, where he lived eleven years, 
when his father, A. S., came to this township. Hei-e Mr. S. spent his youth 
on the farm and going to school. He now owns a good farm of 160 acres, 
well fenced with hedge, with good house and barn. He was married Feb- 
ruary 19, 1878, to Miss M. J.^Wray, daughter of Hon. J. M. Wray of this 
county. They have one daughter, Anna Laura'. In politics Mr. S. is re- 
publican. He is a successful farmer and well thought of. 

SWIFT, J. F., farmer, section 23, postoffice Bloomfield; was a native of 
Indiana, born February 3, 1845. When two years of age, his father, C. E. 
Swift, settled in Perry township, this county. Here he grew to manhood, 
his youth being spent on the farm and in attending school. Mr. S. now 



HISTOBT OF DAVIS COUNTY. 737 

owns a line farm of 200 acres, under good cultivation, with comfortable 
buildings. He was married September 20, 18fi6, to Martha J. Campbell^ 
daughter of G. 0. Campbell. They have five children: AdaC, Ida M., Oda 
E., Willie C. and Mabel M. lu jiolitics Mr. S. is a<iemocrat. He is one 
of the substantial farmers of the township although still a young man. 

WRAY, HON. JAMES M., farmer, section's; was born in Davidson 
county, Tennessee, October 28, 1800, and there he resided until the tall of 
1836, when he came to Van Buren county, Iowa, and came to this county in 
April, 1845, where he has since resided. He was in Qnincy, Illinois, during 
the Black Hawk War, and was in Burlington, Iowa, when there was only 
one store there. When he staked out his claim in Van Buren comity, there 
were 500 Indians camped on the claim. Mr. W. is now located on one of 
tlie best farms in the county, consisting of 520 acres, under good cultivation^ 
with good residence, barn and orchard. He was married June 3, 1S26, to 
Jane Bird well, of Giles county, Tennessee, and they had eight children: 
Thomas J., George, James Madison, William M., Mary Ellen, John, Albert 
and one deceased, Franklin. Mrs. W. died in August, 184:8, and Mr. W. 
married again June 12, 18-1:9, to Edie Somerland, ot this county, and they 
have had four children: Otway, Margaret, Harvey and Anna. Mr. W. has 
held several offices; was a member of the board of township trustees, in Van 
Buren county, and was elected to the legislature, in 1843, on the democratic 
ticket; the district being composed of Van Buren, Davis and Appanoose 
counties, where he served with entire credit to himself and to the perfect satis- 
faction of his constituents. By an upright, honorable life, he has secured the 
love and esteem of every one. He has been a successful farmer, and has lived 
to see his children grow np, honored and respected men and women. 

YORK, GEORGE E., is one of the successful farmers of this township, 
living on a tine farm of 156 acres, with a good house and barn, and an or- 
chard of eighty trees. He was born in Vigo county, Indiana, November 25,. 
1834, where he lived sixteen years, and was educated a farmer. At sixteen 
he came to Grove township, this county, where he lived until in 1861, when 
he enlisted for three years in the Tiiird Iowa Cavalry, Colonels Bnssey and 
Trimble, was in the battle of Cotton Plant, fighting Inishwhakers in Mis- 
souri for six months, in the scouting ex])editions near Helena, for six 
months, and from there to Jefferson Barracks. Was discharged in Febru- 
ary lSti2, and returned home. He came to his present farm in 1864; was 
married Marcli 8, 1S63, to Miss Sarah M. Noblett, ot Kirksville, Missouri, 
daughter of L. D. Noblett. They have had nine cliildren, Sherman, Clara 
Belle, B. Mj'rim, George D., Clarence A., Elmer L., Francis E., Thomas E. 
and Bertha, and two deceased, Theodore and Truman. Mr. York is a mem- 
ber of the Christian Church, in politics, a greenhacker, a good citizen and. 
respected by everybody. His postoffice is Savannah. 



738 niSTOET OF da vis COUNTr. 



WEST GROVE TOWNSHIP. 



BALDRIDGE, E. L., farmer was bom in Murray county, Tenn., April 
7, 1829; when quite young lie moved with his father, John, to Schuyler 
«ounty, 111., and in 1842, removed to Van Buren county, Iowa, and Janu- 
ary 8, 1845, arrived in this county, where he lived till 1860. He was raised 
■on a tarm and received his education in common schools. In 1860 he moved 
to Appanoose county, and two years later returned, and in 1867, moved on his 
present farm where he has since resided. He owns a good farm of 120 acres, 
most all under cultivation, with a good house, suri-ounded by shade and or- 
namental trees, and an oi'chard of cne hundred bearing trees. He was mar- 
ried May 22, 1853, to Mrs. Mary Berry, formerly Miss Mary Warford, a na- 
tive of Randolph county, Mo. They have had six children: David, Levi, Vica, 
and three deceased. Mr. B. is a member of the Christian Church of West 
Grove, and in politics is a republican. He has given his children a liberal 
education, two of them being teachers. 

BEARD, WM., farmer, section eight, postofHce West Grove; was born 
October 16, 1825, in Mai nard county. 111., where he grew to manhood. His 
parents were Andrew and Sallie Beard. In 1849, he came to Iowa, settling 
in this township, and moved on his present farm in 1856, where he has since 
resided. He owns 130 acres of s])lendid land, under a high state of cultiva- 
tion. He was married in October, 1844, to Miss Nanc}' Jane Bell, a daugh- 
ter of Henry and Elizabeth Bell. They have been blessed with ten children: 
Sarah E., James H., Andrew, William, Isaac, Ellie, and four deceased. In 
politics Mr. B. is an independent democrat. 

BEAUCHAMP, DR. J. W., physician and surgeon. West Grove; was 
t)oi-n November 7, 1851, in this county, the eldest son of Levi and Mary 
Beauchamp. His early life was spent assisting on the farm and attending 
school in Troy Academy. At the age of eighteen he commenced teaching 
school, and taught about five years. At the age of twenty he commenced 
studying medicine under Dr. Sheltou, of Pulaski, and about three years 
later he attended the medical college at Keokuk, attending two years, and 
received his dijiloma February 17, 1875. He practiced with Dr. S., in Pa- 
laslii, about six months; then, in June, 1875, located in West Grove, where 
he has since followed his profession. He is the only physician in the town, 
and has a fine practice. He was married December 7, 1880 to Miss P. 
Ewing, daughter of William Ewing, deceased. The Doctor is pleasantly 
situated in a neat little cottage, with a happy home. He is a Mason and an 
Odd Fellow, and in politics is a democrat. 

BLAKLEY, HON. ISAAC, farmer, postofRce West Grove; was bora 
January 31, 1814, in Warren county, Tenn., and here grew to manhood, liv- 
ing with his parents, Alexander and Sarah, on the farm, and attending 
school. At the age of twentj', he moved to Morgan county. 111., and a year 
or two later to Jefferson county, Iowa, being one among the first settlers of 
that county, where he lived some fourteen and a half years, then moved to 
Appanoose county for three years and seven months, and in June 1854, set- 
tled in this county, which he has since made his home. He owns a tine 
farm of 378 acres, most of it under cultivation. He was married December 
1, 1836, to Ellen Lanman, of Jefferson county, and they had five children: 
K. L , Margaret, Elizabeth, Ellen, and Lycurgus. Margaret being deceased. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 739 

Mrs. B. died in 1851, aiulMr. B. married a_^ain March 18, 1852, to Cather- 
ine Stoiier, of Ohio; and thej' liave been blessed witli four children: Effie, 
Yisa, C. M., and J. C. My. B. was elected to the legislature, as a demo- 
crat, in 1871, by a good majority, and served with great credit. In 1853, 
he was ordained a minister in the Old School Baptist Church, and had charge 
of several Churches, as ;nany as four at one time, and is a zealous worker in 
the cause of religion and temperance. In politics he is a democrat. 

BUY ANT, REV. II. W., Pastor of Presbyterian Church. West Grove; 
was born June 2, 18i2, in Ohio county, Kentucky, being the seventh child 
of H. T. and jSTancy Bryant. At the age of seven lie caine with his parents 
to Gibson county, Ind., where he grew to manhood, his young days being 
spent on the farm and in acquiring an education. He enlisted September 

1, 18(>2, in Company A, Fifty-eighth Indiana Infantry, and was mustered 
out May 16, 1S05; returned home, and entered Asbury University, at Green- 
castle for three years; then spent six months traveling. He was ordained 
a minister, in Sei>tember, 1867, and in 1869 located in Carroll county, Ind., 
•for three and a half years; then to Hopewell; then to Macon county. 111., 
for two and a half years; and in the fall of 1875 lie located in "West Grove, 
this county, in charge of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, where he 
has since remained. He was married May 26, 1870, to Miss S. E. Wallace, 
and they have si.x children: Edith D., Mary J., Nettie, Lee, Hattie W., and 
E. R. Mr. B. is highly respected in this community, and is a strong advo- 
cate of the temperance cause. 

CAMRON, JOSEPH A., tanner, postoffice West Grove; was born in 
Jackson county, Ind., Feb. 11, 1837, where he lived for thirteen years, then 
came to this county in June, 181:9, where he has since made his home. May 

2, 1865, he started overland for the Golden State; was on the way si.K or 
seven weeks; remained there two and a half years, farming and freighting, 
then returned to this county, arriving home December 14, 1868. He was 
married in November, 1870, to Mrs. Martha Bell of this county. They have 
two children, J. W. and Thomas B. Mr. C. has a fine farm of 377 acres. He 
is a Mason and in politics is a greenbacker. He was the eldest son of John 
and Jane Caniron. 

CARSON, W. T., farmer, section 17, was born in Miami county, Ohio, 
August 29, 1817. His parents, .John and Sallie Carson, were pioneers of 
that county. Tliey came to Shelby county, Ind., in 1827, where he lived 
till 1851, when he came to his present home in this county. He crossed 
the Des Moines River on a ferry managed by some drunken men and lost 
some of his stock. Mr. C. is located on a farm of 320 acres, which he en- 
tered from the government; it is well improved, with a fine residence con- 
taining all modern improvements. He was married October 16, 1839, to 
Miss Sarah Corler, of Montgomery county, Ind. They have had ten chil- 
dren, Jas. E., Rob. B., Elvina, Florence A., Kate, John W., Alice J., Jos. 
D., and two deceased, Margaret K. and Sarah E. Mr. C. has held the of- 
fice of justice for six years. He is a Mason and an Odd Fellow. In poli- 
tics he is a republican. Mr. and Mrs. C. ai'e members of the Cumberland 
Presbyterian Church. He is the only member of his father's family now liv- 
ing. He has always lieen identified with the interests of the county, and 
takes pride in its advancement. 

CASE, D. H., farmer, section 6, postoffice Orleans; was born October 27, 
1840, in Geneseo county N. Y., and at eleven years of age, moved with his 
parents, Daniel and Sally, to Niagara county, where he lived till he was 



740 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

seventeen, his early life being spent on the farm and acquiring an education,' 
at the Lockport schools. At seventeen he went to work for tlie Oil Creek 
Railroad Co. and was in tlieir etujiloy as tiagman and conductor eiglit and a 
half years. He then came to Iowa in tjie winter of 1869, lived one year in 
Appanoose county, then came to Davis county and in the fall of 1871 went 
to Kansas, where he resided till June, 1880, engaged in farming. He thea 
returned to this county and finally settled on his present farm in July, 1881 
where he owned 130 acres of. good land, in a state of good cultivation. He 
was married November 9, 1870, to Miss Joan Siler, daughter of B. H. and 
Jane Siler, of this county. They have had tliree children, Mary M., Carrie 
B., and Benny, deceased ]SrovemV)er 15, 1880. Mr. C. is a Mason and a mem- 
ber of the Christian Church, and in politics is a democrat. He is one of 
the best farmers in this township. 

COLLIVER, ANDREW, farmer, postofiice West Grove; was born Jan- 
nary 30, 1845, in Montgomery county, Ky., and here grew to manhood, his 
eai'ly youtii being spent on the farm, and receiving his education in a log 
school house. His parents' names were Riciiard and Mary. In 1835 he 
moved to Rush county, Ind., where he lis'ed till 1854, opening up a farm in 
the heavy timber of that county. In the fall of 1854 he arrived in Davis 
county and bought the farm where he now resides, then onh' partly im- 
proved, consisting now of 500 acres witli good buildings and orchard. He 
was married December 22, 1829, at Grassy Lake, Ky., to Miss Perlina Mas- 
terson. They have l)een blessed with eleven children, Phineas, Elizabeth, 
John, Aaron, Mai'v, Richard, Rollin, Caroline, Salena, and two deceased, 
Thomas and Samuel. Tliomas enlisted in 1861 in Second' Iowa, company 
G. ; was wounded at Donelson; commissioned captain in Fifty-seventh IT. 
S. Regulars, company I; was mustered out in 1866, and died October 22, 
1872. Mr. C. is a greenbacker in politics and has been a member of the- 
school board, and been a justice for over six vears. 

(COLLIVER, PHINEaS. stock-raiser and shipper, section 35, postoffice 
West Grove; was born October 4, 1830, in Kentucky. At the age of six 
years he moved with liis parents, Andrew and Perlina Colliver, to Rush 
county, Ind., and in the tall of 1854 he came to Davis county, lie enlisted 
three days alter Sumtei' was fired on, in company G, Second Iowa Infantry, 
and took an active part in the war, and returned home a sergeant. In 1859 
he had visited Colorado and engaged one season in mining. He moved on 
liis present farm in 1865 where he has since resided, consisting of 240 acres 
under good cultivation. He was married Deceml)er 23, 1864, to Miss Ros- 
ena Scott, of this county. They haved live children, Mai-y, Martha, Perlina,. 
Andrew and Maria. Mr. C. is an Odd Fellow, a member of West Grove 
lodge, and in politics is a greenbacker. 

COLLI VEli, JOHN, farmer, section 3, postoffice West Grove; was born 
January 2, 1834, in Montgomery county, Ky. When ten years old his 
father, Andrew, moved to Rush county, Ind., where he grew to manhood; 
his early life being spent helping his father on the farm and acquiring a 
common school education. He came to this county in 1854 and settled in 
this township, where he has since resided. He owns a fine farm of 610 acres 
most all nnder cultivation. He was married November 8, 1871, to Miss 
Mattie Sawyer, daughter of Allen and Martha Sawyer, of West Grove. 
They have been blessed with five children, three now living, Pearl, John R. 
and Samuel. Mr. C. is a democrat in politics, and by upright conduct and 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 741 

square dealing has secured the confidence and esteem of all who know him. 
He is one of the substantial and reliable farmers of Davis county. 

CUjNISriNGIIAM, A. T., stock-raiser, section 36, postoffice West Grove; 
was born September 8, lS3i, in Giles count3% Tenn., where he lived till he 
grew to manhood. His early life was spent on the farm and attending the 
common schools. In the spring of 1853, he arrived in this county, settling 
in West Grove township, then called Fox River township. He came on his 
present farm in 1864, which he has now finely improved. It consists of 330 
acres of prairie and 65 of timber. He is engaged in stock-raising. He was 
married in September, 1857, to Mary A. Ramsey, of Appanoose county. 
They were blessed with five children, Walter R., Ohas. J., Jessie M., Frank, 
and Arthur. Mrs. C. died September 3, 1876, and Mr. C. was married again 
August 28, 1877, to Mrs. Mary Jones, of Marion township. The}' have two 
children, Edith M. and John T. Mr. C. is an Odd Fellow, and in politics is 
a republican. 

FLEMING, JAMES, farmer and stock-raiser, postoflice West Gi'ove; was 
born May IS, 1833, in Moultry county. 111., and in the spring of 1843 he 
came to Iowa and located in this county, with his parents, Jacob and Violet, 
formerly of Tennessee. He was i-eared on a farm and received a common 
school education. After coming to this county he lived thirteen years in 
Drakeville township; then, in 1856, moved on his present farm, where he 
resided for nine years; then spent two years in Chariton, Lucas county, in 
mercantile business, and then returned to his farm in this county, which con- 
sists of 151 acres of good land. He is quite extensively engaged in stock- 
raising. He was married January 28, 1855, to Mrs. H. V. Young, of this 
county. They have one daughter, Cora E. Mr. and Mrs. F. are members 
of the Christian Church, and in politics Mr. F. is a democrat. He has been 
a member of the school board for five years; is township trustee, and is on 
his second term as justice. 

FULK, CHARLES, druggistand general merchant. West Grove; was born 
October 17, 1837, in Licking county, Ohio, where he grew to manhood, liv- 
ing with his parents, David and Sarah. In 1855 he located in Lee councy, 
Iowa, where he lived ten years; then came to this county, locating in West 
Grove township, where he engaged in farming until the spring of 1873, 
when he came to West Grove station and engaged in his present business. 
He carries a lai-ge stock of everything in his line, and by his genial ways 
and square dealing has received the confidence of the entire community, and 
the patronage of both town and country. He is a member of West Grove 
I. O. O. F., No. 239. He is a jolly bachelor, and has more friends than any 
man in town. 

GLEASON, C. K., farmer, section six, postoflice West Grove; was boru 
August 22, 1842, in Fox River township, this county. His early life was 
spent on tlie farm, with his parents, James and Margaret, and attending the 
common school. In 1870, he moved to Scotland county. Mo., where here- 
sided two years, then returned to this county, and in October, 1873, came on 
his present farm, where he has since resided. He owns a nice farm of 165 
acres, in good cultivation. He was married January 17, 1864, to Miss S. 
F. Martin, daughter of John and Evaline, of Roscoe township. They have 
had five children : Edwin Wallace, Hattie F., Nora D., Cyrus Guy, and 
Frankie, deceased. Mr. and Mrs. G. are members of the C. P. Church, of 
West Grove, and in politics Mr. G. is a greenbacker, and is one of the sub- 
stantial men of the county. James Gleason, deceased, father of C. K., was 



742 HISTORY OF DAVIS COCNTT. 

born in 1823, in New York, wliere he resided till he reached the age of man- 
hood. He was married to Miss Margaret Downing. Tliey had eleven chil- 
dren: C. K., Mary E., "Wallace, James, Roman, Fisher, Friend, Elsie, Belle, 
Eddie, and Thomas. Mr. G. died in 1869. 

HARRIS, N. M., farmer, section 8; was born in Todd county, Kentucky, 
June 8, 1822; when three years old, lie moved with his parents, to Sanga- 
mon county, Illinois, and one year later, to Macoupin county, and in the 
spring of 1836, came to the territory of Iowa, settling six miles east of Fair- 
field. He was with the government surveyors when they surveyed that 
county. Tliere were more Indians there at that time than whites, neighbors- 
being from five to ten miles apart. In the sjiring of 1853, he came to Ap- 
panoose county, and in 1863, to Wayne county, and in the spring of 1865, 
came to West Grove, in this county, and one year later came on his present 
farm, where he has since resided. He was married in Jefferson county Oc- 
tober i, 1842, to Nancy Hickenbottom, and they had two children; Joseph 
and Samuel. Mrs. II. died in February, 1844, and Mr. H. married again in 
November, 1846, Miss Louisa Beach, of Jefterson county, and they have 
four children; Rhoda, William, Nancy and Frank. Mrs. H. died in No- 
vember, 1S59. Mr. Harris was married the third time in January, 1860, to 
Miss Phebe Cox, of Appanoose county, and they have three children: Mary, 
David O. and Willis. He courted and married his first wife, in a pair of 
buckskin breeches, which were considered stylish at that time. Mr. H. is 
an Odd Follow, and in politics is a greenbacker. 

HARTWIOK, N. W., farmer, section 15, postoffice West Grove; was 
born February 3, 1853, in the Wolverine State, being the third child of 
Frederick and Mary Hartwick. In 1861, he moved to Defiance, Ohio, 
where he lived two years; then to Burlington, Iowa. In 1869 he came to 
this county. At the age of fourteen, he worked in a woolen factory, and did 
so in Ohio and Ottiimwa. Iowa. He is now located on a good farm of 130 
acres. He was married February 7, 1877, to Miss Francis Pooler, of West 
Grove. They have two children; Ira Albert, and Harry Warren. Mr. H, 
is an Odd Fellow, member of West Grove lodge, and is a man very highly 
respected. 

HEADRICK, DANIEL, Sk., deceased; was born in June, 1807, in 
Hardin county, Ky. He was a son of Rev. Walter and Sarah H., and lived 
in Hardin county about thirty years; then moved to Spencer county, Ind., 
where he lived eight years; then to Bartholomew county until October, 
1848, when he came to this county. Pie settled in Wyacondah township, 
where he lived till 1872, when he moved to Bloorafield. He was married 
when eighteen years of age to Miss Mary A. Harris, and they were the par- 
ents of ten children: John, George, Charles, Daniel, Joseph, Nancy, 
Sarah, Levina, Mary A. and Elizabeth J. Mr. H. was a member of the 
Christian Church. He died November 21, 1879, at the house of his son 
Daniel, Jr. 

HEADRICK, DANIEL, farmer, postoffice Bloomfield; was born in In- 
diana December 24, 1839, and at the age of seven years came with his father 
Daniel H., to this county. He was the seventh child of a family of ten. 
His early life was spent assisting on the tarm and getting an education. In 
1863 he went to California overland, being ninety-one days on the road. 
Lived in California and Nevada, most of the time making brick, until 1869, 
when he returned and began farming where he now lives, which was then all 
wild laud. He has a good farm of 180 acres with comfortable buildings 



HISTOKT OF DAVIS COUNTY. 74S 

and an orcliard of 115 trees. Pie is now a justice of the peace, is a member 
of the Christian Church, aTid in politics is a democrat. He was married 
April 11, 1869, to Miss Mary Lane, of this county. They jiave liad six 
children: Jnlia, Clarissa, Daniel W., Alice, Rosa H. and one deceased, 
Frankie G. Mr. H. is hiifhly respected in the community where he lives. 

HENDERSON, J. C, tai-mer, section 15, postt>fSce West Grove; was 
born December 18, 1826, in Blunt county, Tenn., and when eight years old 
moved with his parents, William and Elizabeth, to Putnam county, Indiana, 
where tliej lived till 1837, when they moved to southwestern Missouri, and 
three years later to Jackson county. He was raised a farmer and received a 
limited education. In 1849, he came to Davis county, to Fabius township, 
where he resided till 1865, when he purchased his present farm, in this town- 
ship, where he has since lived. It contains 320 acres of splendid land. He 
raises a good deal of stock. He was married in March, 1851, to Miss Ellen 
Stanley, of this county. They have seven children: Letitia E., George W. 
May E., Unity E., John C, Minnie E., and Heury Harrison. Mr. H. is a 
democrat in politics, and is considered one of the substantial citizens of this- 
township. 

HENRY, J. B., station agent B. & S. W. R. R., West Grove; was born 
June 29, 1841, in Bedford county, Pennsylvania. At the age of ten 
he moved with his parents to Keosauqua, in Van Buren county, Iowa 
and three years later to Burlington, and three years later to 
Missouri, and after two and a half 3'ears residence there, came back to 
Van Buren county, where he enlisted May 21, 1861, in the Second Iowa In- 
fantry, the first three year regiment mustered into the U. S. service. He 
was at Donelson, Shenandoah, Corinth and Atlanta; was discliarged Julv 
12, 1865, at Louisville. He then returned to Van Buren county and in 
December, 1874, came to West Grove. He was married April 10, 1863, to 
Anna E. J. Smith, of Birmingham, Van Buren county. They have four 
children, Lena G., Wm. H., George A., and Ola. Mr. B. is an Odd Fellow 
and member of G. A. R. ; in politics a republican. Only seven of his orig- 
inal company who enlisted in the army, ever returned. He became statioD 
agent April 6, 1875. 

HURD, JOHN, farmer, section 34, postoffice Orleans; was born Febru- 
ary 24, 1821, in Adams county, Ohio, and here grew to manhood. His 
father, Caleb, died when he was a babe, and he lived with his motiier on 
the farm, and received a liberal education. In 1845, he came to Des Moines 
county, Iowa, and engaged in farming till 1857, when he went to Appanoose 
county two years; then to Anderson county, Kansas, for five and a half years;. 
then returned to Appanoose county for eight years, and, in the spring of 
1873, he came to this county and located on his present farm, where he has 
since resided. He owns a snug farm of 60 acres, well improved. He was 
married March 16, 1844, to Miss Sarah A. Shelton, of Adams county. They 
have had ten children: Elizabeth F., Martha J., Lucy, Laura, Charles H., 
Flora E., Samuel W., John W., and two deceased. Mr. H. is a member of 
the Christian Church, and in politics is a democrat. 

HUTCHINSON, E. R., deceased, one of the pioneers of this county, 
was born in Ohio in 1820, whei'e he resided until fifteen years of age. He 
was among the Siou.x Indians, a number of years as an interpreter, employed 
by the government, being among most all the Indian tribes in Iowa, Mis- 
souri and the Red River country. About the year 1841, he settled in Du- 
buque, and engaged in lead mining. In 1846, he settled in this county,. 



744 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

where he resided until bis decease. He was married in Hancock county, 
111., to Miss Mary J. Scott, and they were blessed with seven children, five 
now living: Martha E., May I., H. P., J. C., A. L., and Eliza and Edmund, 
deceased. Mr. H. died March 1(3, 1874. Mrs. H. is still living, in Califor- 
nia. H. P. Hutchinson, second child of E. P. and Mary J., was born 
August 8, 1851, in Fox River township, Davis county, and here spent his 
youth, assisting on the farm, and acquiring an education in the comtnon 
schools. He spent the winter of 1872-3 in the pineries of Minnesota and 
British America, lumbering. He was married December 27, 1875, to 
Miss Mollie E. Burton. They have been blessed with three children: Chas. 
C, Mills and Dell. Mr. H. is located on a fine farm of 220 acres, with a 
fine residence, good barn, and an orchard of one hundred and forty trees. 
He is one of the most substantial farmers in the township. 

HUTCHINSON, J. C, larmer, section 36, postoftice West Grove; fourth 
child of E. R. and Mary J.; was born August 12, 1856, in Fox River town- 
ship this county. His early life was spent on the farm and acquiring a 
common school education. In 1875 he went to California, Oregon and 
Washington Territory, and engaged in various kinds of work for eighteen 
months, then returned to this county June 28, 1876. He has a fine farm of 
120 acres, well improved, with an orchard of 208 trees. He was married 
August 2, 1872, to Miss Mary L. Farris, daughter of Rev. John Farris, of 
Troy. They have one child, Phineas. Mr. H. is a man highly respected by 
every one. 

KARNS, WILLIAM J., fanner, section 16, postoflice West Grover; was 
born Jnne 19, 1817, in Ohio, and there grew to manhood, on the farm with 
his parents, Lewis and Susanna, until he was sixteen, when he went to work 
with M. Karns, to learn wagon-making, and worked there five years; then 
went to Little Rock, Arkansas, and then to Bureau county, Illinois, and 
worked at his trade seven years; then traded for a farm in the same county. 
In the fall of 1857, he came to Bloonifield, this county, where he. lived till 
1873, then came to his present farm, in this township, consisting of 120 acres, 
with good improvements. He was married in December, 1843, to Miss 
Delia Richards, of Princeton, Illinois, and they have seven children: William 
R., was in company I, Twelfth Illinois Infantry, wounded at Atlanta and 
died in hospital at Jeffersonville, Indiana; Lewis T., Orcelia B., Emily, Eme- 
line, John T. and Ella, and Martha Ann. Mr. K. is a republican, and is 
highly respected in this community. 

LANG, WILLIAM, farmer, postoffice Bloomfield; was born in Indiana, 
a sou of William and Nancy Lang. His early life was spent attending school 
and helping on the farm. At the age of twenty-one he came to this county, 
and the land not yet being in market, he left money with his brother to pay 
for his claim. He was here six years, then returned to. Indiana, and made 
several trips back and forth. He settled on his farm in 1849, where he has 
since called home. During the year 1862, iiis health failing, he returned to 
his native place, where he remained about three years, then returned to his 
farm. He has a fine farm of 130 acres, with a good two-story residence, a 
good barn, and orchard, of four acres, of bearing trees. He was married in 
December, 1848, to Mrs. Emeline Goss, of this county, formerly of Tennes- 
see, and they have had eleven children: Mary, Sarah P., Laura D., John F., 
Emily, Charley, Anna, Marietta, and three deceased; George, Samuel and 
Watson. Mr. L. is a member of the Christian Church, and of the Good 
Templars. 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 745 

MATHEWS, A., fanner, section 11, postoffice West Grove; was born 
April 10, 1S2?), in Uracken county, Kentucky, and at the a2;e of twelve years 
moved with his parents to Marion county, Indiana. Ilis parents were 
Theodore and Frances, natives of Virginia. In the fall of 1856 he came to 
this county, first settling in Fox River township for three years, then in 
Wyacondah township nine years, and during that time was etigaged in mill- 
ing. In IStiS he moved on his present farm, in this townsliiji, where he 
has since resided, his farm consisting of ninety acres of finely improved land. 
He was married in September 1815, to Elizabeth Higgins. They have ten 
children: Nancy Ellen, Maria F., George W., AVilliam A., Mary J., John, 
James T., Nettie B., Minnie and Edward. He is a member of the M. E. 
Church, and in politics is a greenbacker. 

NOBLE, F. F., fanner, section M, postottice West Grove; was born Oc- 
tober 26, 1818, in Howard connt^', Missouri. When he was a year old his 
parents, Mark and Rachel Noble, formerly from Kentucky, moved to Ran- 
dolph county, Missouri, where lie grew to manhood, receiving his education 
in the common schools, and by hard application at home. In 1843 he com- 
menced teaching school, and taught one term in Missouri, then, in 1S45, 
came to this county, where he has since resided. He commenced teaching 
again in the spring of 1847, in Fox River township in a \og cabin built by 
subscription, being the first school taught in that part of the ci>unty. The 
average attendance was thirty. He continued teaching for sixteen years, 
part of the time in AYappello and Union counties. He is now located on a 
good farm of 510 acres, 210 in fine cultivation and the balance in pasture, 
with a comfortable home, out-buildings and an orchard of 340 trees. In 
politics he is a greenbacker. 

PARKER, GEORGE, farmer and stock-raiser, section 15; postoflSce 
West Grove; was l)orn in September, 1840, in Burslen, Staffordshire, Eng- 
land. When quite young he emigrated with his jmrents, Edward and Sarah, 
to America, and settled in Columbiana county, Wisconsin, and soon after 
came to Van Buren county, Iowa, and three years later went to Illinois, 
then to Muscatine, Iowa, then returned to Van Buren county, where he 
lived in 1856, when he moved to Lee county, and lived till 1865, then to Douds 
Station, Van Buren county, and two years later came to this county. He 
owns a fine farm of 160 acres, with a nice residence, surrounded by shade 
and ornamental trees. He was married in 1865, to Miss Jane Hover, of 
Dover, Lee county, Iowa. They have been blessed with five children : Rosa 
Belle, Ada A., Urban, John H. and Sarah A. Mr. Parker is one of the 
model farmers of West Grove township, and in politics is a republican. 

PIRTLE, J. W., county sheriff', stock-raiser and farmer, section 7, jiost- 
office Bloomfield; was born in Hardin county, Kentucky, November 26, 
1833. His early life was spent on the tarm and going to the common 
schools. In 1850 he moved to Schuyler county, Illinois, and in the fall of 
1852, settled in the nortli part of this township, and settled on his present 
farm in 1871, where he has since resided. When the war came on, he en- 
listed May 2, 1861, in company G. Second Iowa Infantry, Col. Curtis, be- 
ing in the battle of Fort Donelson, receiving a wound reported as mortal, 
and was dischai-ged July 22, 1862, on that account. He recovered, however, 
and commenced the butcher business, in 1864, which he continued till 1871, 
when he moved to his farm, which contains 187 acres of well improved land. 
He has been engaged in raising short-horn cattle, having as fine stock as 



746 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

there is in the county. He was married June 29, 1859, to Miss Sarah J. 
Kinnick, of this county. They have nine children: Laura A., William L., 
Grant, James D., May Ettie, Arthur G., Stella, Elijah B. and Nellie. Mr. 
P. is an Odd Fellow, and has been a member of the school board for eleven 
years. In the fall of 1881 he was elected sheriff of Davis county on the 
greenback ticket. 

PIRTLE, J. D., farmer, postoffice Bloomfield; was born in "Washington 
county, Kentucky, June 6, 1812; where he resided until 1836; his early life 
was spent on the farm, and receiving an education in the common schools. 
In the fall of 1836, he moved to Sullivan county, Indiana, and in May, 1850, 
to Schuyler county, Illinois, and in October 1852, came to his present home 
in this county consisting of 120 acres, mostly under cultivation, which he 
entered from the government. He was mai-ried Jaimary 19, 1833, to Lu- 
cinda Jackson, of AVashington county, Kentucky. They have had seven 
children : J. W. Pirtle, now county sheriff; Susannah, Henry I., Mary E., 
James D., Charles K., and Lucinda. Mrs. Pirtle died February 8, 1866, 
and Mr. Pirtle married again in June 1867, Mrs. Eliza Morton, of Scotland 
county, Missouri, formerly of Clinton county, Ohio. Mr. Pirtle has been 
constable two terms, and has always taken great interest in the cause of 
education. He is an Odd Fellow, and a member of the Cumberland Pres- 
byterian Church; in politics is a republican. Mr. Pirtle has the respect and 
confidence of all who know him. 

POTTER, RYLE, postoffice West Grove, was born January 10, 1859, in 
Lee county, Iowa, the second child of J. B. and M. K. Potter; his father 
being from Indiana and his mother trom Kentucky. When four years of 
age, he moved with his parents to Van Buren county, near Birmingham, 
and in the fall of 1867, he came to Fox River township. His early life was 
spent on a farm and in accpiiring a limited education. In 1876, he moved 
to Appanoose county, and in 1877, came to West Grove township, this coun- 
ty, where he has since resided. He is engaged with Mr. J. D. Pirtle, in the 
manufacture of brick, in which they are very successful. Mr. Potter is a 
genial bachelor, and a young man of industrious habits and untiring energy. 

RAWLINGS, JOHN H., farmer, postoffice West Grove; was born 
in Greene county, Penn., twenty miles nortli of Washington, June 
23, 1814; the second son of Daniel and Mandy, his mother's maid- 
en name being Truman. His father was of English descent, his ances- 
tors having come over in the "Mayflower." He resided in Greene county 
till he grew to manhood; his early life was spent in assisting on the farm, 
and receiving a limited education. At the age of twenty-one he moved to 
Indiana, where he lived fifteen years, being one of the early settlers. In 
the spring of 1850 he came to his present home in this county, buying his 
land of the government. He now owns 506 aci'es in this county, his liome 
farm consisting.of 235 acres, with good house, barn, etc. He was married 
December 20, 1840, to Sarah Hazzard. They had two children: Anna E., 
now Mrs. John W. Carey, of Centerville, and one deceased. Mrs. R. died 
December 4, 1844, and he was married again October 12, 1848, to Miss Zer- 
elda Cameron, a native of Jackson county, Ind. Mr. R. is a zealous mem- 
bei of the M. E. Church at West Grove, and a man given to hospitality and 
kindness to everybody. 

R.USSELL, H. L., farmer and stock-raiser, section 12, postoffice West 
Grove; was born in Greene county, Pennyslvania, October 4, 1826. He 
was the oldest son of William and Charlotte Russell, natives of Penn 



HISTOEY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 747 

€ylvania. Here Mr. Russell lived fifteen years his early life being spent 
on a farm, and going to school. In the spring of 1841, he and his 
father moved to Athens, Ohio, where he lived till the spring of 18.54, when 
he came to this county, first settling near where he now lives, in West 
Grove township, and in the fall of 1856 he moved on his present farm, 
where he has since resided. He has a fine farm of 320 acres, under 
good cultivation, with a good brick residence, large barn, and orchard of 
twelve acres. He is also engaged in stock-raising, making a specialty of 
•sheep, "Spanish Merino." His sales of wool in the past year amount to 
$1,500. lie was married August 9, 1847, to Miss llhoda Love, of Athens 
county, Ohio. They had two children, James E., and John L., deceased. 
Mrs. 11. died December 9, 1851, and Mr. R. was married again May 24, 1853, 
to Mary E. Kurtz, of Pittsburg, Pa. They have had eight children: Lotta, 
now Mrs. C. E. Smith; Anna A., May Ida, Jenny L., now Mrs. W. D. Bar- 
nett; Etta P., William, Harry L., and one deceased. Mr. P. is a member of 
the Cumberland Presbyterian Church; he is also a Mason, and in politics is 
a democrat. Mr. R. stands higli in tliis community. 

RUSSELL, W. M., farmer, postottice West Grove; was born in Jackson 
county, Indiana, September 19, 1825; a son of William and Polly R., of 
Virginia. When a year old he moved with his parents to Bartholomew 
county. Here he grew to manhood on the farm, receiving a limited educa- 
tion. In the spring of 1848 he came to this county and settled where he 
now resides, on a fine farm of 240 acres, which he entered from the govern- 
ment. He now owns 487 acres, with a good house and barn, and an orchard 
of 270 trees. He is extensively engaged in stock-raising, amounting to over 
$2,000 in the last year. He was married January 6, 1848, to Miss Sarah 
Jane Humphreys, of Bartholomew county, Indiana, and they have eleven 
children: Sarah Lucinda, John J., William H., Titus D., Alfrida, Florian 
A., Louis M., A([uilla W., Francis N., Laura E., and Mary S. Mr. R. 
is a member of the M. E. Church; and with the exception of about $300, 
has accumulated his wealth by his own industry and economy. 

RYAN, L. H., farmer and stock raiser, postoffice Bloomfield; was born in 
New York State, May 15, 1849, and at two years of age went with his father, 
John Ryan, to Syracuse, N. Y. ; and at the age of seventeen, to Iro(|uois 
county. 111. His early life was spent mostly in town, where he received his 
education in the common schools. In the fall of 1873 became to this county, 
remained a few months, then went to Kansas and remained about six years; 
then returned to this county, where he has since resided. Mr. R. owns a fine 
farm of 240 acres, under a good state of cultivation; one of the best barns in 
the county, 44x80, and 24 feet high, with brick basement, costing $3,000. 
He is extensively engaged in raising grain and stock, his sales in eighteen 
months past amounting to $4,500. He was nuirried in August, 1S75, to 
Mrs. Margretta Stokes, of this township. They have two children, Flora 
Maud and Olive May. 

SHINN, BENJ AMIN, farmer, section 7, postoffice Moulton; was born 
May 26, 1807, in New Jersey, oldest child of Daniel and Mary Shinn. At 
the age of seven years, he moved with his parents to Clermont county, Ohio, 
and about eight years later to Pike county, Illinois, being one of the first 
settlers of that county. His early life was spent on the farm, and attending 
the common school. In the fall of 1853, he arrived in this county, and settled 
-on his present farm, a portion of which he bought from the government. He 
was married in 1827, to Miss Charlotte Cooper, a native of Pike county, lUi- 



748 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTr. 

nois, and they had twelve children: William, Mary J., John, Elizabeth, Ra- 
chel, James, David, Benjamin W., Charlotte, Henrietta, Sarah and Isaiah. 
Mrs S. was born in 1810, and died March 13, 1852. Mr. S. married again in 
October, 1853, Rebecca Jackson, of Pike county, Illinois, and they have had 
eight children: Nancy, Henry, Jacob, Thomas, Preston, I)a;iiel, Steven A. 
D., Jesse, and a babe, deceased; John enlisted in the Sixteenth Illinois In- 
fantry, and died soon after coming home. JMr. S. is located on a good farm 
of 210 acres, mostly improved. He is a member of the M. E. Church, and 
in politics is a greenbacker. Three of the children are living at home, Dan- 
iel, Steven and Jessie. 

SHORT, J. M., farmer, section 11, postotHce West Grove; was born June 
29, 1832, in Switzerland county. Indiana, the third child of Joseph and 
Frances. At the age of five years, he moved with his parents to Madison, 
Indiana, and in 1846, moved to Ripley county where he lived till 1861. IIi& 
early youth was spent in town and receiving an education, at Madison. In 
1861, he moved to Decatur county, Indiana, and engaged in farming about 
eight years, and in the spring of 1869, he came to this county and purchased 
his present farm in West Orove township, wliich he has since made his 
home. It contains 180 acres of fine land, with good residence, barn, and 
orchard of 250 trees. He was married October 23, 1856, to Miss Mary 
Chester, of Ripley county, Indiana. They have had nine children : Charlea 
T., Joseph W., James T., Ira "N., Fanny, Nettie, Edgar L., Jenny, and one 
deceased. Mr. Short and wife and three eldest sons, are members of the- 
Christian Church. In politics he is a republican. 

SMITH, ABRAHAM, farmer, postoffice West Grove; was born in Le- 
roy, Genessee county, N. Y., November 20, 1816; and when quite young- 
moved M'itli his father, John Smith, to Mercer county, Penn., where they 
lived about five years; then moved to New Hampshire for seven years j. 
then to Kennebeck countv, Maine; and eight years later returned to Mercer 
county, Penn.; then to Ritchie county, Virginia, until 1865. In the spring 
of that year he came and settled on his present farm in this county. He 
was raised a farmer, and when he reached twenty-one, he engaged in the 
milling business, and followed it for twenty-seven years. Mr. S. is now lo- 
cated on a good farm of 320 acres, well improved. He was married in July, 
1838, in Mercer county. Pa., to Emma U. Arnold. They had four children:: 
Lydia, Levi, Emma and a babe. Mrs. S. died April 29, 1850, and Mr. S. 
was married again in March, 1852, to Rosanna Stuart, of Ritchie county, 
Virginia They had six children: Mandy, Ann, Abraham, Chauncey, Mary, 
and Reuanna. In the latter part of June, 1863, his family was taken with 
small-pox, his son bringing it home from the army. He remained with his 
family alone during this time, seven days and nights, no one coming near, 
not even a doctor; the neighbors leaving food at his saw mill, not far away. 
His wife and son Chauncey died. Mr. S. married again April 10, 1867, 
Lotisa Jane Montgomery, of Schuyler county. Mo. Mr. S. is a member of 
the M. E. Church; he is a good neighbor and commands the respect of all. 

SMITH, D. D., farmer, section 11, postothce West Grove; was born Au- 
gust 16, 1820, in Fayette county, Pennsylvania. Here he grew to manhood,, 
his early life being spent on the farm, and obtaining a common school edu- 
cation. In 1842, he moved to Eayette county, Ohio, where he lived twelve 
years, then, in the fall of 1854, came to Van Buren county, Iowa, where he 
resided eleven years; then came to this county, and bought the farm he has 
since called home; consisting of 260 acres, under good cultivation. He wa& 



HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 74^ 

married September 11, 1842, to Miss S. A. Bryson, and they have had eleven 
children; Anna E., wife of J. B. Henry; James A., Cliarles E., Mar}' F., 
David N., Sherman S. and live deceased; William H., born August 31, 1845, 
enlistetl in November, 1861, in the Fourteenth Iowa Infantry, and died at 
Iluntsville, Alabama, January 25, 1865. Mr. S. and wife are members of the 
Baptist Church, and in politics, he is a greenbacker. 

STOCKBARGER, F., stock-dealer, postoffice West Grrove; was born 
November 30, 1845, in Knox county, Ohio, where he lived about nine 
years, when his parents, John and Mary, moved to Fulton county, Illinois, 
where they resided till 1875. His youth was spent helping on the farm and 
acquiring a common school education. In the spring of 1875, he came to 
West Grove, Iowa, and engaged in farming about three years, then moved 
to West Grove station, and began buying stock; and during the last year he 
has bought 8,000 or 10,000 hogs besides cattle and sheep. He was married 
November 6, 1864, to Miss Hannah Herring, of Fulton county, Ohio. They 
have two children: Minnie and May. Mr. Stockbarger is an Odd Fellow, a 
member of West Grove Lodge, No. 239, and a man highly respected. 

STOKES, SAMUEL, deceased, was born in Cumberland county, Penn., 
December 2, 1821, where he resided till 1849, when he moved to Marion 
county, Ohio. In 1865, he came to this county and settled in West Grove. 
•He learned the cooper trade and followed it a number of yeai's, then engaged 
in farming. He was married in April, 1847, to Miss Cathie Eckard, of 
Peimsylvania. They had live children: John, deceased, S. G. W., Maryetta, 
Emma, and Maria L., deceased. Mr. Stokes died June 13, 1877. S. G. W. 
Stokes, second son of the above, was born in Marion county, Ohio, January 
11, 1853, and came to this county in 1865. His early youth was spent in 
assisting on the farm, and getting an education. Mr. S. is located on a fine- 
farm of 585 acres, most of it under cultivation, and has one of the best resi- 
dences in the township. He was married December 25, 1877, to Miss Ken- 
ella Goddard, of this county. They have one daughter, Mamie Lenore. 
Mr. S. is a member of Odd Fellows lodge No. 239, and in politics is a 
greenbacker. 

STONER, EDWARD, farmer, section 22, postoffice West Grove; was 
born May 5, 1833, in Pennsylvania. When quite young he moved with his 
parents, to Ashland county, Ohio, where he lived till 1850. He was raised 
on a farm and received a limited education. In 1850, he came to Jeli'erson 
county, Iowa, where he lived about eleven 3>ears. when he came to this 
county and settled on his present farm in 1870. He enlisted in the Eighth 
Iowa Cavalry, company H, in 1863; was in Sherman's army in Tennessee 
from Chattanooga to Atlanta, and was captured and taken to Andersonville 
prison and held a prisoner seven months; then exchanged and returned 
home. In 1870 he came on his present farm where he has since resided. 
He is located on a good farm of 220 acres, well improved. He was married 
in February, 1870, to Miss Mary Colli ver, daughter of Andrew Colliver. 
They have two children: Jefferson P. and Salena. 

TORRENCE, S. G., farmer, postoffice Bloomfield ; was born in what is 
now the District of Columbia, March 24, 1816; and while quite young 
moved with his father, John, to Fleming county, Ky., where he lived four- 
teen years, his early life being spent on the farm and receiving an education 
in the common schools. On the 24th day of September, 1850, he arrived in 
Davis county, settling on his present farm in a log cabin, with thirty acres 
broke. He now owns 150 acres under good cultivation, with comfortable 



750 HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY. 

house and barn. He was married in November, 1839, to Miss Matilda D. 
Dugand, of Hendricks county, Ind. Tliey have had eleven children: Sarah, 
John, Amanda, James, George, Ellen, Samuel P. and four deceased: Ada- 
line, Win., Ciuis. W. and Marion. Mr. T. is a member of the M. E. Church, 
and of the Grange. In politics he is an independent democrat. 

WHITE, AN DKEW, deceased, was born December 28, 1808, in Brad- 
ford county, Pennsylvania, and when twelve years old moved to Franklin 
■county, Indiana, where he lived till 1857, in the spring of that year coming 
to Iowa, and settling on the home farm in this township, where he resided 
till his decease, July 2, 1872. He was a member of the M. E. Church. De- 
LiAH White, widow of Andrew; was born June 24, 1800, in Franklin coun- 
ty, Indiana, and was married to Andrew White July 4, 1829, and they had 
eleven children: James M., Charles C, David O., Albert R., Hiram E., In- 
diana, and five deceased. Mrs. W. is a member in good standing in the M. 
E. Church. H. E. White was born July 25, 1853, in Ripley county, Indi- 
ana. In 1857, he came to Iowa with his parents, and settled in this county; 
being reared on a farm, and receiving a common school education. He was 
married August 14, 1873, to Miss Allie J. Mach, of this county, and they have 
three children: John A., Ernest L. and Bertie F. Mr. W. is located on a 
fine farm of 100 acres. He is a member of the M. E. Church, and in politics, 
is a greenbacker. He is well respected and highly esteemed, wherever he is 
known. 

WILSON, B. F., farmer, ])ostoffice Bloomfield; was born in Pittsburg, 
Pennsj'lvania, June S, 1832, the eldest son of James and Jane Wilson, who 
moved to Steuben ville Ohio, when he was quite young. At the age of six- 
teen his father died, and about two years after, he removed to Richfield, 
Ohio, and at the nineteen to Bellville, and two years later to White Pigeon. 
In the summer of 1855, he came to Bloomfield, and one year later to Perry 
township, where he lived eight years, working at his trade, and in 1869, 
came to his present home. He has a good farm of 160 acres well improved, 
with good residence, etc. He was married in September 1858, to Miss May 
Atkinson, of Ringgold county, Iowa. The}^ had one child, Harry. Mrs. 
W. died December 24, 1859, and Mr. W. was married again March 7, 1862, 
to Miss Mary J. Place, of this county. They have had nine children: Web- 
ster W., Frank, James, Henry, Anna, Charles, Edward, Fred, and one de- 
ceased. Mr. W. has been assessor and member of the school board, he is a 
member of the masonic order, a member of the Missionary Baptist Church, 
and in politics is a greenbacker. 

WORKMAN, JOSEPH, deceased, was born March 28, 1823, in May- 
nard county, Illinois, a son of John and Melinda. He there grew to mau- 
liood on the farm, and received his education in the common schools; Feb- 
ruary 23, 1845, he came to Jeft'erson county, Iowa, and two j'ears later 
came to this county, there being oidy four settlers in this township when he 
arrived. He was married February 23, 1845, to Sarah Harding, a native of 
Kentucky, born June 1, 1823, who, when she was three j'ears old, came to 
Illinois, with her parents. Mr. and Mrs. W. were blessed with eight chil- 
dren; Martin H., Joseph A., William, John M. C. L., Sinah, S. J. and Levi. 
Mr. W. lived in this township till his death; living and dying an humble 
Christian. 

WORKMAN, MARTIN H., son of the above, farmer, postoffice West 
Grove; was born June 2.3, 1848, in this county; his youth being spent on 
the farm and in acquiring an education. He was married April 12, 1865, to 



HISTOKT OF DAVIS COUNTY. 751 

Miss Martha Pryor, daughter of John Pryor, and immediately started over 
land for the Pacific coast; being on the road six months and five days, and 
after residing some time in California and Oregon, he returned liome to this 
township, wliere he now resides. He is an enterprising farmer, having 
bought the first self-binder and the first steam thresher in the county, and 
made a great success with them. He is the tatlier of six children : Joseijh, 
Ida May, Mary J., John W., Jaines M. and Barton. 

WRAY, W. M., fanner and stock-raiser, postoffice West Grove; was born 
in Van Buren county, Iowa, December 3, 1840. "When five years of age, 
his father, Hon. J. M. Wray, moved to this county. Here he has since re- 
sided, being raised a farmer, and educated in tlie common scliools. He is 
the owner of a nice farm of eiglity acres, well improved. He was married 
March 20, 1864, to Miss Cinta Keeves, of this county. They had two chil- 
dren, Minnie C. and James E. Mrs. W. died August 3, 1807, and Mr. W. 
was married again October 16, 1870, to Angelina F. Patterson, of this coun- 
ty. Tliey have four children: Almy J., Lola H., Lovina J. and Rose Olive. 
Mr. and Mrs. Wray are members of the Missionary Baptist Church. Mr. 
W. is an Odd Fellow, and in politics is a democrat. He has been township 
treasurer, and gave entire satisfaction ; being upright and square in his deal- 
ings, he has the respect of every one. 





















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